Among companies with a capitalization of at least $10 billion, the biggest gainer last week was Okta, an American company providing user identification services, whose shares increased by 24.26% over the past business week. The price of one share reached $112.44. Next is AST SpaceMobile. The shares of this company, which is engaged in the development of space mobile network technology, increased by 23.20% over the past business week, reaching $33.40. And this top three is completed by ArcelorMittal, with a growth of 19.50%. The price of one share of this steelmaking company is $33.15. The top three of large-capitalization companies that recorded the biggest losses last week starts with Venture Global. The share price of this company engaged in the production and export of liquefied gas has decreased by 38.83% in a week and now amounts to $9.23. Next is MongoDB. The share price of this American company providing a NoSQL database platform has decreased by 29.83% and reached $187.65. And this top three is completed by Samsara. The share price of this company offering IoT services for business automation has decreased by 25.84% and is $35.36.

Wall Street closed higher last Friday, helped by comments from US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell that the country’s economy is in good shape. But also, he signaled that another reduction in the refinancing rate will not happen soon. Despite a late-week recovery, the markets suffered their biggest weekly losses in months. The S&P 500 fell 3.1% for the week, the Nasdaq dropped 3.45%, and the Dow Jones fell 2.37%. Such drops were driven by investor caution amid uncertainty over US trade policy. President Donald Trump has delayed new tariffs on some goods imported from Canada and Mexico, particularly cars, for a month, but US trade tensions with China remain. Investors fear that Trump’s trade policies could fuel inflation in the US and slow economic growth.

Shares of fast food companies are rising in the US. McDonald's has reached a record high, rising 5% in the past week, while Yum Brands, which includes KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Restaurant Brands International, which includes Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons, have also performed well since the beginning of the year. The reason is that due to uncertainty over US trade policy, people prefer to buy cheaper food.

Tesla shares have fallen for the seventh straight week and are now down nearly 50% from their record high in December. The company's shares closed at $262.67 last Friday, down from $479.86 in December. The decline began after President Trump took office in January and has been driven by a number of factors. One of the main concerns is Tesla's slowing sales in key markets such as China and Europe. Another contributing factor is Elon Musk's involvement in the new US administration, and this has affected Tesla's public image as investors and the public have mixed opinions about his involvement in government affairs. Elon Musk has lost $52 billion of his net worth this year, but remains the world's richest person.

Broadcom’s shares rose sharply after it reported better-than-expected earnings and made optimistic projections, providing some relief for the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. This chipmaker's shares rose 10% to $198 on Friday. The key indicator for investors was a 77% increase in Broadcom's AI revenue, which shows demand for AI equipment may still be strong despite growing skepticism about this sector.

Nvidia's market capitalization has fallen by more than $1 trillion since its peak in January. The company's shares have fallen more than 23% in the past two months, down to $107 a share from a record high of $149.43 in January. The company's market capitalization was $2.6 trillion last Friday. The decline is partly due to growing concerns that the AI industry is overrated.

Chinese tech stocks have surged considerably so far in 2025, adding $439 billion to their market value and outpacing US tech stocks, including the so-called “Magnificent Seven.” The “7 Titans” of Chinese tech—such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi—have risen more than 40% so far this year, while US tech stocks have fallen about 10%. The rise in Chinese tech stocks has fueled DeepSeek’s success. This AI model has put to rest assumptions that China cannot compete with the US in AI innovation. In addition, China’s growing support for its tech sector and new AI tools from companies like Alibaba have further boosted investor confidence. Many investors are shifting their focus to Chinese tech stocks, which are seen as having greater growth potential.

Nasdaq has announced that it plans to transition to a 24-hour trading, five days a week, starting in the second half of 2026. The move is aimed at making US markets more accessible, especially for international traders, by expanding trading hours across different time zones. Nasdaq president Tal Cohen explained that this change is due to the increased interest of retail investors in US markets and the significant increase in foreign investments in US stocks, which reached $17 trillion in June. Nasdaq has already begun discussions with regulators about this change.

On March 3, 2025, a total of 5 billion drams of government bonds were placed on Armenia’s stock market, and they will be redeemed on March 2, 2026. The respective public auction had four participants, and the total sum of proposals submitted by them amounted to 14.1 billion drams. The weighted average price of the placed government bonds was 92.1377 drams, and the yield was 8.4627 percent.

The US Federal Reserve is expected to start cutting the refinancing rate in June, with some analysts predicting up to three cuts in 2025. This follows a jobs report that showed US employers adding 151,000 new jobs in February—although the unemployment rate also rose to 4.1% in the country. In addition, the US government is cutting jobs, the impact of which on the labor market will be felt later.

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to create a strategic reserve of bitcoin for the US government. It will consist of bitcoins that the US government has seized from criminals or through other legal processes. The number of bitcoins currently stands at 200,000. Investors were disappointed by this announcement, as they had hoped that Trump would create the strategic reserve by purchasing new bitcoins. Following the announcement, the price of bitcoin briefly fell by about 5% to $85,000, but it later recovered to up to $89,200. The creation of a strategic reserve of bitcoin is symbolic, as it is the first time that the US government has officially recognized bitcoin as a reserve asset—like gold.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has again cut its refinancing rate—this time to 2.5%, the sixth rate cut since June last year. The ECB explained that its monetary policy is becoming looser to support economic growth as inflation approaches its 2% target.

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