I recently came across a simultaneous online course on the literature of Sweden and a <a href="https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/swedens-emerging-wine-scene">review by</a> journalist and Master of Wine winner Julia Harding of an amazing wine tasting in Sweden in August 2024. Or rather, it was a competition in which 12 pre-selected Swedish wines were blindly compared to 12 European wines. And what do you think? The Swedish wines performed surprisingly well: the first place went to Kullabergs Immelen 2021, and there were four Swedes in the top ten.

The Nordic Experiment: What's interesting about Swedish winemaking 

The strongest obstacle to technological progress is the defense of the position of those who have succeeded in the past. Economic growth is a conflict that requires the destruction of what has been created before. For growth to become sustainable, we need social mechanisms that support innovation. These are the main ideas of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics 2025.

Stability is the enemy of growth: lessons from Nobel laureates on the 2025 economy

NVIDIA Corporation

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

LVMH Moet Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, Societe Europeenne

BYD Company Limited

LVMH returned to growth, which was a sign of recovering demand for luxury goods. Gold once again became the main safe haven for investors, displacing bitcoin. Walmart agreed with OpenAI to integrate shopping into ChatGPT. Oracle and AMD announced an AI deal challenging Nvidia's leadership, and Microsoft, Nvidia and xAI are investing $40 billion in Aligned data centers. The main events of October 13-17 are in our review.

Highlights of the week: luxury rises, gold overtakes bitcoin, Walmart and OpenAI deal

Exxon Mobil Corporation

Chevron Corporation

BP p.l.c.

A reduction in the intensity of Russia's conflict against Ukraine could send oil prices down to $50 a barrel, Eric Lee, senior commodities strategist at Citigroup, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-17/oil-risks-drop-to-50-on-russia-ukraine-de-escalation-citi-says">said</a> in an interview with Bloomberg.

Oil may fall to $50 if Russia-Ukraine conflict de-escalates - Citigroup

The Boeing Company

Boeing's airplane deliveries this year could be the best in seven years

The U.S. has increased the production limit for Boeing 737 Max airplanes. Shares rose

Zions Bancorporation, National Association

Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Western Alliance Bancorporation

Major stock indices in the US ended the week in the plus, with the broad market index S&amp;P 500 showing the best growth in five trading days since August. Traders on Friday reduced concerns about the credit market crisis, and they also increased hope for a reduction in the heat in the confrontation between the U.S. and China. Donald Trump said he is likely to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month and also acknowledged that 100% duties on Chinese goods cannot be sustained for long.

S&amp;P 500 posted its best week since August: debt crisis and trade war receded

Agency analyst Mark Pinto got into a polemic in absentia with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon

"One cockroach is not yet a trend": why isn't Moody's worried about banks' bad loans?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited

Tensions in US-China trade relations weigh on market sentiment

Stock slump in Alibaba and other PRC IT giants opens up buying opportunity - Barron's

Novo Nordisk A/S

Eli Lilly and Company

The retail price of Ozempic, which Trump has called a "weight-loss drug," is about $1,000 for a one-month course

Trump has promised to cut the price of Ozempic to $150. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly shares fell

Ramaco Resources, Inc.

MP Materials Corp.

Investors seek alternatives to Chinese suppliers amid US-China trade standoff

Baird advises another rare earth miner. This is a new player in the market

Wall Street has stood up for bank stocks, CNBC writes

The S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq 100 are down at the open of trading after a morning selloff

Baird analyst David George improved his rating on regional bank Zions Bancorp from neutral to "above market," CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/17/buy-the-dip-on-regional-bank-zions-after-excessive-sell-off-baird-says.html">reports</a>. This is equivalent to a recommendation to buy shares of the credit organization. The $65 target price he set implies nearly 39% upside potential relative to the closing level on Thursday, October 16.

Baird advises buying on the downturn in bank shares whose problems have triggered a sell-off in the sector

Brunello Cucinelli S.p.A.

Burberry Group plc

LVMH's third-quarter results beat expectations across the board, Bernstein notes

Investment banks bet on LVMH. What other luxury stocks does Wall Street recommend buying?

The main indicator of fear on Wall Street - volatility index Cboe (VIX) - <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/vix?mod=home_markets">rose by</a> 6.7% to 27 points, reaching the maximum since April, when Donald Trump stirred the markets with the announcement of increased duties, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-16/stock-market-today-dow-s-p-live-updates?srnd=homepage-europe&amp;sref=Y0jVLcFo">writes</a> Bloomberg. Investors are under pressure not only from the prolonged shutdown in the U.S. and increased trade tensions with China, but also from the<a href="https://oninvest.com/article/plohie-kredity-stali-novym-povodom-dla-bespokojstva-rynka-s-p-500-zakrylsa-v-minuse">problems of regional banks</a>.

Wall Street's "fear index" at highest since April, investors sell off bank stocks 

Stocks are pressured by a combination of three negative factors at once

Morning in New York: the degree of tension in the market is growing

aTyr Pharma, Inc.

Shares of aTyr Pharma, a biotech developer of therapies for pulmonary sarcoidosis, collapsed 83% in a single day on September 15 after the company’s lead drug <a href="https://investors.atyrpharma.com/news-releases/news-release-details/atyr-pharma-announces-topline-results-phase-3-efzo-fittm-study">failed</a>&nbsp;in a pivotal phase III trial. The candidate, efzofitimod, showed little advantage over placebo in reducing steroid dependence among patients. This marks <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/atyr-shares-plunge-trial-miss-121100328.html">another setback</a> for aTyr, which seven years earlier halted its cancer research program after disappointing preclinical results that cut its market value nearly in half.

After lead drug misses in late trial and stock craters, what's next for aTyr? 

Archer Materials Limited

Arqit Quantum Inc.

BTQ Technologies Corp.

Modern computing is approaching the physical limits of semiconductor chips. Investors are shifting their attention to quantum technologies, which promise performance leaps beyond what classical systems can achieve. What was once a scientific abstraction is becoming a commercial market where the world’s largest tech companies and venture capital firms are competing.

As quantum computing goes mainstream, which small caps are set to benefit most?

Papa John's International, Inc.

The bid values the pizza chain at more than $2 billion

Papa John’s shares surge on report of Apollo takeover offer at 53% premium

Investors continued to favor European and Asian small-cap stocks in the third quarter. International ETFs, which had been leading since the start of the year, maintained their advantage, while U.S. small-cap funds – previously lagging – regained momentum.

Ex-U.S. small-cap ETFs continue to outperform U.S. peers in 3Q, but comeback in sight

Beyond Meat, Inc.

Shares of Beyond Meat, a small-cap producer of plant-based meat backed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Bill Gates, tumbled almost 50% yesterday, October 13, to an all-time low. This came after the company announced that investors had overwhelmingly accepted its offer to swap bonds for new debt and stock, triggering massive dilution.

Shares of Beyond Meat sink 50%, hit new all-time low as debt swap sparks big selloff

Small Caps

The most important in the global stock markets right now

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