WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW

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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: 26th October 2026

The Week in Numbers

Equity Markets

Equity Indices	Value	Weekly Change	YTD Change
S&P 500	7,663.43	-1.15%	+11.95%
NASDAQ	26,008.86	-2.41%	+11.90%
EuroStoxx50	6,073.54	-1.53%	+4.87%
EuroStoxx600	636.24	-0.95%	+7.44%
FTSE 100	10,686.97	-1.41%	+7.61%
ISEQ	14,014.50	-0.47%	+6.99%

Central Bank Interest Rates

Interest Rate	Current Rate	Direction	Rate Change
FED	4.00%	—	0
ECB	2.65%	—	0
BOE	3.75%	—	0

Government Bonds

Fixed Income	Yield	Weekly Change	YTD Change
US 10YR	4.97	-1.80%	+18.67%
US 2YR	4.66	-1.14%	+34.24%
German 10YR	3.32	-2.30%	+14.51%
UK 10YR	5.33	-0.88%	+17.41%
Irish 10YR	3.48	-1.77%	+13.33%

Foreign Exchange Currency Movements

FX	Value	Weekly Change	YTD Change
EUR/USD	1.119	-0.05%	-4.71%
EUR/GBP	0.836	-0.55%	-4.04%
GBP/USD	1.337	+0.52%	-0.69%

Key Events

28/10/2026 – US Interest Rate Decision
28/10/2026 – Earnings – Microsoft, Alphabet
29/10/2026 – ECB Interest Rate Decision
29/10/2026 – Earnings – Amazon

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

The US housing market showed fresh signs of strain as mortgage rates held close to their highest level in almost three years. Contracts to buy existing homes fell to their lowest level since records began in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors, with signings down in every region of the country. The association said conditions had weakened because of fast-rising mortgage rates, with the average 30-year fixed rate holding at 7.4% this week, compared with about 6.3% a year ago. Housebuilding also slowed, with work starting on new homes at one of the weakest paces since the pandemic, while permits for single-family homes, a guide to future building, fell to their lowest level since early 2023. The jobs market, by contrast, remained firm. The number of Americans making new claims for unemployment benefits fell to 194,000 last week, close to the lowest level since the late 1960s.

Europe & UK

In Europe, demand for electrified cars continued to rise. New car registrations across the European Union, the UK and the European Free Trade Association rose 10.2% on a year earlier in September. Battery-electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid cars together accounted for 76.2% of new registrations. Battery-electric registrations rose 59.9%, while plug-in hybrids increased by 24%. Hybrid registrations rose by a more modest 5.3%, while registrations of petrol and diesel cars fell sharply, declining by 20.6% and 28.2%, respectively.

In the UK, the rate of inflation rose more than expected in September, climbing to 3.5% from 3.1% in August, its highest level in almost a year. Higher fuel and household energy costs drove much of the increase, while price growth also picked up across services. Separate figures showed that government borrowing reached £24.5 billion in September, the second-highest September on record and above official forecasts.

Ireland

Bloomberg plans to double its Irish workforce by the end of the decade, as part of a significant expansion of its software engineering and data operations in Dublin. The business, technology and financial information company has already more than doubled its Irish staff over the past 12 months, to 190 people. Bloomberg opened a new Dublin office in late 2025, combining two previous sites into a single, purpose-built hub that is now its largest in the European Union. The company has also made two senior appointments to lead the next phase of growth, with Amanda Brady joining as Director for Ireland and Richard Norton becoming Head of Engineering for Ireland. IDA Ireland said the decision was a strong endorsement of Ireland’s position as a leading location for global technology, data and financial services companies.

Asia-Pacific

Japan has launched the first mission to make a return trip to the Mars system. Its Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center early on Tuesday morning, local time, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which is leading the mission alongside NASA and European space agencies, confirmed that the probe had separated from its H3 rocket and entered its planned orbit. The spacecraft is due to reach Mars in August 2027 and will spend about three years studying Phobos, the larger of the planet’s two moons, before bringing at least 10 grams of material back to Earth in 2031. Scientists hope the samples will help explain how the moons formed and offer clues about the origins of life.

ASSET CLASS REVIEW

Equities

In the United States, technology shares recovered from the previous week’s sell-off, helped by strong results from SpaceX. Memory-chip makers and Amazon led a rebound on Monday, and on Tuesday a run of better-than-expected results lifted industrial and defence companies, with 3M up almost 6%. SpaceX, which listed in June in the largest stock market flotation on record, rose almost 8% on Wednesday after its revenue grew 161%, driven by its artificial intelligence business. Elon Musk also said that SpaceX and Tesla had set up committees to explore a possible merger, and Tesla rose more than 3% on the day. Results from the largest technology companies also got under way. Netflix’s profit beat forecasts, but its shares fell more than 5% on Wednesday after it cut its advertising forecast for the year and gave a weaker-than-expected outlook. Meta’s revenue rose 26% to a record $64.6 billion, comfortably ahead of expectations, although a $25 billion legal settlement weighed on profit. Tesla’s earnings also beat forecasts, helped by stronger margins, even as revenue from its car business fell 3% from a year earlier. Tesla’s shares fell before the market opened on Thursday after it cut its spending forecast for the year. After a steep sell off on Thursday, for the week the S&P 500 and NASDAQ closed -1.15% and -2.41% lower, respectively.

In Europe, unrest in France weighed on shares at the start of the week. Strong results from Randstad and EssilorLuxottica lifted the STOXX Europe 600 by 0.9% on Wednesday, although Carrefour fell almost 14% after warning that the disruption in France would hurt its earnings. SAP reported quarterly revenue above €10 billion for the first time, as cloud revenue grew 26%, and said full-year cloud revenue would be at the upper end of its forecast range. Nokia’s profit also beat expectations, with sales to artificial intelligence and cloud customers more than doubling from a year earlier. On Thursday, Hermès fell more than 7% after a modest rise in sales, while chip shares fell again. For the week, the Euro Stoxx 50 and STOXX Europe 600 closed -1.53% and -0.95% lower, respectively.

In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 fell 1.1% on Monday, ending a run of three daily gains, as Barclays dropped 3.5% after a report that the Bank of England was examining how the bank recorded certain private credit loans. The index edged higher on Wednesday despite the rise in UK inflation. On Thursday, Barclays reported a 12% rise in quarterly profit and a new £500 million share buyback, although profit fell short of forecasts. For the week, the FTSE 100 closed -1.41% lower.

Bonds

US government bond yields eased over the week, with the ten-year yield at about 4.97% on Friday, down from 5.19% a week earlier. Weekly jobless claims fell to 194,000, close to the lowest level since the late 1960s, pointing to continued stability in the labour market. Market pricing pointed to no change at the Fed’s October meeting, while all 100 economists in a Reuters poll forecast an increase in December. In the UK, the ten-year gilt yield remained close to 5.4% after inflation rose more than expected to 3.5%, with markets pricing a Bank of England rate increase in November.

Commodities

Brent crude rose about 5% over the week to around $111 a barrel, its highest level since May. Prices fell on Monday after the US waived some sanctions on Russia, which could allow more Russian fuel exports, but rose again as further Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia added to concerns over supplies from the Middle East. Gold fell about 2.5% to around $4,070 an ounce, as higher oil prices added to inflation concerns and the likelihood of further interest rate increases. Elsewhere in gold markets, the World Gold Council said on Monday that the value of the digital gold market has tripled since the start of 2025 to as much as $55 billion, offering exposure to the metal without the costs of buying physical bullion. The council also estimates that digital gold could grow by about 27% a year to 2031, taking the value of digital gold assets to as much as $170 billion.

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