Investment update - October 2025
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Published on 28 Nov 2025In October, global markets were driven by surging AI investment, nearing US$1.5 trillion in 2025 as tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta poured hundreds of billions into data centres, chips and cloud infrastructure. NVIDIA hit a US$5 trillion market cap, becoming the world’s most valuable company, while governments worldwide ramped up AI funding to stay competitive.
In the US, the Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 3.75%-4.00%. Inflation rose to 3.0% in September, the highest since January, while the government shutdown weighed on households, businesses and economic data.
The Reserve Bank of Australia held rates at 3.6% at its November meeting as inflation jumped to 3.2% in Q3 2025 and unemployment rose to 4.5% in September. House prices stayed strong amid tight supply and high immigration, while a US$8.5 billion rare-earths pact with Washington strengthened trade ties.
In Europe, the European Central Bank kept rates unchanged as inflation eased to 2.1% in October, Japan’s Nikkei surged 16.6% over the past month, and China’s economy slowed to 4.8% year-on-year in Q3 amid manufacturing weakness.