Wall Street hit fresh records as tech rebounds and oil slides on Hormuz hopes.
This week @ 15:30 pm Friday 7th August in London.
Markets:
- FTSE 100 rose 0.45% this week to 10,916.63, as strength in mining and energy stocks offset early-week weakness in AstraZeneca following reports of merger talks with Bristol-Myers Squibb.
- S&P 500 rose 2.94% this week to 7,709.96, reaching fresh record highs as strong corporate earnings and a rebound in technology shares drove a broad-based rally.
- Nasdaq Composite rose 4.56% this week to 26,530.23, as technology shares extended their recovery on continued strength in AI-related names and building expectations of a US interest rate cut.
- STOXX Europe 50 rose 1.45% this week to 5,533.47, as European equities pushed to fresh record highs on a strong corporate earnings season and easing Middle East risk.
Bonds:
- UK 10-year gilt yields fell 10.6bps this week to 4.93%, as falling oil prices eased inflation concerns and reinforced expectations that the Bank of England will hold a gradual policy stance.
- US 10-year Treasury yields fell 7.3bps this week to 4.64%, after a weaker than expected July jobs report increased expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut.
Commodities:
- Brent crude fell 6.53% this week to $82.19/bbl, as progress in talks between the US, Iran and Oman raised hopes of reopening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.
- Gold rose 7.42% this week to $4,411.90/oz, supported by a weaker dollar and falling Treasury yields following the disappointing US jobs report.
- Copper rose 2.39% this week to $6.62/lb, trading near record highs as traders continued to pull supply into the US ahead of an expected decision on import tariffs.
FX:
- GBP/USD fell 0.29% this week to 1.34425, holding within a tight range as markets awaited Friday’s US non-farm payrolls report.
- GBP/EUR fell 0.32% this week to 1.1660, easing back from near one-year highs as euro buyers returned following recent dollar weakness.
Macro:
- US non-farm payrolls fell by 23,000 in July, a sharp miss against expectations for an increase of around 83,000, though the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, reinforcing bets on a Federal Reserve rate cut.
- The US, Iran and Oman made progress towards an arrangement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, easing some of the geopolitical risk premium priced into oil and broader markets.
Company news:
- AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb, both held on our list, were in focus after reports emerged of early-stage merger talks between the two companies, which could value a combined group at close to $400bn. AstraZeneca shares fell as much as 9% early in the week before recovering later on reports that a deal may not go ahead.
- Alphabet and Microsoft shares extended gains this week, building on stronger than expected quarterly results reported in late July, as investor sentiment around AI infrastructure spending continued to improve.
What we will be keeping an eye on next week…
w/c 10th Aug 2026
- US CPI (July): Wednesday 12 August, the key data release for Federal Reserve policy expectations.
- UK GDP: Thursday 13 August.
- US PPI (July) and weekly jobless claims: Thursday 13 August.
- US Retail Sales: Friday 14 August.
Enjoy the weekend
Markets move constantly and the numbers in this update will change. This is a snapshot only, pulled together from a range of sources, and is meant as a quick guide rather than a precise record. It’s not investment advice and shouldn’t be used to make trading or investment decisions. If you need more accurate or specific data over a defined period, please get in touch with a member of the team who will be happy to help.
Important Information
This article is for information only and does not constitute advice or recommendation and you should not make any investment decisions based on it. The views and opinions of this article are those of Casterbridge at the time of writing and may change without notice. Any opinions should not be viewed as indicating any guarantee of return from investments managed by Casterbridge nor as advice of any nature. It is important to remember that past performance and the value of an investment, and any income from it, may go down as well as up and the investor may not get back the original amount invested.