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Market Intel Short, plain-English breakdowns of what has actually happened in the markets. Read one in a minute, understand why it mattered, and use it in your next interview.
All Equity Macro Credit FX M&A Commodities
🏛️ Macro March 2022 to July 2023
The Fed's 2022 to 2023 Hiking Cycle The US Federal Reserve raised rates from near zero to above 5% in about 18 months, the fastest tightening in decades, to tame inflation after the 2021 price surge.
🚀 Equity 2023 to 2024
AI and the Magnificent 7 Seven large US tech stocks (Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Google, Meta, Tesla) drove most of the S&P 500's returns in 2023 and 2024 on optimism about artificial intelligence.
🔥 Credit November 2022
The FTX Collapse Crypto exchange FTX failed in November 2022 after it emerged customer funds had been lent to its trading arm, Alameda. It is now a textbook case in custody, leverage, and due diligence.
🎮 M&A Closed October 2023
Microsoft's Activision Deal Microsoft closed its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October 2023, after fighting antitrust regulators on both sides of the Atlantic for nearly two years.
💵 Credit 2023 to 2024
The Private Credit Boom Private credit funds grew to well over a trillion dollars by 2024, lending directly to mid-market companies as banks pulled back after SVB and as higher rates made the asset class pay.
💲 FX 2022
The Strong Dollar of 2022 The US dollar hit 20-year highs in 2022 as the Fed raised rates faster than other central banks, and the pound briefly came close to parity as the UK's fiscal crisis struck.
🛢️ Commodities 2023 to 2024
OPEC+ and the Oil Price Saudi-led OPEC+ cut oil production through 2023 and 2024 to support prices, even as the US pumped record volumes, showing how supply management shapes commodity markets.
🤖 Equity January 2025
The DeepSeek AI Shock In January 2025, Chinese AI lab DeepSeek released a model that matched top Western models at a fraction of the training cost. Nvidia and the AI chip complex sold off sharply in a day, wiping hundreds of billions off market caps.
🧾 Macro April 2025
The April 2025 Tariff Shock In April 2025, the US announced broad reciprocal tariffs, triggering one of the sharpest equity sell-offs in years, followed by a 90-day pause that produced one of the biggest single-day rallies on record.
📉 Credit May 2025
The Loss of the US Triple-A In May 2025, Moody's downgraded the United States from Aaa to Aa1, making it the last of the three big agencies to remove the US triple-A rating.
🏛️ Macro April 2025
The Treasury Market & Basis Trade Stress During the April 2025 sell-off, long-dated Treasuries fell alongside equities, putting pressure on hedge fund basis trades and reviving debate about who truly holds US Treasury risk.