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| This week's gainers and losers |
Up: Salesforce +13.03%: The cloud-based software business has raised its forecast for fiscal year 2026, thanks to strong demand from businesses for its AI agent platform, Agentforce. Meta +3.93%: According to Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg's group is considering reducing its metaverse budget by up to 30%. This cost reduction is welcome news, given that the company is spending tens of billions of dollars on AI. Pure Storage -20.83%: The specialist in data storage and management solutions is continuing its aggressive spending policy, while hinting at a possible transition to a subscription model: a prospect that does little to reassure the markets. Kroger -6.79%: Consumer caution has led the American food retailer to revise its annual sales forecasts downward. The group has been particularly affected by the temporary suspension of the federal SNAP food assistance program. Snowflake -8.94%: The cloud and data analytics company fell after issuing forecasts that were deemed too cautious, despite a solid quarter and new AI-related announcements. The market is concerned about a slowdown in growth and discounts on certain contracts. |
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| Commodities |
Energy: Crude oil prices are stagnating, much like the discussions between Moscow and Washington on Ukraine, which have so far failed to yield any significant progress. Ukraine is maintaining pressure on Russian energy infrastructure. After targeting two oil tankers in the Black Sea last week, the Ukrainian army claims to have struck the Russian oil refinery in Syzran. Still on the geopolitical front, tensions between the United States and Venezuela are intensifying, which could disrupt Venezuelan oil exports in the event of US intervention. Finally, OPEC+ is maintaining its production target for early 2026. Discussions on members' maximum production capacity remain a source of internal conflict. In terms of prices, Brent is trading at around $63, compared to $58.30 for WTI. Metals: Copper set a new record on the London Metal Exchange (LME), reaching $11,450 per ton. This increase is due to a weaker dollar and a decline in production in Chile, the world's leading producer. Gold is also gaining ground at $4,235. The precious metal is benefiting from purchases by central banks, with net purchases of 53 tons in October according to the World Gold Council. Poland and Brazil stand out with significant purchases. In the shorter term, gold is benefiting from two major factors: the decline of the greenback and the general expectation of lower interest rates from the Fed. Silver also continues its upward trend and is trading at $58.20. Agricultural products: Wheat prices are stabilizing in Chicago. The market is closely monitoring developments in the Black Sea, while on the production side, global supply remains abundant. A bushel of wheat (March 2026 contract) is trading at around 539 cents. Soybeans are losing some ground (1128 cents per bushel, January 2026 contract), penalized by the absence of new Chinese orders. Finally, corn is up slightly at 445 cents (March 2026 delivery). |
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| Macroeconomics |
Macro: All eyes are on the next meeting of the US Federal Reserve, scheduled for next Wednesday. While investors are 87% certain of a 25 basis point rate cut, it is Jerome Powell's speech that is eagerly awaited, especially since he adopted a more hawkish than dovish stance in his last address. The latest macroeconomic figures on inflation were perfectly in line with expectations. The PCE rose by 0.2% month-on-month. Following this release, long-term rates remained stable, with the US 10-year yield still trading within a horizontal consolidation channel between 3.95% and 4.17%. For their part, equity indices are still holding up despite high valuation levels, mainly due to the prospects of rising corporate earnings. Crypto: You (once again) needed a strong stomach to follow Bitcoin this week. After losing up to $7,000 on Monday alone, falling to $83,800, it finally rebounded the next day, rising back above the $90,000 threshold. These sharp movements allowed BTC to end the week roughly in balance. Beyond the technical factors that fueled Tuesday's rebound, the price also reacted to the announcement by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it intends to roll out a more favorable framework for digital asset companies, under the name “innovation exemption.” This measure is in line with the development of the ecosystem and has helped to reassure crypto investors. Another decision supporting the market: Bank of America announced that starting next month, its wealth management advisors will be able to recommend cryptocurrency allocations in their clients' portfolios. So, another small breath of optimism. Overall, the major cryptocurrencies followed the market leader by remaining close to neutral: ether (ETH) rose +3.4% to around $3,000, Solana (SOL) gained +2% to $136, Binance Coin (BNB) rose +1.30% to $886, while XRP fell 4% to $2.06. |
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| Things to read this week | ||||||
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*The weekly movements of indexes and stocks displayed on the dashboard are related to the period ranging from the open on Monday to the sending time of this newsletter on Friday. The weekly movements of commodities, precious metals and currencies displayed on the dashboard are related to a 7-day rolling period from Friday to Friday, until the sending time of this newsletter. These assets continue to quote on weekends. |
