Risk assets recovered strongly during the holiday-shortened (US Thanksgiving) session, with U.S. stocks leading the way. Japanese and European stocks rallied too. Bitcoin recovered slightly, and gold was higher. The catalyst was mainly growing expectations that the Fed would lower its policy rate at the December FOMC meeting. In the UK, chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered the tax-fuelled budget.

We were largely struggling but at least moving sideways until Friday, when the twin negative effects of a new tariffs and a weaker-than-expected jobs report pulled the rug from underneath investor sentiment. Risk assets faltered and safe haven assets rallied. Ouch!!

Concerns regarding tariffs and trade rhetoric faded a bit in the second half of the week in the U.S., which gave way to decent economic data and a strong start to the earnings season. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ hit record highs (again). Yields were under modest pressure at the long end of the curve.

DeepSeek wrecks outlook for AI companies; Mag 7 companies MSFT, META, TSLA and AAPL report earnings; FOMC expected to hold rates

Last week was mainly about the US election, which D Trump and the Republicans won in a landslide. The "Trump trade" was full on.

Last week was mainly about a trifecta of central bank decisions, with most attention focused on the Fed. The Fed Funds rate was reduced .50%