Oracle sees great investment in Europe’s future

21/07/2025 | Zurich Ireland

Weekly updates

There were further developments on the tariff front last week, and this had an impact on markets.

On Monday, US President Donald Trump threatened 30% levies on the EU and Mexico starting on 1st August. Reports suggest the White House is pushing for a minimum blanket charge of 15%-20% on all EU goods. The US president also gave Russia an ultimatum on its war with Ukraine, promising 100% tariffs if they do not secure a peace deal in 50 days.

In the US, headline CPI inflation increased to 2.7% in June, ahead of forecasts of 2.6%, while the core rate rose to 2.9%, below expectations of 3.0%. However, there was a devil in the details. Excluding vehicles, core goods rose by 0.5% MoM, the largest jump since June 2022.

Later in the week, the PPI index showed producer price inflation cooled from 2.6% to 2.3% in June, coming in below projections of 2.5%. US industrial production increased by 0.3% in June, beating forecasts of 0.1%. Retail sales also surprised on the upside, jumping 0.6% MoM having declined by -0.9% in May. Meanwhile, weekly initial jobless claims fell for the fifth week in a row.

The dollar strengthened during the week in response to the positive economic data. US equities were on the ascendancy, supported by strong Q2 earnings releases. Nvidia stock spiked over 4% after the US government allowed it to resume selling its H20 AI chips to China.

Equities in Europe finished the week in the red as Q2 earnings disappointed. This was despite news that Oracle will invest $3 billion in AI and cloud infrastructure in Germany and the Netherlands over the next five years.

In the UK, Chancellor Rachel Reeves outlined plans to deregulate Britain’s financial services industry in an effort to “boldly regulate for growth”. Meanwhile, the annual UK CPI inflation rate for June climbed to 3.6%, printing above consensus estimates of 3.4%, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.7%, ahead of expectations to hold firm at 4.6%

Equities

Global stocks finished up 0.9% in euro terms and up 0.5% in local terms last week. Year-to-date global markets are down by -1.7% in euro terms and up by 10.6% in local terms. The US market, the largest in the world, finished up 1.1% in euro terms and up 0.7% in local terms.

Fixed Income & FX

The US 10-year yield finished at 4.4% last week. The German equivalent finished at 2.7%. The Irish 10-year bond yield finished at 3.0%. The Euro/US Dollar exchange rate finished at 1.16, whilst Euro/GBP finished at 0.87.

Commodities

Oil finished the week at $67 per barrel and is down -16.4% year-to date in euro terms. Gold finished the week at $3,350 per troy ounce and is up 13.7% year-to-date in euro terms. Copper finished the week at $9,725 per tonne and is up 0.1% year to-date in euro terms.