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1. It’s hurricane season for stocks.

August and September combined is the only two-month period with negative returns for both the S&P 500 and global stocks over many decades. Post-election years have been especially lousy, according to Carson Investment Research.

2. 2025 has delivered the strongest year-to-date pace for corporate stock buybacks in several years.

"Buybacks tend to occur more at market tops than bottoms, meaning companies often buy high, not low," Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said.

Shareholders enjoying the rapid pace of buybacks should keep a few things in mind as well, Reid explained.

“One, buybacks are much more discretionary and can vanish overnight in a downturn.

Two, buybacks inflate EPS without necessarily improving true profitability.

Three, buybacks may reduce investment in the business, especially if used to help meet executive compensation targets or earnings guidance.”

3. The MSCI India Index is lagging its Chinese counterpart by 10 percentage points this quarter.

Trump said he’d impose a 50% tariff on Indian exports to the US — half of which includes a penalty for purchases of Russian oil. He singled out New Delhi for those imports, yet largely overlooked China, which buys far more from Moscow.

The reversal in fortunes for Asia’s two biggest economies shows the volatile landscape investors face. A few years ago, China was called “uninvestable” due to regulatory crackdowns and geopolitical risks, prompting a shift to India as a safer alternative.

That said, India’s long-term economic trajectory remains compelling to many. Morgan Stanley expects Indian stocks to reach new highs as the country gains share in global output over the coming decades, driven by strong fundamentals like robust population growth and improving infrastructure.

4. Drama over the weight-loss pill.

Weight-loss injections such as Wegovy and Zepbound have already reshaped medicine and raked in billions of dollars in sales—but they have barely scratched the surface.

A once-daily oral drug that requires no refrigeration and is easier to manufacture could dramatically expand the market. It could be prescribed more readily by primary-care doctors, shipped like any other medication and used in global regions where injectables remain impractical. It might also attract patients who avoid needles or those with milder obesity looking for a simpler, longer-term maintenance option.

Lilly’s stumble could open the door a tad for its Danish rival. Novo Nordisk has also filed for FDA approval of what is essentially Wegovy in a pill.

Source: WSJ

5. Renewable energy additions are surging in China, setting new records and driving emissions down.

A total of 264 GW of renewable energy capacity was added in H1 2025, up 99.3% year on year and accounting for 91.5% of all new power installations. This takes China's total renewable energy capacity to 2.16 TW, nearly 60% of the country's total generation capacity.

Source: Ember

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