Weekly Market Update for October 24, 2025
by Gavyn Jensen-Schneider, Research Associate
Major market indices finished the week at new record highs, owing to positive corporate earnings and trade news. The S&P 500 finished the week up +1.92%, while the Nasdaq rose +2.31%. The 10-Year Treasury yield, an interest rate indicator, closed at 4.00%, down -1 basis point (bp) from last week. The 6-Month US Treasury, a favorite of our US Treasury strategy, fell -4 bps to 3.76%.
The headline of the week came on Thursday as the White House confirmed a meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, occurring on October 30th. This will be the first meeting between the two leaders under this administration. Investors are hopeful that this meeting will begin the process of normalizing trade relations between the two nations, which have been upended by hostile economic and trade policies implemented by both sides. While talks with China seem to be progressing, ongoing trade negotiations between the US and Canada were terminated on Friday. The termination might make the renegotiation of the USMCA – the ongoing free trade agreement between the US, Canada, and Mexico – more difficult. That agreement, which covers around 85% of goods and services exchanged between the US and Canada, expires next summer.
Markets were bolstered by the September CPI inflation report, which came out Friday morning. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, grew 0.20% month-over-month, ten basis points less than anticipated. On a year-over-year basis, Core CPI grew 3.0%, or 0.1% less than expected.
The Federal Government shutdown became the second longest in US history this week, with no end in sight. Legislators on both sides continue to dig in, rearticulating their demands. The Senate has failed to pass either one of the competing Republican and Democratic continuing resolutions (CRs) twelve times over the past 24 days, while the House of Representatives has not been in session since September 19th. The gridlock will likely continue into November until some bipartisan consensus can be reached.
The upcoming week is set to be an exciting one. The long slate of third quarter corporate earnings includes major names like Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Meta (Facebook’s parent company), Apple, United Healthcare, and Amazon. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is meeting Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss interest rate policy, with markets expecting another 25-bps cut to interest rates. Additionally, the highly anticipated meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping comes on Thursday, when the two Presidents will negotiate a deal on rare earth minerals and soybeans. Finally, economic data rounds out the week, with the preliminary third quarter GDP on Thursday and Core PCE inflation on Friday.
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