In the United States, markets were cautious last week ahead of the final Federal Reserve rate decision of 2025. Although a cut was widely expected, investors were uneasy about the outlook for interest rates heading into 2026, when a new Fed Chair is due to be appointed as Jerome Powell’s term concludes. In corporate news, it was a whirlwind week for mergers and acquisitions, with one of the most high-profile bidding wars in years unfolding in real time. Two weeks ago, Warner Bros Discovery—one of the most recognisable Hollywood and global film studios—agreed to sell its studios and streaming services to Netflix in a deal valued at $72 billion. The transaction would have given Netflix control of its famous studios but would have excluded the Warner Bros Global Networks division, which includes CNN and TNT. However, just as the deal appeared close to completion, Paramount—another major Hollywood studio—launched a hostile takeover bid worth $108 billion on Monday evening. The all-cash offer is to be financed by a consortium including the Ellison family, who own Paramount, along with sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, is also involved in the proposal. The hostile bid follows several efforts by Paramount to court Warner Bros and could now escalate into a contentious battle that may ultimately be decided by a shareholder vote. In technology, NVIDIA received approval from the White House last week to sell its H200 semiconductor chips to China, marking a major breakthrough for the company. The H200 is considered significantly more powerful than any chip currently produced in China and surpasses the H20 chip, which had previously been the only NVIDIA model permitted for sale in the country. Beijing has stated, however, that it will limit the volume of imports in line with its strategy to achieve self-sufficiency in semiconductor production. Elsewhere, Amazon announced plans to invest $35 billion in India by 2030, focusing primarily on expanding its AI capabilities and boosting exports to the world’s most populous nation. The move follows similar commitments from Microsoft and Google in recent months, the latter marking the largest single foreign investment in the company’s history. Oracle, meanwhile, delivered weaker-than-expected earnings, missing analyst estimates for cloud revenue, which rose to $7.98 billion, and for its core infrastructure business, which grew 68% year-on-year to $4.08 billion. In the entertainment and technology space, Disney—owner of some of the world’s most valuable intellectual properties—announced a $1 billion investment in OpenAI, marking one of the first significant crossovers between the entertainment sector and the AI industry. The agreement allows OpenAI to use characters from franchises such as Star Wars and Marvel within its Sora video and image-generation software, enabling user-generated content featuring some of the world’s most iconic characters. However, this applies only to animated versions and not to likenesses of real-life actors, such as Harrison Ford as Han Solo. For the week, the S&P 500 closed -0.66% while the Nasdaq ended -1.96% lower.
In Europe, equity markets were muted until the US Federal Reserve’s rate cut on Wednesday, after which they closed the week higher. In corporate developments, TotalEnergies—one of Europe’s largest energy companies—announced last week that it would merge its existing oil and gas fields in the North Sea with Neo Next, with TotalEnergies becoming the largest shareholder in a new entity named Neo Next+. The deal will create the largest independent gas producer in the North Sea, with expected production of more than 250,000 barrels of oil and gas per day in 2026. Meanwhile, UBS—one of the world’s largest Swiss banks—saw its shares rise to a 17-year high as investor sentiment improved amid hopes of a potential compromise in the ongoing dispute between the country’s banks and the Swiss government over capital requirements. For the week, both the EuroStoxx 50 and the STOXX 600 closed higher, up +0.20% and +0.08% respectively.
In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 rose last week despite weaker-than-expected economic data ahead of the Bank of England’s rate decision this week. Miners and financials led the gains, with Fresnillo outperforming on the back of record-high silver prices. In corporate news, Diageo—one of the world’s largest drinks companies—announced that it is opening a new Guinness-themed attraction in Covent Garden, London. The site will feature a microbrewery, restaurant, gift shop and several bars, all centred around the stout. The launch comes amid a surge in popularity for Guinness following Netflix’s TV drama, House of Guinness. On the economic front, the UK economy contracted by 0.1% in October, missing expectations for a 0.1% expansion, as uncertainty surrounding the recent Budget contributed to a modest slowdown. The contraction also increases the likelihood of a Bank of England rate cut this week. The FTSE 100 closed -0.21% lower for the week.
