WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW

Stay Informed with Our Seaspray Private Weekly Financial Market Review

Get the latest insights on global financial markets with our Weekly Market Review. In it we discuss the key financial headlines from the U.S, Europe, UK, Ireland, and Asia-Pacific, along with in-depth analysis of major asset classes, including:

Equities – U.S, Europe, and UK market trends
Bonds – Interest rate movements and fixed-income insights
Commodities – Oil, gold, and other key market drivers

Stay ahead of market trends with our expert insights. Read the latest update now!

Weekly Market Review: 07th September 2026

The Week in Numbers

Equity Markets

Equity Indices	Value	Weekly Change	YTD Change
S&P 500	7,718.60	+0.53%	+12.75%
NASDAQ	26,506.99	+0.82%	+14.05%
EuroStoxx50	6,392.93	-1.24%	+10.39%
EuroStoxx600	649.88	-0.66%	+9.74%
FTSE 100	10,831.09	+0.03%	+9.06%
ISEQ	14,513.90	+2.05%	+10.80%

Central Bank Interest Rates

Interest Rate	Current Rate	Direction	Rate Change
FED	3.75%	—	0
ECB	2.40%	—	0
BOE	3.75%	—	0

Government Bonds

Fixed Income	Yield	Weekly Change	YTD Change
US 10YR	4.78	+1.44%	+14.04%
US 2YR	4.37	-1.38%	+25.87%
German 10YR	3.33	+1.59%	+14.86%
UK 10YR	5.13	+0.85%	+13.07%
Irish 10YR	3.46	+0.29%	+12.79%

Foreign Exchange Currency Movements

FX	Value	Weekly Change	YTD Change
EUR/USD	1.161	+0.31%	-1.12%
EUR/GBP	0.858	+0.42%	-1.48%
GBP/USD	1.352	-0.14%	+0.36%

Key Events

08/09/2026 – Chinese Economic Data
10/09/2026 – European Central Bank Interest Rate decision

AI Adoption and the Wider Semiconductor Landscape

In our most recent Seaspray Private Financial Data Insight, we examine the rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence adoption and the infrastructure required to support its continued growth. AI-model usage has risen significantly, driving greater demand for computing capacity, semiconductors, memory chips, electricity, cooling systems and data-centre infrastructure. We explore how companies such as NVIDIA, ASML, TSMC, SK Hynix and Samsung are helping to power the expanding global AI ecosystem. While market valuations may fluctuate, the long-term structural demand supporting the broader AI investment cycle remains significant.

Stay Informed with Our Seaspray Private Weekly Financial Market Review

Equities – U.S, Europe, and UK market trends
Bonds – Interest rate movements and fixed-income insights
Commodities – Oil, gold, and other key market drivers

Stay ahead of market trends with our expert insights. Read the latest update now!

FINANCIAL HEADLINES

United States

NVIDIA has agreed to acquire open-source AI platform Hugging Face for around $13bn. The deal values Hugging Face at roughly three times its 2023 valuation of $4.5bn and represents NVIDIA’s largest outright acquisition of a company, surpassing its $6.9bn purchase of Mellanox. Hugging Face is a New York- and Paris-based AI company that operates the world’s most widely used platform for sharing open-source machine-learning models. Unlike proprietary models, open-source AI models are publicly accessible, allowing users to download and customise them according to their needs. The acquisition extends NVIDIA’s reach beyond silicon and into the open-source model and software layer, strengthening its position across the AI industry as rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic pursue the development of in-house chips.

Elsewhere, Revolut has secured provisional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national bank charter, marking a major step in its bid to launch a fully fledged American bank by 2027.

Europe & UK

In Europe, inflation across the Eurozone accelerated to 3.3% in August, up from 2.9% in July but in line with forecasts. The elevated rate was primarily driven by rising energy prices, with energy inflation accelerating to 14.3% in August from 10.3% in July, marking the fastest pace of price growth since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The European Central Bank is now expected to raise interest rates again this week, which would mark its second rate increase since 2023. The expected increase of 25bps is aimed at helping to curb inflationary pressures across the Eurozone.

In the UK, Uber announced last week that it had launched the country’s first robotaxi pilot in partnership with UK-based AI firm Wayve. The pilot will initially involve 15 autonomous Ford Mustang Mach-Es fitted with Wayve’s AI driving technology and licensed to operate in London. Each vehicle will have a human safety driver behind the wheel who can intervene if necessary.

