News & Insight • Weekly Newsletters

12 September 2025 | William Buckhurst

That Was The Week That Was

MACRO NEWS

The monthly decline in US producer price data was a surprise as August PPI was -0.1% month on month vs 0.3% expected. July’s was also revised lower as it showed a cooling of the economy and may lead to inflation coming down. Data showed that services costs declined 0.2% as margins at wholesalers and retailers fell 1.7%, matching the largest drop in data going back to 2009 and reversing an outsized increase in July.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou lost a confidence motion in parliament, leading to a third change of government in a year. There were only 194 votes in support of Bayrou with 364 voting against with the result meaning that President Macron named a fifth new Prime Minister in two years – Sebastian Lecornu.

Japan’s prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, has said he is to step down following the defeat in July’s upper house election.

Geopolitical tensions remained elevated as Israel confirmed that it had conducted a strike against senior Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital of Doha stating that the move was “a wholly independent Israeli operation” and Poland stated that it had sought consultation with NATO after shooting down drones in the early hours which crossed into its territory during Russia’s latest large air strike on Ukraine with Poland calling the incursion an “act of aggression.”

Gold and silver continue to climb higher.

COMPANY NEWS

With Radiohead selling out their latest tour and Oracle hitting Top of The Pops, this week did feel like a trip back to the ‘90s. No stock in the S&P 500 worth more than $500bn had ever risen by more than 25% in a day. Oracle shares rose by 36%! This was even with revenue and earnings for the quarter both fractionally missing expectations. However, the company disclosed that they had signed several multibillion contracts that could lead to $455bn of sales, up 359% from this time last year. Management noted that after 2026, they see Cloud sales rising to $32bn, $73bn and then $114bn.

Ying and yang. Unfortunately, shares in semiconductor design software company, Synopsys fell by a similar amount after reporting results that missed expectations with the main headline being the 7.7% revenue decline seen in the Design IP unit. Cadence also fell on the news.

Apple announced the new iPhone 17 Air, which is a third thinner than current models, and contains a new A19 chip, whilst also introducing new versions with enhanced cameras and battery life. In some countries the phone will not have a physical SIM card.

Starlink (via SpaceX) agreed to acquire wireless spectrum from EchoStar for around $17billion, buying AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licenses designated for satellite and mobile communications. EchoStar shares reacted by rocketing 20% higher as it stated that it would pay down some of its $25bn of debt.

Anglo American announced that it had agreed to acquire Canadian miner Teck Resources in a cash and stock deal creating a $50bn company with excellent copper assets. The transaction still requires two thirds approval, which includes China Investment Corp.

Novo Nordisk announced its third profit warning – they tend to come in three – and the shares rose 4% after revealing a cost cutting programme that involved reducing its workforce by 9,000 leading to DKK8bn of annualised savings. Full year guidance is now expected to be 4-10%, down from the already reduced 10-16%.

Ocado shares fell on comments from its US partner, Kroger, suggesting it was going to take a “hard look” at its automated facilities. On the flip side, Fevertree beat doomy forecasts sending the shares higher.

ELLISON FAMILY OFFICE

On the back of the Oracle move, it seems like the next generation of the Ellison family were also in the mood for the limelight with offers for some more Hollywood assets. (Larry Ellison was temporarily the richest person in the world this week – taking over Elon Musk for 24 hours).

David Ellison, son of Larry, founded Skydance Media in 2006 – probably most famous for producing Top Gun: Maverick. With the ink barely dry on the Paramount acquisition (Approved on 24^th July), a Wall Street Journal report suggests that the Ellisons are now looking to add to their collection of Hollywood assets (Larry’s daughter Megan founded Annapurna Pictures) by acquiring Warner Bros Discovery in a mostly-cash deal. WBD shares ended the week higher – valuing the company at $47bn.

ICE CREAM DREAMS

Unilever provided details around its planned demerger of its Ice Cream division, which is to be called The Magnum Ice Cream Company – including brands such as Magnum (of course) but also Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Wall’s, Popsicle, Cornetto, Good Humor and Talenti.

Unilever stated that the new company would target annual organic sales growth of 3-5% from next year with plans to improve margins by 0.5% annually from next year. The business would also focus on cost cutting with €500m of savings targeted over the medium term, leading to €900m of free cash flow. Management added that they planned to complete the demerger in November and retain a 20% stake leaving Unilever to focus on Beauty & Wellbeing and Personal Care.

THE WEEK AHEAD

• The Federal Reserve meet 16-17^th September and are very likely to announce an interest rate cut.
• Inflation data and central bank rate decisions this week in the UK and Japan too.
• China releases a deluge of economic data including retail sales, industrial output and the unemployment rate.
• In the US, General Mills and FedEx release quarterly results. In the UK we hear from Barratt Developments, Kier Group, Renishaw and Next.

THE WEEK IN HISTORY

2008: President of the New York Federal Reserve, Timothy Geithner, calls an emergency meeting to discuss the future of Lehman Brothers, including a possible immediate liquidation.

2012: QE3 is launched. The Federal Reserve announces open-ended purchases of $40bn per month of agency MBS sparking a broad equity rally. This was their third “quantitative easing” programme in almost as many years.