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The World in a Week: How Major Markets Moved
United States | Stocks rebounded after last week’s sell-off. The S&P 500 rose 1.7%, and Nasdaq gained 2.1%, supported by dovish Fed comments and strong bank earnings, with 86% of S&P 500 firms beating estimates. The 10-year yield hit a 12-month low amid regional banking worries.
Europe | The STOXX 600 added 0.4% as rate-cut hopes offset weak data. France’s CAC 40 climbed 3.2%, while Germany’s DAX fell 1.7% on poor factory output. The UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.8% as growth stalled.
Asia | Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 1.1% on political uncertainty. China’s Shanghai Composite lost 1.5%, and Hang Seng fell 4% as deflation persisted for a 36th month.
India | The Sensex and Nifty 50 rose nearly 2%, led by pharma, FMCG, and PSU banks. Divi’s Labs (+6%) and Natco Pharma (+4%) outperformed.
Commodities | Gold crossed $4,000/oz (1 oz = 28.2495 g), extending its rally as investors sought safety, while oil prices held steady.
Stock market closing data for the week of Oct 13 to Oct 17, 2025
Index information: STOXX 600 (tracks 600 large, mid- & small-cap EU firms), DAX (top 40 German blue chips), CAC 40 (leading French stocks), Nikkei 225 (225 top Japanese stocks), CSI 300 & SSEC (mainland China A-shares), and Hang Seng (large-cap Hong Kong-listed firms). For these indices, we track 1-week returns to capture how global sentiment is shifting.
News Summaries
Apple’s Big Bet on Speed: Formula 1 Comes to Apple TV
Apple is tightening its grip on live sports by bringing Formula 1 exclusively to Apple TV starting 2026. The deal, signed with Liberty Media, gives Apple control over one of the world’s fastest-growing sports and signals how streaming giants are trying to own moments, not just movies.
This is not just about racing, basically. For Apple, it is about culture and continuity. The company already turned the F1 frenzy into cinematic drama with F1: The Movie, starring Brad Pitt, which earned more than $600 million worldwide. That film now feels like a well-timed trailer for what Apple is building, a deeper connection between storytelling, celebrity, and live sports.
Apple has seen what Netflix did with Drive to Survive and how it turned pit stops into prime-time entertainment and helped F1 gain millions of new fans in the US. But while Netflix told the story, Apple now owns the screen where the story unfolds.
With Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer already under its belt, Formula 1 completes Apple’s playbook for live sports dominance. It is a strategic pivot where hardware meets emotion from the device in your hand to the race on your screen. And with services now contributing more than a quarter of Apple’s revenue, this is less about television and more about timing.
Walmart’s AI Push Puts It on the Verge of a $1 Trillion Valuation
Walmart’s latest move with OpenAI could make it the first traditional retailer to break into the trillion-dollar valuation club. The company’s stock surged after announcing a partnership that lets customers shop directly through ChatGPT by clicking a simple “buy” button.
The integration allows users to browse Walmart and Sam’s Club products within ChatGPT, a seamless link between conversation and commerce. Analysts call it a landmark moment for “agentic commerce”, where AI assistants become shopping platforms.
The stock jumped 5% on the news and gained further momentum the next day, pushing Walmart’s market capitalisation close to $870 billion. For context, only 11 other companies in the world have crossed the $1 trillion mark, and nearly all of them belong to the technology sector.
This deal cements Walmart’s image as a retailer that refuses to stay old-school. Analysts at Citigroup and Mizuho say the company is successfully blending its value-driven brand with emerging technology. After its best annual gain in over two decades last year, Walmart is positioning itself as the consumer giant that can thrive even in a slower economy by turning AI from a buzzword into business.
Coca-Cola May List Its Indian Bottling Unit in a $1 Billion IPO
Coca-Cola is exploring an initial public offering for its Indian bottling arm, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, in what could become one of India’s biggest consumer listings next year. The potential IPO, estimated to raise around $1 billion at a valuation of roughly $10 billion, would bring the global beverage giant’s local operations to India’s booming equity market.
