From companies with at least $10 billion capitalization, the largest growth last week was recorded by the American company  Heico, engaged in producing aviation components, whose shares increased by 17.31% over the past working week. The price of one share reached $264.68. Next is XPeng. The shares of this Chinese company, which manufactures electric cars, increased by 16.79% to $ 21.49. And this top three is completed by HEICO company’s A class shares, with an increase by 16.69%. The price of one share is currently $212.12.

Super Micro Computer opens the top three largest capitalization companies with the biggest lost last week. The price of the shares of this server and cloud system service company decreased by 26.06% in one week and now it is $41.46. The next is Applovin Corporation. The price of the shares of this American company providing advertising services to apps fell by 21.57% and reached $325.74. And Maplebear concludes this trio. The price of shares of this company engaged in online food sales decreased by 21.53% and is $41.09.

The stock exchanges fell immediately after the tense meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelenskyy in the White House. However, at the end of the trade session of Friday, the markets restored and Wall Street closed with growth. The S&P 500 rose by 1.59% to 5954.50, NASDAQ rose by 1.63% to 18,847,28, and Dow Jones was up by 1.39%, reaching 43,840,91. But overall, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell last week, while the Dow rose.

At the beginning of the week, European shares have reached a record maximum. The STOXX 600 index increased by 0.3%. For this growth, the increase in the price of the shares of the defense sector was a stimulus amid expectations for increasing military spending. The European aerospace and defense sector increased by 6.5%, reaching the historic maximum, when at the weekend the European countries’ leaders agreed to increase the defense budget and develop a Ukrainian peace program to submit to the US.

During the week before February 26, investors have invested $ 19.71 billion in US stock funds, which have registered the largest inflow since December 2024. This inflow was headed by the stock funds of companies with large capital—by $20 billion. In terms of sectoral terms, the leader is the technological stock funds, with an inflow of $1.05 billion, followed by stock funds in healthcare and communication services. Meanwhile, the financial sector funds have recorded losses.

NVIDIA's revenue report has not convinced investors. Thursday's shares of this company decreased by more than 8%, closing at $120.15. The company has predicted 65% income growth, which is still high, but it is much lower than its huge growth of the previous year. The shares of other large technology companies, including Microsoft and Amazon, have also decreased. Nvidia has been the main player of the AI boom, but investors are now worried about the lesser demand and increasing competition, especially due to cheaper AI models of the Chinese startup Deepseek.

Vistra Corp reported a strong profit in the fourth quarter, which is due to the growing needs of electricity by AI data centers. As Big Tech invests billions of dollars in AI, energy consumption in the US has increased and brought demand to a record level. And the biggest gainer from this is Vistra, the major nuclear power operator. The company's shares increased by almost 258% in 2024. Its profit doubled in the fourth quarter, reaching $1.99 billion.

Dell's shares have decreased by 7% after the company's revenue report—and mainly due to the concerns with low profit margins. Investors are worried about the high value of the NVIDIA Blackwell graphics cards used in Dell's AI servers, and this reduces the margin. Dell's shares dropped by about 45% from the maximum level recorded in May last year. Investors now focus more on profits, and not only on income growth, a trend, which is also observed in NVIDIA.

Under the conditions of freezing AI boom, investors have started to rely on major pharmaceutical companies as a safer market. Shares of healthcare companies, including large drug manufacturers such as Amgen, Johnson & Johnson, and AbbVie, have increased by 10% this year, while the S&P 500 has had almost no progress. Investors are looking for stable companies with strong dividends, especially due to concerns over inflation and economic downturn.

On February 24, government bonds of 3 billion drams were placed in Armenia’s securities market, which will be repaid on September 9, 2025. The respective public auction had three participants, and the amount of the proposals made by them totaled 10 billion drams. The weighted average price of the placed government bonds was 95,9679 drams, and the yield was 8,0454%.

US consumer expenditures decreased by 0.2% in January, registering the first decline in almost two years. This testifies to a weaker economic growth. Expenditures on goods fell by 1.2%, while services increased by 0.3%. It is believed that the decline in consumer expenditures will contribute to the weak increase in the economy in the first quarter of 2025, when according to forecasts, the reduction of the economy will be 1.5% on an annual basis.

The US economic growth slowed down in the fourth quarter, and GDP grew at 2.3% per annum, which is lower than 3.1% of the third quarter. Despite the slowdown, consumer expenses in 2024 increased at 4.2% pace, supporting the economy, which was expanded by 2.8%, exceeding the target of the US Federal Reserve: 1.8% growth rate. Trump administration's cost reductions have also affected consumers and business trust. The Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index, which is a base for the Federal Reserve and does not include food and energy, increased by 2.7%, which reflects ongoing concerns about inflation.

Are you interested in investing? Discover your opportunities with Apricot Capital!

Apricot Capital is controlled by the Central Bank of RA.