Among companies with a capitalization of at least $10 billion, the largest increase last week was recorded by the American company Rubrik, which offers data protection and cybersecurity solutions, whose shares increased by 23.17% over the past business week. The price of one of its shares reached $70.64. Next is Summit Therapeutics. The shares of this American pharmaceutical company increased by 16.93% over the past business week, reaching $20.79. And this top three are rounded out by Intel Corporation, with an increase of 16.52%. The price of one share of this leading processor manufacturer is $ 86.74. Teradyne opens the top three largest capitalization companies with the biggest losses last week. This automated testing equipment manufacturer's share price fell by 20.08% in a week and is now at $86.7. Next is The Trade Desk. The share price of this American company providing a digital advertising platform fell by 16.90% and reached $53.94. And this top three is rounded out by Coinbase Global. This cryptocurrency trading platform’s share price fell by 15.79% and is at $183.12.

US stocks fell sharply last Thursday. The S&P 500 fell 1.39%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.30%, while the Nasdaq Composite index fell 1.96%. Investor sentiment was weighed down by President Donald Trump's tariff policies, which makes it likely that the inflation rate will accelerate and global economic growth will slow down. Although markets partially recovered on Friday, Wall Street recorded its fourth consecutive weekly decline.

US stock funds saw inflows of $4.67 billion for the week ending March 12. This increase was largely driven by a lower Consumer Price Index, which showed signs of cooling inflation—encouraging some investors to put money into the market. The US bond funds also saw significant inflows last week, attracting a net inflow of $8.44 billion. This was the tenth week of positive demand for bonds.

Donald Trump's policy of forcing NATO allies to spend more on defense has had an unexpected result. It has prompted European countries to increase their military budgets, which has led to a rise in shares of defense sector companies and a boost to stock markets in several European countries. Germany's DAX index has risen by more than 15% since the beginning of the year, and the STOXX Europe 600 has risen by 7.7%. In contrast, US stock markets have fallen. The S&P 500 has fallen by more than 4.1% since the beginning of the year, and the Nasdaq Composite has fallen by more than 8%.

Intel shares were the S&P 500's best performer of the week after the company announced it had named semiconductor industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as its new CEO. Intel shares rose nearly 17% after this news.

Palantir Technologies has led the artificial intelligence (AI) sector’s growth. This company’s shares rose 8% on Friday. The reason is that US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s statement that he will support the government budget in 2025 has dispelled concerns about a possible US government shutdown. This has fueled a stock market recovery, including a rise in AI stocks. These stocks had suffered heavy losses earlier when it was assumed that the Trump administration might cut the defense budget. Since Palantir receives huge orders from the defense sector, its shares eventually lost almost 40% of their value after several weeks of decline.

Semtech (SMTC) shares rose 15% Friday after this semiconductor manufacturing company reported better-than-expected results. Semtech reported adjusted earnings of $0.40 per share for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.31. Net sales rose 30% year-over-year to $251 million, also beating estimates.

DocuSign shares rose nearly 20% Friday after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results for fiscal year 2025. Earnings per share were $0.86. The company’s CEO, Allan Thygesen, said its new contract management platform—powered by AI—is seeing growing demand. The platform, which launched last year, helps businesses more easily create, organize and analyze contracts, saving time and money.

On March 11, a total of 35 billion drams of government bonds were placed on Armenia’s stock market, and they will be redeemed on April 29, 2027. The respective public auction had four participants, and the total amount of proposals submitted by them totaled 42.1 billion drams. The weighted average price of the placed government bonds was 98.0059 drams, and the yield was 9.4446 percent.

The US consumer confidence index fell sharply in March, reaching its lowest level in 2.5 years. The consumer confidence index fell to 57.9 in March from 64.7 in February. People are worried about President Trump’s tariffs, which they believe will raise prices and hurt the economy. Inflation expectations have also risen. Consumers now expect 4.9% inflation next year, the highest since November 2022, and 3.9% inflation over the next five years, the highest since 1993. Tariff uncertainty and changing economic policies are causing concern not only among consumers, but also among businesses. And this is putting pressure on the US Federal Reserve, which may need to adjust interest rates to control inflation. If consumer confidence continues to decline, this could lead to less spending, which would further hurt the economy.

In January, US jobs increased by 232,000 to 7.74 million. This shows that the country’s labor market is still steady for now. However, people are worried that future job demand may slow due to President Trump's tariffs and government spending cuts. Jobs have increased in retail, finance and health care, but fell in sectors such as professional services, entertainment and hospitality, and government jobs.


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

Apricot Capital is controlled by the Central Bank of RA.