🚨Market Moves Apr 14–17, 2025: Weekly Recap in 60 Seconds
The Week Ahead: April 21–25, 2025
If you thought last week was intense — buckle your seatbelt, silence your doomscrolling apps, and make sure your gold bars are fluffed and polished. The upcoming week in markets is looking like an over-caffeinated soap opera set in a central bank.
Here’s what’s coming, and why you might want to cancel your vacation and glue yourself to a Bloomberg terminal:
💥 TRADE WARS: SEASON 4, EPISODE “YOU TARIFF ME, I TARIFF YOU”
The U.S. dropped a casual 125% tariff on Chinese imports last week (because who needs global supply chains?), prompting Beijing to throw down with retaliatory measures. The World Trade Organization is currently facepalming in seven languages. The IMF has already lit the signal flare, warning that this could trigger stock market crashes and a surge in volatility — so basically Tuesday.
Watch for more posturing, policy whiplash, and the sound of multinational CEOs grinding their teeth.
📈 ECONOMIC DATA: MORE NUMBERS THAN YOU ASKED FOR
This week’s economic data will hit harder than your third espresso:
- Tuesday: Richmond Manufacturing Index — a delightful bellwether for whether America is making stuff or just hoping Amazon restocks it.
- Wednesday: New Home Sales (forecast: 680K) — because nothing says “economic confidence” like buying a house that costs more than your parents’ combined life earnings.
- Thursday: Jobless Claims, Durable Goods Orders, Existing Home Sales — aka, “The Labor Market Hunger Games.”
- Friday: Everyone exhales.
Also, keep an eye on PMI data from Europe and the UK earlier in the week — if those numbers tank, so will your optimism.
👁️ FED WATCH: POWELL SEES YOU
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is somewhere between “concerned” and “furious dad” as inflation refuses to chill out. With tariffs on the rise and global growth under threat, the Fed’s next move could be a policy pivot — or just another strongly-worded statement that sounds like it was written by Siri with anxiety.
Also, FOMC member Waller is speaking Wednesday. Translation: we may get some fresh cryptic Fed-speak. Bet your algorithmic trades on that.
💰 GOLD IS POPPING OFF
Gold soared past $3,300/oz last week. Why? Because when everything feels like it’s on fire, people buy shiny rocks. This is textbook “flight to safety” behavior, and if this keeps up, your weird uncle with the gold coins might actually have the last laugh.
🏦 CORPORATE EARNINGS: TECH TITANS AND BANK BROS
Big names reporting this week include:
- Tesla – Will Elon say something unhinged again? Always a possibility.
- Nvidia – They’ve been hit by AI chip restrictions to China. Everyone’s watching for a cry for help or a flex.
- JPMorgan, Wells Fargo – If banks seem okay, we all pretend the economy isn’t just vibes.
🌍 BONUS CHAOS: GEOPOLITICS EDITION
- The U.S. bombed a Yemeni oil terminal last week, because why not add energy instability to the mix?
- A Russian missile strike on Sumy killed 34 civilians, and NATO is now pacing the hallway like a concerned parent.
- Oh, and the U.S. refused to sign a G7 statement. Cool cool cool.
TL;DR:
This week is hot. Gold is hotter. And your portfolio might be on fire.
If you’re trading, investing, or just trying to not scream into the void — stay sharp. This market doesn’t care about your feelings. And neither do tariffs.
