News & Insight • Weekly Newsletters

30 January 2026 | William Buckhurst

That Was The Week That Was

MACRO NEWS

President Trump announced that he intends to appoint Kevin Warsh as the new Chairman of the Federal Reserve stating that “a lot of people think that this person could have been there a few years ago”.  A former inflation hawk, it appears that Warsh now favours lower rates – it is notable that he is the son-in-law of Republican billionaire donor, Ronald Lauder.

Before that, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at 3.5-3.75% and noted that most Committee members believed that policy is neutral, indicating that there was no immediate rush to cut rates further having cut rates three times in the second half of 2025. In addition, Chair Powell commented that the Supreme Court review of the President’s attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook “is perhaps the most important legal case in the Fed’s 113-year history.” Mr. Powell declined to comment on whether he intended to stay on as a committee member once his time as Fed Chair comes to an end.

We also had the US weekly jobless claims coming in at 209,000 (vs. 205,000 expected) alongside a 10,000 upward revision to the previous week, which now stands at 210,000.

The news in the UK was relatively quiet as Starmer visited China.

Precious metals (and copper) continued to go higher until a large reversal on Friday (please see FOMO Ag on the next page).

COMPANY NEWS

Microsoft announced a small miss on the cloud revenue (Azure), as they made space available for their own developers, sending the shares down 10%. It seems to be a stock suffering from being AI roadkill rather than fundamental; yet their moat on AI is still exceptionally strong. Whereas Meta announced a similar increase in capital expenditure, but the shares rose 10%. Fellow tech company, IBM had good results where guidance of 5% sales growth seems to be very conservative.  Apple had very strong results – iPhone sales were up but the parabolic rise in memory costs held back profitability.

Europe’s largest company, SAP, missed analysts forecasts slightly (1% miss on its cloud backlog) and the shares fell 16% sending them into second place. ASML announced a very strong back log of orders.

We have mentioned several software companies under pressure as the market believes the business models will be disrupted by AI. Experian was down 20% in January and so decided to start a large buy back.

Visa continues to compound nicely as results showed 15% top-line growth, yet its valuation is at an historic low.

KLA Corporation is only up 12% this year after falling 15% on results that were very good but could not match analysts’ elevated expectations.

Companies in Japan that report are not moving as we approach the election on 8^th February. the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial results were fine whilst automation experts Keyence reported strong revenue growth of 11% especially in China but shares were muted. In the same sector but listed closer to home, ABB rallied strongly as the results showed the strength in not just electrification but also the motion sector.

European pharma giants, Sanofi and Roche continued to perform well with 10% and 5% revenue growth. US lab equipment company Thermo Fisher showed 7% revenue growth but cautious on guidance given continued pressure on academic and research budgets.

AJ Gallagher suggested 6% growth and more M&A.

Ashtead fell on the back of poor United Rentals numbers which sent the latter down 15%.

ZOOM ALORS

France has officially told Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Cisco’s Webex, Google Meet and other US videoconferencing companies that its public sector will be using a state-built alternative that Paris says keeps its data at home. The platform, called Visio, is being developed and rolled out by the government's Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM) and is set to become the default video meeting tool for public servants.

"This project is a concrete illustration of the Prime Minister and the Government's commitment to regaining our digital independence," said David Amiel, minister for the Civil Service and State Reform. "We cannot risk having our scientific exchanges, our sensitive data, and our strategic innovations exposed to non-European actors. Digital sovereignty is simultaneously an imperative for our public services, an opportunity for our businesses, and insurance against future threats." 

FOMO AG

Precious metals, as a so-called store of value, have surged over the last two years after a long period of stagnating prices – gold floated around the $1,800 mark for the best part of a decade before almost trebling from 2022 onwards. But waning confidence in fiat currencies (as fiscal deficits expand) and pressures on central banks are not exactly new phenomena – albeit under the Trump administration they appear particularly accentuated, or perhaps just more audible.

It felt to us like there must be something more going on – particularly when bond markets, a far more liquid and conventional way for investors to express displeasure at the high levels of government debt, have held up. All evidence suggests that despite its obvious attractions, there are clear signs of excess in the gold (Au) and silver (Ag) markets with the price having risen due to the fear of missing out (FOMO)

Gold had soared to $5,600/oz but ended the week at $4,800, but silver which has risen 62% in the year to date, fell over 25% to close the week at just under $90/oz.

THE WEEK AHEAD

US Manufacturing data, followed by European figures. On Thursday we hear from the Bank of England and their interest rate decision which is expected to be a hold.

Next week we have the second wave of large tech company results with Alphabet, Amazon, AMD and Palantir all reporting. Closer to home we have GSK results on Wednesday and then Thursday we have results from Compass, Shell, Vodafone and BT in the UK.

THE WEEK IN HISTORY

2001: The NYSE moves to reporting prices on a decimal system. The exchange had been based on the fractional system used by 17^th century Spanish investors who traded gold doubloons, split in half, quarter or even one-eighth pieces so traders could count them on their fingers – while skipping their thumbs.

2003: AOL Time Warner announces an annual loss of $98.7bn, the largest loss ever reported by a company. The loss was a result of write downs from AOL and Time Warner’s ill-fated 2000 merger.