Market Updates

Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump kicked off a ‘trade war’ with its top three trading partners by raising tariffs to 25% on all imports from Mexico and Canada, and 10% on imports from China.

Tech stocks, and the broader equity indices, fell sharply on Monday. Progress made by Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek has raised concerns about US leadership in the sector.

In this weekly market update, we’re continuing to answer some questions we’ve received following the release of our 2025 Market Outlook.

First and foremost, we would like to wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2025. We’re using the first weekly market update of 2025 to answer some questions we’ve received following the release of our 2025 Market Outlook.

The US Federal Reserve (Fed) delivered a ‘hawkish’ quarter-point interest rate cut to bring the key policy rate target range to 4.25-4.50%. While investors expected this move, what’s new is that the US central bank also signalled a slower pace of rate reductions: the policy statement was updated to include the consideration of the “extent and timing” of additional adjustments.

After around 14 years of civil war, the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria has caught the world by surprise. Initial market reactions have been muted. Oil prices have risen by around USD1/bbl, while other markets (global equities and currencies) haven’t budged, suggesting the unfolding of events in Syria is not causing any worries in financial markets.