This week’s market moves were largely driven by the release of crucial data, including a heavily scrutinised jobs report and inflation statistics in the US, as well as GDP figures in the UK, which kept traders on their toes.
Figures released by the US Labor Department on Wednesday showed that employers added 130,000 jobs in January, which was a significantly higher amount than expected. As a result, the unemployment rate fell from 4.4% 4.3%, leading White House officials to claim that manufacturing was “roaring back”, and that US president Donald Trump’s tariff-heavy approach was working.
However, some economists remained sceptical and insisted that the headline figures did not fully reflect reality. These included Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, who called the US job market “fragile and highly vulnerable” in a post on X.
A further data release showed that US inflation was cooler than expected, figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday showed.
The consumer price index showed that consumer prices increased 0.2% in January from a month earlier, and 2.4% on an annual basis. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected a 0.3% monthly increase in consumer prices and an annual bump of 2.5%.
Meanwhile, in the UK, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed economic growth of 0.1% in the final quarter of 2025. Economists had expected the figure to be 0.2% but factors, including weak consumer spending, meant that growth remained sluggish.
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On the commodities front, mid-week gold prices (GC=F) dropped after the US jobs report dampened the prospect of interest rate cuts. As Christopher Wong, a strategist at OCBC, put it: “The stronger jobs report leading to a slight pare back in Fed rate-cut expectations may have played a role in gold’s lacklustre move.”
By Friday afternoon, prices for the precious metal had shot up again after US inflation came in lower than expected in January.
Elsewhere in the commodities sector, BP (BP) suspended its share buyback programme as crude prices slipped below $60 a barrel for the first time in almost five years. The oil major’s fourth quarter profits were in line with expectations, but its full-year net profit for 2025 was $7.49bn, slightly below analysts’ expectations of $7.58bn.
In banking news, both Barclays (BARC.L) and NatWest (NWG.L) beat profit estimates this week. The former reported pre-tax £1.9bn in the fourth quarter, up from £1.7bn in the same quarter last year. It also announced a £1bn share buyback. NatWest reported £7.71bn pre-tax profit for the year, topping expectations of £7.49bn.