The Weekly Edge: Week-Ahead & Look-Back, Mon 3 – Fri 7 Aug 2026

This week's edition of The Weekly Edge is here: your look back at the week ending Friday 7 August 2026 and the road map for Mon 10 – Fri 14 Aug. It was a remarkable five days; geopolitical relief, an AI-fuelled earnings run and a payrolls shock all landed in the same week.

The week in brief

• Equities surged. The S&P 500 rose about 3.6% and the Nasdaq 100 more than 5% (the best week since mid-April) as President Trump called off planned strikes against Iran and earnings beats kept coming; Palantir jumped nearly 40% on raised guidance. The Dow closed at a record as early as Monday.
• Payrolls changed the arithmetic. The US economy shed 23,000 jobs in July against expectations of a roughly 80,000 gain, with 103,000 of downward revisions; market-implied odds of a September Fed hike fell to about 42% from 58%, the 10-year Treasury yield eased to near 4.60% and the dollar index slipped to about 99.6.
• Precious metals flew. Gold climbed about 7.4% to roughly $4,342/oz, its best week since January; silver surged almost 10% into the mid-60s.
• Oil slumped. WTI crude collapsed roughly 7.7% to near $78 as the war-risk premium drained out; that helped Europe (DAX +2.8%, STOXX 600 record run) but left the energy-heavy FTSE 100 barely positive at 10,909.
• The week ahead pivots on inflation. Wednesday's US CPI for July (consensus near 3.5–3.6% year on year) is the key print, flanked by the RBA decision on Tuesday (hold at 4.35% expected), UK Q2 GDP and US PPI on Thursday, and US retail sales on Friday. Gold above $4,300 and the drift in September hike odds remain the cleanest barometers of sentiment.

Download the full report (PDF): the complete market scorecard, central bank scoreboard, day-trader highlights and the full week-ahead calendar.

Educational only, not financial advice.