Tariff de-escalation, dovish Fed & Alphabet earnings boost appetite

Yesterday allowed global risk investors to take a deeper breath. Dovish comments from Federal Reserve (Fed) members, and de-escalation of trade tensions between the US and China allowed a further recovery in global equities. Optimism was backed today by the Chinese announcement that it is considering easing tariffs on some US imports, further signalling de-escalation of trade tensions and supporting earlier comments from the Trump administration that triple-digit tariffs could come ‘substantially’ down. On the individual front, Google - that announced its latest results yesterday after the bell - showed better-than-expected revenue growth for both its advertising and cloud segments, justifying the company’s AI spending plans, hence giving AI investors a timid smile, indicating that the AI theme isn’t dead—it’s just been overshadowed by Trump’s trade news. Nasdaq futures are leading gains this morning, and sentiment across major markets suggests that the week will likely end in a better mood than when it started! Let’s cross our fingers that the weekend news don’t spoil the latest optimism. Listen to find out more!