{"id":2344,"date":"2025-05-26T01:03:30","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T01:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/decodefunds.com.au\/?p=2344"},"modified":"2026-04-04T09:59:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T09:59:51","slug":"trivesta-weekly-markets-recap-highlight-and-insights-on-third-week-of-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/smsf\/trivesta-weekly-markets-recap-highlight-and-insights-on-third-week-of-may","title":{"rendered":"Trivesta Weekly Markets Recap: Highlight and Insights on third week of May"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Volatility Rises Amid Debt Concerns and Trade Tensions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

U.S. equity markets ended the week in the red, dragged down by surging Treasury yields and renewed trade frictions. The Nasdaq Composite led relative outperformance, falling 2.47%, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones both slipped into year-to-date losses. Small- and mid-cap indexes were hit hardest. U.S. markets will remain closed on Monday for Memorial Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midweek turbulence followed a disappointing 20-year Treasury auction, which pushed the 30-year yield to a new high since 2023. Yields spiked in response to Moody\u2019s recent downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt, citing concerns over rising deficits. The selloff deepened after the House approved President Trump\u2019s tax bill, fueling fears of ballooning federal debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, equity losses accelerated as Trump unveiled a sweeping 50% tariff on EU imports effective June 1, and threatened a 25% levy on iPhones unless Apple relocates production to the U.S., triggering a more than 3% drop in its shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Economic Indicators: Services Rebound but Price Pressures Mount<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After a sluggish April, U.S. business activity rebounded in May. The S&P Global Flash PMI showed services climbing from 50.8 to 52.3, while manufacturing rose to a three-month high of 52.3. Although sentiment remained cautious, it improved notably\u2014helped by a pause in further tariff escalation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, inflationary pressures persisted, with prices rising at their fastest pace since August 2022, largely due to tariffs. Export demand weakened and supply chain delays worsened. Some firms reportedly accelerated purchases to get ahead of future trade restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housing: Mixed Signals<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In April, existing home sales dipped 0.5% to a 4 million annualized pace\u2014marking the weakest April since 2009\u2014despite prices climbing for the 22nd consecutive month to $414,000. NAR\u2019s chief economist cited rising mortgage rates and latent demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, new home sales surged to 743,000 units in April\u2014well above the 690,000 consensus\u2014while the median new home price slipped 2% year-over-year to $407,200.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Index<\/strong><\/td>Close<\/strong><\/td>Weekly Change<\/strong><\/td>YTD Change<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
DJIA<\/td>41,603.07<\/td>-1,051.67<\/td>-2.21%<\/td><\/tr>
S&P 500<\/td>5,802.82<\/td>-155.56<\/td>-1.34%<\/td><\/tr>
Nasdaq Composite<\/td>18,737.21<\/td>-473.90<\/td>-2.97%<\/td><\/tr>
S&P MidCap 400<\/td>2,977.59<\/td>-110.63<\/td>-4.59%<\/td><\/tr>
Russell 2000<\/td>2,039.85<\/td>-73.40<\/td>-8.53%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(Data: Reuters via Yahoo!\u202fFinance and Bloomberg)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Europe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sentiment Sours Amid Trump\u2019s Tariff Threat<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

European equities broke a five-week winning streak as the STOXX Europe 600 dipped 0.75%. Germany\u2019s DAX fell 0.58%, France\u2019s CAC 40 dropped 1.93%, and Italy\u2019s FTSE MIB slumped 2.90%. The UK\u2019s FTSE 100 stood out with a modest 0.38% gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eurozone Composite PMI fell below the expansion threshold to 49.5, driven by a contraction in services and ongoing weakness in France and Germany. In response to heightened uncertainty, the European Commission slashed its 2025 growth forecast from 1.3% to 0.9%, citing rising trade frictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Germany revised Q1 GDP sharply higher to 0.4%, its fastest growth pace since Q3 2022, helped by stronger household consumption and net exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK posted mixed data: Inflation rose to 3.5% in April\u2014above expectations\u2014while retail sales beat forecasts, jumping 5.0% year over year. However, PMI readings signaled that private sector activity remained weak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tightening Signals Push Yields Higher<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Japanese markets retreated, with the Nikkei 225 down 1.57% and the TOPIX off 0.18%. Traders grew more confident in a rate hike by the Bank of Japan after inflation data showed persistence. The 10-year government bond yield surged to 1.55%, a 17-year high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Core inflation rose to 3.5%\u2014its highest since early 2022\u2014while machinery orders posted a surprise 13% gain in March. Yet, services growth moderated and manufacturing activity shrank in May. Meanwhile, Japanese officials lobbied Washington for broader tariff exemptions as trade talks resumed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mixed Recovery as Retail Lags<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s onshore benchmarks slipped, with the CSI 300 down 0.18% and the Shanghai Composite off 0.57%. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 1.10%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April\u2019s industrial output beat expectations with 6.1% annual growth, signaling resilience. However, retail sales disappointed, rising just 5.1%, while fixed asset investment slowed to 4% year-to-date, dragged down by weak property spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economists expect Beijing to deploy fiscal stimulus in stages to buffer tariff impacts and support consumer sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emerging Markets: Political and Policy Developments<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Romania<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bucharest Mayor Nicu\u0219or Dan secured a decisive win in the presidential election, defeating far-right rival George Simion. Despite the political relief, analysts warned that Romania\u2019s fragile fiscal position may prompt credit downgrades if lawmakers fail to stabilize the deficit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mexico<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The central bank cut its benchmark rate by 50 basis points to 8.50%, citing soft domestic growth and easing inflation. Policymakers hinted at more cuts of similar size, while maintaining a restrictive bias to curb inflationary risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S Volatility Rises Amid Debt Concerns and Trade Tensions U.S. equity markets ended the week in the red, dragged down by surging Treasury yields and renewed trade frictions. The Nasdaq Composite led relative outperformance, falling 2.47%, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones both slipped into year-to-date losses. Small- and mid-cap indexes were hit hardest. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"template-parts\/single-post-ai.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[18,17,19],"class_list":["post-2344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-smsf","tag-equities","tag-trade","tag-us"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2344"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3735,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344\/revisions\/3735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trivesta.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}