News & Insight • Weekly Newsletters

22 May 2026 | William Buckhurst

That Was The Week That Was

MACRO NEWS

Optimism that the Iran conflict is drawing to a close. Iran’s ISNA reported that Iran was in the process of responding to a US text, with the report also saying the US text “has narrowed the gaps to some extent” and Trump seemed happy.

US weekly initial jobless claims fell slightly to 209k in the week which was in line with expectations. Housing starts were also more resolute that predicted.

Japan's economy expanded at an annualised rate of 2.1% in the first quarter (versus +1.7% predicted), and the April CPI came in slightly lower than expected at 1.4% – the probability of a rate hike in June has gone down according to futures market.

Inflation in the UK was managed lower, but employment numbers continue to worsen with payroll employees down 100,000 in April (vs -10,000 expected), and the unemployment rate for the three months to March rose to 5.0%.

The FT’s Unhedged column makes the point that the Bank of England is, unlike most other central banks who allow bonds to roll off the books as they mature, actually selling bonds. It sold £825m of short-term paper and last week it sold £725m of 7-20-year debt. In a market where bonds are falling everywhere, “that’s not super helpful”, they said and added that, short of a full-scale crisis, it is unlikely to come to the rescue. 

COMPANY NEWS

Nvidia reported 85% sales growth to $81.6bn and projected revenue of around $91bn (vs. $87.4bn est.) at a 75% gross margin. Shares were flat as the market wanted a higher figure out to the future – astonishing growth whatever way you look at it, but it’s the slowing growth that the market really fears.

Takeaway. Uber put in an €11.5bn offer for Delivery Hero which was rebuffed. Expect a second course.

IBM rose nearly 16% this week as it secured a $1bn contract from the Commerce Department for its new quantum foundry, Anderon.

Walmart said that revenues for the first quarter of 2026 rose by 7% but offered a worse-than-expected projection. The world’s biggest retailer said that fuel costs, elevated by the Iran war, could lead to price rises. The firm’s forecast for net sales growth for the year remained at 4.5%. Investors had hoped for more; Walmart’s shares fell by around 7% on the day. 

Tax software providers, Intuit, fell 20% due to disappointing figures and plans for the future. Management decided cutting staff was the best option.

Richemont which makes three quarters of its revenue from jewelry announced good results with sales up 11% to €22,420m. Earnings slightly missed due to the expense of precious metals FX working against them. They boosted their returns through a special dividend.

Analog Devices beat on both the top and bottom lines, plus guidance but it wasn’t enough to move shares up.

Diploma is firing on all cylinders at the moment, and the shares are up by a third this year. The seals, control and life sciences business announced further upgrades as sales rose 17% in the first half of the year, 3% ahead of consensus. Operating margins were up 3% to 24.5%, driving operating profit. Diploma now expects organic growth of +12% (from +9%), with acquisitions adding +6% (from +3%), with operating margins of c.25%.

US asset manager Apollo look to have re-found their Sterling cheque book by approaching UK thermal processing firm, Bodycote with a £1.5bn bid.

WHEN SIZES STOPS MATTERING

The FT reported that Anthropic has agreed the terms of a $30bn fundraising that will value it at $900bn and is expected to close as soon as this month.

This capitalises on its unprecedented growth this year to leapfrog its rival OpenAI’s valuation.

Tech blogger, Benedict Evans, points out that $900bn is more than the market cap at the issue of all the venture-backed IPOs in the US from 1995 to 2000 combined.

UK BOND MARKET WOES

In the UK, the ten-year gilt was yielding less than 4% in late-2024 - it punched through 5% a month ago. The longer-dated 30-year hit 5.85% a week ago, although there was some respite this week as yields fell a little.

But the combination of higher yields and an era of populist politics is a volatile one. They can fuel each other. Politicians make commitments they can’t afford and are punished, which only reinforces the unsettling feeling that politicians are beholden to a force larger than voters. With the possibility of Andy Burnham as Prime Minister at some point, we should not forget what he said last Autumn: “we’ve got to get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond market”. Hardly reassuring for bond investors! 

What is more, inflation is likely to rise in the following months, mostly because of the rising prices of products exposed to oil markets, which have been disrupted due to the Iran war. The UK is particularly susceptible to this. 

THE WEEK AHEAD

In the U.S., personal income and spending alongside the PCE deflator will be central to the Fed reaction function, while the second estimate of Q1 GDP. Euro area CPI will feed directly into expectations for the ECB’s rate path, whilst in the UK we get retail activity and labour market signals and all eyes on Makerfield until 18^th June.

Earnings move from Nvidia to broader read‑throughs on demand and financial conditions. Updates from Costco will be key for consumer resilience. Attention will also turn to enterprise names like Salesforce to gauge whether corporate spending is holding up or being spent on AI. In the UK Greggs numbers will give a high street health check.

THE WEEK IN HISTORY

1844: Samuel Morse sent the first telegraph message, inaugurating long‑distance electronic communication and laying the foundation for the modern information economy.

2010: Europe’s sovereign debt crisis intensified as Greece received its first international bailout, exposing structural flaws in the eurozone and reshaping fiscal governance across the EU.