Weekly Market Review: 2nd of September 2024

In the US, Kamala Harris has now raised $540mn since she succeeded Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate for the upcoming Presidential election. For the week, the S&P 500 closed 0.03% higher while the NASDAQ closed -1.48% due to a pullback in NVIDIA shares. In Europe, inflation data for the Euro Area and Germany were released last week, with the annual rate of inflation slowing in both economies for August. In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week met with the German Chancellor Olaf Schultz, with the PM hoping to agree a new treaty with Germany on market access, energy security and the environment. For the week, European and UK equities were positive, up between 0.71% and 1.31%. In Ireland, the latest flash estimate for the EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for Ireland showed that prices for consumer goods in Ireland have risen by a rate of 1.1%. In Asia Pacific, China has used a record level of renminbi, its national currency for cross border transactions in 2024 thus far, as the country continues to lower its dependence on the US dollar.