Omnis Weekly Market Update – 3 November 2025

A mixed week for global equities, with Japan again the standout performer for the week, rallying over 6% to close out the month. This capped off the best month for Japanese equities in over 30 years.

 

Last week’s performance – major stock markets 

S&P 500	0.71%
Nikkei 225	6.31%
CSI 300	-0.43%
Euro Stoxx 50	-0.22%
FTSE 100	0.74%

 

Commentary:

US: Mega-cap technology stocks lead markets higher as AI spend continues
U.S. equity indexes closed the week mixed, with large-cap indexes posting gains and smaller-cap indexes declining. Market breadth was notably narrow as seven of the S&P 500’s eleven sectors were down. Mega-cap technology stocks led the way, benefiting from continued artificial intelligence spending. As of Friday morning, 64% of S&P 500 companies had reported earnings, with 83% posting earnings that beat analysts' expectations. From a macro perspective, the U.S. and China agreed to a 12-month trade truce. This will see a reduction of U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, a suspension of China’s export controls on rare earth materials and a resumption of China’s purchases of U.S. agricultural products. On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve announced that it would lower interest rates by 25 basis points (0.25 percentage points) to 3.75% - 4.00%, as was widely expected. Speaking after the meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell pushed back against investors who were expecting further easing this year, stating that another rate cut at the central bank’s December meeting “is not a foregone conclusion.”

Japan: Stocks soar as interest rates are left unchanged and hopes of a stimulus package boost sentiment
Japanese equities rocketed higher again following the Bank of Japan’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged and hopes of a large-scale economic stimulus package boosted sentiment. The Nikkei 225 indexes monthly increase of +16.6% in October was the biggest monthly move for Japanese equities since January 1994. Japanese technology stocks also benefited from strong results from Amazon and higher-than-expected sales forecasts from Apple. At the BoJ’s press conference, Governor Kazuo Ueda apparently maintained his hawkish stance and reiterated that “the likelihood of a rate hike is increasing.” However, he dropped any reference to the underlying inflation rate that he had previously emphasized and instead introduced a new condition for higher borrowing costs. On the economic data front, core consumer prices in Tokyo’s Ku area rose 2.8% year over year in October from 2.5% in September, exceeding market forecasts and remaining above the central bank’s 2% target.

China: Stocks ease on concerns of slowing economic growth

Mainland Chinese stock markets eased as concerns over slowing economic growth outweighed optimism surrounding the US-China trade truce. Concerns about China’s longer-term growth picked up after a recent high-level meeting of the country’s leaders failed to come up with any potent policy support.

 

Europe: Equities pullback as expectations for additional interest rate cuts waned

Major stock indexes were mixed. France’s CAC 40 Index fell 1.27%, Germany’s DAX pulled back 1.16%, and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 1.62%. As expected, the ECB kept interest rates unchanged for a third consecutive meeting, as inflation stayed near the 2% target. The central bank reiterated its policy guidance: Decisions will be made meeting by meeting, they will be data dependent, and there is no precommitment to a particular rate path. ECB President Christine Lagarde said that the inflation outlook is broadly unchanged and that the economy continues to grow. A preliminary estimate showed that annual headline inflation in the eurozone slowed to 2.1% in October from 2.2% in September, in line with economists’ forecasts in a FactSet poll.

 

UK: Stocks rise on favourable foreign exchange movements
UK stocks rose for the week, helped partly by a depreciation of the British pound against the U.S. dollar. A weaker pound lends support to UK equities, as many UK companies are multinational businesses with overseas revenues. The UK Nationwide House Price Index rose in October by 0.3% sequentially, beating forecasts for no change but slowing from the 0.5% increase posted in September. According to Bank of England data, net mortgage approvals for house purchases, a key indicator of future housing activity, increased by 1,000 to 65,900 in September, the highest level in nine months. The Bank of England meets this week, with traders largely expecting rates to be kept on hold, despite some analysts predicting a split decision.