Weekly Market Review: 24th August 2026

In the United States, markets traded lower last week, with the AI trade losing steam once again and major chipmakers and AI-related companies among the biggest losers. Alongside this, concerns over the conflict in the Middle East kept inflationary pressures elevated, while higher bond yields and increased government spending also unnerved markets. Concerns around increased borrowing also extended to surging bond issuance from major AI hyperscalers, which are raising debt to support the rapid build-out of AI infrastructure. On the Middle East front, President Trump announced that the US was mounting a new campaign of economic pressure against Iran, aimed at further isolating the country by pressuring neighbouring nations to restrict trade. The UAE announced on Tuesday that it had suspended all trade and commercial activity with Iran, with the US warning of consequences for any country that continued to trade with Tehran. While much of the sentiment last week was negative, the conclusion of the Q2 earnings season showed that US corporates remain in a healthy state. According to FactSet, the blended revenue growth rate for the S&P 500 in Q2 was 15%, which would represent the highest rate recorded since Q4 2021. In corporate news, the standout story last week was Moderna, which rose to prominence following the development of its COVID-19 vaccine and has since continued to develop treatments in areas including oncology. Shares surged 177% on Wednesday after the company announced a successful late-stage trial of an experimental vaccine-based treatment for skin cancer. The treatment combines Moderna’s mRNA vaccine technology, which formed the basis of its COVID-19 vaccine, with an immunotherapy drug developed by Merck. For the week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed -1.25% and -2.27% lower.

In Europe, equity indices declined last week, tracking losses in the US, while the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz caused European natural gas prices to spike to multi-year highs. Technology companies also came under pressure, with ASML and Infineon declining by 2.2% and 4%, respectively, on Wednesday, tracking similar weakness in the US technology sector. For the week, the Euro Stoxx 50 and STOXX Europe 600 closed -1.49% and -0.81% lower respectively.

In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 continued to trade within a narrow range but managed to outperform other major indices later in the week. The 2.9% inflation reading for July was also in line with expectations, easing some concerns around the inflation outlook, although markets continue to anticipate a rate hike before year-end. On the commodities front, as demand for gold increased, so too did shares in listed gold miners. Fresnillo and Endeavour Mining surged by more than 7%, while other miners, including Glencore and Anglo American, rose by almost 5%. The FTSE 100 closed 0.24% higher for the week.