The company has held discussions with investment banks, though no advisers have been formally appointed yet. The final structure and timing are still being decided, and the deal may only move ahead in 2026 if market conditions remain favorable.
India’s IPO market has seen a resurgence, with recent blockbuster listings from Hyundai Motor and LG Electronics drawing strong investor demand. Adding Coca-Cola and Reliance Jio Infocomm to the pipeline could make 2026 another record-breaking year for public offerings.
For Coca-Cola, the timing may be strategic. The company faces growing competition from Mukesh Ambani’s revived Campa Cola, which has quickly gained market share with lower-priced offerings. Listing its bottling business could help Coca-Cola unlock value, localize ownership, and strengthen its presence in one of its fastest-growing markets.
Infographic of the Week
Who really owns OpenAI? It is not just Microsoft.
The world’s most valuable startup is split between Microsoft, OpenAI employees, and the non-profit board, with investors like SoftBank and Thrive Capital holding the rest.
And ownership is only part of the story. As we covered in this week’s analysis, OpenAI has now committed over $1 trillion in spending for the next decade, booked 26 gigawatts of compute power, and built a $13 billion revenue engine mostly from ChatGPT.
It is no longer just a startup. OpenAI is building the energy, infrastructure, and economic backbone for the AI era.
Introducing Global Funds on Vested
After enabling lakhs of Indian investors to invest in US stocks and ETFs, Vested is now opening the next frontier with Global Funds.
The new offering gives investors access to 50+ international funds managed by global leaders such as BlackRock, Vanguard, and PIMCO, helping them diversify across regions and asset classes through simple, SEBI-compliant routes.
As part of this launch, Vested is also introducing GIFT City–domiciled funds, starting with the DSP Global Equity Fund, an actively managed portfolio investing in leading global companies across the US, Europe, and Asia.
With INR-based investing, simplified taxes, and no US inheritance tax, Global Funds makes global diversification as seamless as investing in India now on a platform built for global investors by India’s global investing specialist.
From the World of Crypto
Coinbase Unveils Crypto Platform for Businesses
Coinbase announced Coinbase Business, an all-in-one account for small and mid-sized firms to accept crypto, manage treasury, and earn yield. The product targets everyday finance tasks such as receivables, payouts, and working-capital management, with instant settlement and multi-user controls.
The platform will connect to QuickBooks and Xero, link to tax tools like Coin Tracker and Crypto Tax Calculator, and offer up to 4.1% APY on USDC balances. The pitch is simple: faster payments, lower friction, and a single view of assets, liabilities, and cash flow in crypto.
Strategically, Coinbase is leaning on its USDC economics with Circle to fund incentives and grow stablecoin usage among businesses. This places Coinbase in direct competition with Mercury and Brex on yield-bearing accounts, and with BitPay and OpenNode on crypto payments. The company also highlights self-service onboarding, with most approvals in about two days.
Early access is live in alpha, broader availability is planned for 2025. Key watch items include enterprise-grade controls, audit trails for accountants, and evolving rules on stablecoin yields. If execution is tight, Coinbase Business can become a credible “crypto operating account” for SMEs.
Key Headlines of the Week
TSMC’s $14.7B Profit Shakes Up Tech | Taiwan Semiconductor posted a 39% jump in Q3 profit to $14.76 billion, beating estimates and raising its full-year growth outlook to the mid-30% range. It also lifted 2025 capex to $40 billion, underscoring its lead in the chip race. We covered what the result means for the AI cycle in this week’s edition.
Suno Nears $2B Valuation | AI music startup Suno Inc. is in talks to raise over $100 million at a valuation above $2 billion, quadruple its last round. The company, now generating more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue, is also negotiating with major record labels to resolve ongoing legal disputes over its AI-generated songs.
Zepto Raises $450M Ahead of IPO | Quick-commerce platform Zepto secured $450 million in new funding, valuing the company at $7 billion ahead of a planned 2026 public listing. The round included investors like Goodwater Capital, General Catalyst, and CalPERS. Founded by Stanford dropouts Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, Zepto’s 10-minute delivery model continues to reshape India’s hyper-competitive e-commerce market.