Ireland

Irish inflation rose once again in August. The Central Statistics Office’s flash estimate put consumer price growth at 3.4% in August, from 3.1% in July, with energy the driver at almost 12% higher over the year. Stripping out energy and unprocessed food, the rate was a more contained 2.6%. More positively, manufacturing activity reached a near four-year high, with new orders growing at their fastest since 2022, and services activity expanded at its quickest pace since November. Employment was the caveat: services firms added no jobs, marking only the fourth such month since 2021

Asia-Pacific

Shein, one of the world’s most popular fast-fashion brands, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last week. However, shares in the retailer declined by as much as 10% on its first day of trading. The subdued debut stands in sharp contrast to other recent listings in Asia, with memory chipmaker CXMT seeing its shares rise by more than 400% on its opening day. Shein’s lacklustre performance has partly been attributed to stronger investor demand for the technology sector compared with the consumer sector. The company may also have missed an opportunity to list at a significantly higher valuation, having been valued at around $100 billion in 2022, when demand for its low-cost products soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, supported by significant social media interest among younger consumers.

ASSET CLASS REVIEW

Equities

In the United States, a war-driven inflation scare set the tone. Renewed exchanges of strikes between the United States and Iran, the prospect of fresh sanctions on Iranian banks and a warning from Tehran that it could halt Gulf oil exports pushed energy costs sharply higher and, with them, expectations of how long the Federal Reserve will need to keep policy tight. Shares fell in each of the first three sessions of September. Transport companies, whose fuel bills move directly with the oil price, and semiconductor makers, whose valuations are the most sensitive to higher interest rates, led the falls, while energy producers gained ground as crude climbed. The mood improved in the middle of the week as buyers returned to the most heavily sold areas, though the recovery did not undo the earlier falls and the three biggest sectors by weight all finished the period lower. In corporates, Dell delivered extremely positive earnings. The computer manufactures reported quarterly revenue that rose by 58% to a record $47bn, comfortably ahead of forecasts, and the company also raised its full-year revenue guidance to $192bn. The shares gained close to 11%, a reminder that demand for artificial-intelligence infrastructure has not been dented by the wider nervousness. For the week, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ closed 0.53% and 0.82% higher respectively.

In Europe, the same combination of higher energy prices and rising borrowing costs weighed on shares, compounded by euro area inflation moving back above 3% and hardening expectations of a European Central Bank increase. The market reached a one-month low mid-week before steadying. The sector pattern followed the interest-rate story closely: retailers were among the heaviest fallers, while banks, which earn more when rates are higher, advanced. There were strong individual performances — Novartis rose on positive late-stage trial results for a multiple sclerosis treatment. For the week, the Euro Stoxx 50 and STOXX Europe 600 closed -1.24% and -0.66% lower, respectively.

In the United Kingdom, the same inflation concerns held the market back, with London slipping to a two-week low before recovering on Friday. The largest listed companies, which earn most of their revenue abroad, held up better than domestically focused mid-sized firms. Telecommunications and healthcare shares led the Thursday recovery. For the week, the FTSE 100 closed 0.03% higher.

Bonds

Government borrowing costs rose sharply on both sides of the Atlantic. The yield on US 10 year government debt climbed above 4.78% last week, its highest since late 2023, as more expensive oil lifted inflation expectations and traders trimmed their bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts. A weaker-than-expected reading on private hiring took some of the pressure off later in the week. Along with this, a top Fed official, Chris Waller, stated he was inclined to keep interest rates at their current levels, which helped push yields lower on Thursday. In the United Kingdom the move was more severe still, the ten-year gilt yield reaching 5.29%, a level last seen in 2007, before easing back to 5.13% on Friday.

Commodities

Oil prices rose sharply last week, with Brent crude gaining around 8.5% to approximately $96 a barrel and WTI rising around 9% to roughly $91, leaving both at six-week highs. The move was primarily driven by supply concerns rather than demand, as renewed strikes between the United States and Iran, the prospect of further sanctions on Iranian banks and a warning from Tehran that it could halt exports raised fears of a significant disruption to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. OPEC and its partners were expected to leave output policy unchanged at their meeting on 6 September, offering little counterweight to the upward pressure on prices.

In metals, gold fell around -0.46% to approximately $4,430 an ounce, having touched its lowest level since early August. The metal was weighed down by rising government bond yields and a stronger US dollar, both of which reduced the relative attractiveness of holding gold. However, it recovered some ground towards the end of the week as yields and the dollar eased.

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