On Friday, the US stock market posted gains amid a volatile session, supported by rising prices of leading technology companies. By the end of the day, the Dow Jones (US30) rose by 0.53% (weekly +0.60%). The S&P 500 (US500) gained 0.70% (weekly +0.34%). The Tech‑heavy NASDAQ (US100) closed Friday in positive territory at 0.60% (weekly -0.49%). The main driver was Amazon shares, which surged by 15.3% thanks to active expansion of its cloud services segment. Positive sentiment in the artificial intelligence sector also supported other major corporations: Alphabet shares rose by 6.9%, Microsoft by 3%, and Meta by 3.3%. This rally helped offset the decline in Apple shares by 7.3%, triggered by a microchip shortage that increased costs and reduced production in the June quarter.

The key event of this week for the US economy will be Friday’s employment report. It is expected that in July nonfarm payrolls increased by 91,000 (after a rise of 57,000 in June), the unemployment rate slightly rose to 4.3%, and average hourly earnings growth remained at 0.3% month‑over‑month. Strong data may reinforce expectations that the Federal Reserve will resume interest rate hikes at the September meeting to combat inflation. In addition to the employment report, early in the week market participants will monitor ISM manufacturing and non‑manufacturing indices, JOLTS job openings data (expected to decline to 7.25 million), the ADP report, as well as statistics on foreign trade, factory orders, and labor productivity.

In June 2026, Canada’s GDP is predicted to have increased by 0.2% compared to the previous month, resulting in economic growth of 0.8% in the second quarter. More detailed statistics for May recorded GDP growth of 0.3%, demonstrating the economy’s resilience despite inflationary pressure caused by rising energy prices amid the war in Iran.

By the end of the Friday, Germany’s DAX (DE40) rose by 0.07% (weekly +0.67%), France’s CAC 40 (FR40) closed up 0.28% (weekly +0.79%), Spain’s IBEX 35 (ES35) gained 0.13% (weekly +0.04%), while the UK’s FTSE 100 (UK100) ended the session down 0.27% (weekly +1.23%). This week in Europe, Germany’s trade surplus is expected to shrink in June after reaching a three‑month high in May, amid a possible pause in industrial production growth and declining retail sales.

On Monday, platinum (XPT) prices exceeded 1,660 dollars per ounce, reaching a six‑week high amid a general rise in precious metals. This occurred due to falling oil prices triggered by renewed hopes for a peace agreement in the Middle East. US President Trump announced the resumption of negotiations with Iran and reported the cancellation of a large‑scale strike at the request of regional allies.

Crude oil prices (WTI) fell by more than 5% on Monday, dropping below 80 dollars per barrel after a surge of more than 20% in July. The reason was President Donald Trump’s statement about resuming peace talks with Iran and canceling a planned military strike. The largest producers in the OPEC+ alliance decided to approve another moderate increase in oil production quotas. This completed the planned process of restoring production volumes that had been reduced back in 2023 and left open the possibility of further supply increases after a final settlement of the Middle East conflict.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 (JP225) rose sharply by 4.03% (weekly -1.23%), China’s FTSE China 50 closed higher at 0.38% (weekly -2.74%), Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (HK50) gained 0.09% (weekly +3.56%), and Australia’s ASX 200 (AU200) closed Friday up 0.10% (weekly +1.34%).

This week in Asia, investors will focus on private July RatingDog surveys of China’s business activity indices: growth is expected to accelerate in the manufacturing sector while slowing in services, and the trade surplus is prognosed to shrink to 112.5 billion dollars ahead of inflation data. In Japan, attention will be drawn to June wage growth and household spending figures, along with minutes from the Bank of Japan’s June meeting following the recent rate hike to 1% and its maintenance in July. In addition, a series of Asian countries will release statistics on foreign trade, inflation, Q2 GDP dynamics, and New Zealand’s labor market, and at the end of the week, July PMI indices for a number of regional economies will be published.

In July 2026, Vietnam recorded a trade deficit of 3.6 billion USD, significantly different from the surplus of 2.3 billion USD observed a year earlier. At the same time, external trade volumes showed strong growth: exports increased by 25% year‑over‑year to 53.1 billion USD, while imports jumped by 41.4% to 56.7 billion USD.