The financial news landscape has become a maze of contradictions this week, where central bankers hint at relief whilst presidents threaten retaliation, where peace talks emerge from war zones whilst trade wars intensify closer to home.
It's a reminder that in our interconnected world, a furniture tariff announced on a Sunday can ripple through global supply chains by Monday morning, just as a Fed governor's dismissal can shake bond markets from New York to Sydney.
This complexity demands clarity, not commentary.
Azzet cuts through the noise to deliver the facts that matter, letting you - the reader - form your own conclusions about what it all means.
Banking merry-go-round
Monday brought what markets had been clamouring for: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hints at interest rate cuts, suggesting the central bank may ease policy as early as September.
Speaking at the Fed's annual Jackson Hole symposium, Powell noted that "the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance," sending US stocks surging with the Dow adding more than 600 points.
But if Powell thought he'd find respite from presidential pressure, Tuesday proved him wrong.
Donald Trump announced via Truth Social that he was firing Fed Governor Lisa Cook "for cause", claiming constitutional authority to remove her for alleged false statements on mortgage agreements.
Cook's response was swift and defiant: "I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties."
She's hired high-profile attorney Abbe Lowell, setting up an unprecedented standoff between the White House and the central bank in the Fed's 111-year history.
The drama continued as Cook looked to sue Trump over the attempted firing, while the NY Fed stresses independence amid the constitutional crisis.
It's worth noting Cook was the Fed's first African American woman governor - a detail that hasn't gone unnoticed by constitutional scholars tracking Trump's personnel decisions.
Furniture bizarre
Trump's trade policy took centre stage with his announcement of furniture tariffs by October, coming within 50 days.
The president claimed these levies would boost domestic manufacturing, but furniture companies weren't celebrating.
Wayfair's shares tumbled from $77.86 to a low of $71.66 in after-hours trading, and Williams-Sonoma dropped from $203.54 to $189.89.
The furniture industry already knows this playbook - tariffs on China and Vietnam, the U.S.'s largest furniture suppliers, had already pushed furniture and bedding prices up 0.9% in July.
Now they're bracing for another round, with the investigation proceeding under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.
American food groups begged for relief from Trump's broader tariff regime, highlighting the real-world impact of trade policy on everyday essentials.
The administration's response has been to double down, with the Commerce Department investigating possible tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.
Conflict over peace brokering
Perhaps the week's most surprising development was that the U.S. may join peacekeeping in postwar Ukraine - a complete reversal from Trump's earlier stance.
The policy U-turn would see America providing intelligence, surveillance, and air defence assets to support European-led peacekeeping forces, though no American boots on the ground.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's chief of staff called it "a big change from the spring", noting the shift came after a "breakthrough" meeting between Zelenskyy, European leaders, and Trump.
The proposal envisions U.S. strategic enablers - command and control, satellite monitoring, and battlefield oversight - backing European peacekeepers monitoring a demilitarised zone.
Russia's response was predictably hostile, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov calling any foreign peacekeeping presence "military intervention".
But the very fact that Washington is publicly discussing such arrangements marks a significant shift in Trump's Ukraine policy.
Tech fights for infrastructure
Thursday brought news of Google investing US$9 billion in Virginia's cloud and AI infrastructure, intensifying competition with OpenAI and Anthropic.
The spending includes a new data centre in Chesterfield County and a $1 billion commitment to provide all Virginia students with Google AI Pro access for a year.
The move aligns with Trump's push to accelerate AI infrastructure investments domestically, following similar commitments from Micron, Nvidia, and CoreWeave.
Apple has separately pledged $600 billion in U.S. spending over four years, suggesting Silicon Valley is taking the "America First" agenda seriously.
But Google also reported an elimination of 35% of managers overseeing small teams on Thursday, showing that even amid massive infrastructure investments, efficiency drives continue across the tech sector.
Global auto domination shifts
Friday delivered a stunning reversal in the European electric vehicle market: Chinese automaker BYD registrations triple as Tesla drops 40% in Europe, with BYD registering 13,503 units in July compared to Tesla's 8,837.
BYD's 225% surge came as Tesla posted its seventh consecutive monthly decline, dropping 40% year-on-year.
The shift is remarkable - BYD secured a 1.1% European market share in July, surpassing Tesla's 0.7%.
For the January-July period, Tesla's European market share fell to 1.2% from 2.1% the previous year, whilst BYD's share tripled to 9%.
AJ Bell analyst Dan Coatsworth didn't mince words: "July was a terrible month for Tesla for European vehicle registrations.
"Its brand has been tarnished by Elon Musk's political involvement and outspokenness, as well as growing competition."
Aussie anxieties
Closer to home, Wednesday's inflation data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed consumer prices rising annually in July—the fastest pace since July 2024 and well above economists' expectations of 2.3%.
The underlying trimmed mean climbed to 2.7% from 2.1% the previous month, reinforcing the RBA's cautious stance on interest rates.
Housing costs led the charge, rising 3.6% over the year, whilst food climbed 3% and alcohol and tobacco surged 6.5%.
The data comes as RBA believed more rate cuts were needed, according to meeting minutes—creating an interesting disconnect between what markets want and what inflation data suggests.
Earnings extremes
The corporate reporting season delivered a tale of two retailers.
Woolworths promised improvement as profit dives, with shares tanking 11% after the supermarket giant cut its dividend and reported a 19.1% fall in net profit to $1.385 billion.
Revenue managed just 1.7% growth to $69.077 billion, prompting CEO Amanda Bardwell to promise "improved financial performance in FY26".
Contrast that with Qantas shares soaring to fresh record results, where shares hit an all-time high after the airline announced a 28% increase in net profit to $1.605 billion and ordered 20 new A321XLR aircraft worth more than $1.5 billion.
The Flying Kangaroo paid its first dividend since 2019 and declared a special dividend, capitalising on continuing strong travel demand.
Meanwhile, Coles saw a 3.5% fall in annual profit amid mixed results from U.S. retailers.
NVIDIA posted a 41% rise in Q2 FY26 net income to record levels on surging demand for its Blackwell AI platform, though shares slipped on concerns over China sales restrictions and other headwinds.
Kohl's shares rallied 24% as earnings topped forecasts, an Abercrombie & Fitch sales rise was driven by Hollister, and Friday saw Gap stock slide on a sales miss, flagging tariff impact.
Property revaluations boosted Scentre Group results, providing some property sector strength, while PVH Corp sees revenue recover but projects tariff headwinds ahead.
Other earnings highlights included Ansell, Santos, Austal, and Eagers Automotive.
The week ahead
As we head into September, several themes will dominate. The Fed's September meeting looms large, with Powell's Jackson Hole speech raising expectations for the first rate cut of Trump's second term.
But the Lisa Cook standoff could complicate any dovish pivot, particularly if legal challenges create institutional uncertainty.
Trade policy remains in flux, with furniture tariffs set to be implemented within 50 days and broader investigations ongoing into semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.
