What’s going on in the Global Week Ahead?

As share markets gear up for the home stretch of an eventful year, loads of key macro data in the U.S. and in Japan is due.

This Global Week Ahead is set to be still dominated by Washington's trade measures, as policymakers from India to Africa grapple with the fallout.

Next are Reuters’ five world market themes, re-ordered for equity traders—
 

(1) The End of a Tumultuous Year Is in Sight

The final leg of what's been a remarkable year for markets — and everyone else for that matter — is nigh.

Traders enter the last quarter with a semi-warning from Fed chief Jerome Powell about high stock market valuations ringing their ears, but with rates expected to start dropping again soon, is anyone going to pay any notice?

After another +7% rise in the third quarter, world stocks are now up close to +17%, or $15 trillion in hard cash terms, in 2025. Although gold and Chinese tech remain the biggest winners, both adding almost +40%.

The next few months also have some key events coming up:

• The Fed is expected to move again
• China holds its plenum gathering of top party leaders next month
• U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping are expected to get together at some point
• There are IMF World Bank meetings, and 
• A UN Climate Summit to look forward to, too

(2) On Friday Morning at 8:30 am EST, Oct. 3rd, SEPT Federal Jobs Data Is Due

U.S. jobs data is due on October 3rd, and — following a number of downbeat releases — is expected to show September non-farm payrolls increased by +39K, with the unemployment rate at 4.3%, according to a Reuters poll.

The numbers are one piece of key data ahead of the end-October Fed meeting, after policymakers delivered their first 2025 rate cut earlier in September.

Expectations are high for another one, but a hot jobs number could scuttle that, while a negative figure might spark fears that the world's biggest economy is in more significant trouble.

Of course, that's if the jobs data arrives at all.

The U.S. federal government could be heading for a partial shutdown, should congressional Democrats and Republicans fail to agree on how to fund the government in the coming days, raising concerns data will not be released as scheduled.
 

(3) On Wednesday, Japan’s Influential Tankan Survey of Corp. Sentiment Is Out

Early October could be pivotal for the path of Bank of Japan policy.

Wednesday brings the Tankan survey of corporate sentiment, a closely watched economic indicator that has garnered additional attention after policy board member Junko Nakagawa called September's edition "extremely important" in a speech last month.

Markets are already pondering the odds of an October hike, after September's hawkish pivot, so the timing of speeches by influential Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida and Governor Kazuo Ueda in the two days following the Tankan has raised eyebrows.

Nomura analysts surmise it's been coordinated to potentially prepare the market for tightening, should the Tankan be bullish.

If so, care is warranted in the messaging, with the stock market perched at all-time peaks and Japan government bond yields at their highest since 2008.
 

(4) On Wednesday, India’s Central Bank Delivers Policy Rate Decision

There's no shortage of push and pull factors for India's central bank when it publishes its rates decision on Wednesday, after its first meeting since Washington enforced its punitive tariffs.

There's the drag from steep U.S. tariffs and higher visa fees, set against government and central bank measures to sustain growth.

Indian goods face the highest U.S. import levies in Asia, while a sharp hike in H-1B visa charges has cast a cloud on the IT sector, a key driver of exports, jobs and household spending.

Equities have lagged peers, while the rupee hit a record low recently and is down 3.5% year-to-date, despite the soft dollar.

Most economists expect the RBI to hold, though some see room for a 25-basis-point cut.

It's a fine-margin decision for the RBI: load up an insurance cut, or keep powder dry in case of further turbulence ahead.
 

(5) On Sept. 30th, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Lapses

A duty-free trade agreement between the United States and eligible African nations is set to lapse on September 30th, without any clear word from the U.S. government on its future.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, offers more than 30 African economies a key market for their exports, helping to boost investments and much-needed job creation.

African officials have been trooping to Washington in recent months to push for the extension of the deal, underscoring its importance to countries such as Kenya and South Africa.

However, lobbying efforts have not elicited any formal commitments from U.S. officials, compounding the situation for a region that is already reeling from Trump's imposition of trade tariffs.

Lesotho, a key AGOA beneficiary, reported Washington could offer a short-term extension of the deal.

Many in the region will be hoping the U.S. government will confirm that by the time the deal lapses on Tuesday.
 

Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY) Stocks

I picked two large cap non-U.S. stocks, and one recent U.S. tech stock IPO.

(1) LeGrand (LGRDY Quick QuoteLGRDY - Free Report) : This is a $33 a share stock, with a market cap of $44.3B. It is found in the Zacks Electronics-Miscellaneous Services industry. There is a Zacks Value score of D, a Zacks Growth score of D, and a Zacks Momentum score of C.

Legrand SA provides electrical and digital building infrastructures. It offers solutions for international commercial, industrial and residential markets.

Legrand SA is headquartered in Limoges, France.

(2) Marubeni (MARUY Quick QuoteMARUY - Free Report) : This is a $247 a share stock, with a market cap of $40.8B. It is found in the Zacks Diversified Operations industry. There is a Zacks Value score of A, a Zacks Growth score of B, and a Zacks Momentum score of A.

Marubeni Corp. purchases, distributes, and markets various industrial and consumer goods worldwide.

It is involved in importing and exporting, as well as transactions in the Japanese market, related to food, textiles, materials, pulp and paper, chemicals, energy, metals and mineral resources, transportation machinery, and includes offshore trading.

The company's activities also extend to power projects and infrastructure, plants and industrial machinery, real estate development and construction, and finance, logistics and information industry.

Additionally, the company conducts business investment, development and management on a global level.

Marubeni Corp. is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

(3) Reddit (RDDT Quick QuoteRDDT - Free Report) : This is a $232 a share stock, with a market cap of $44.0B. It is found in the Zacks Internet Software industry. There is a Zacks Value score of F, a Zacks Growth score of B, and a Zacks Momentum score of A.
 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Reddit is a social media and community-led platform that enables real-time discovery, conversation and engagement across a wide range of interest-based forums.

With more than 100,000 active communities (organized based on specific interests) known as “subreddits,” users contribute, curate and interact through text, links, images and video. Subreddits are denoted by an “r/” before their names.

The platform’s open-access design allows most content to be discovered through search engines and other referring sources while supporting both signed-in and anonymous participation, driving scalable and high-intent user engagement.

Reddit serves global audiences across verticals, including gaming, consumer tech, finance, health, education and entertainment.

Reddit’s content architecture and engagement model are designed to support safe, trusted and interest-based interactions at scale.

Reddit hosts a huge amount of data with more than two billion posts and over 20 billion comments through Dec. 31, 2024, and an average of 1.2 million posts created daily and 9.7 million comments created daily in December 2024.

In the three months ended June 30, 2025, Daily Active Uniques (DAUq) jumped +21% year over year to 110.4 million. DAUq is used by Reddit to measure the scale of its active user base.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Reddit completed its initial public offering in March 2024. The company reported revenues of $1.30 billion in 2024, with 82% of revenues coming from the United States, while 18% was generated internationally.

Reddit generates the majority of its revenues through advertising on its mobile app and website. In 2024, advertising revenues accounted for 91% of revenues.

The company also generates revenues from content licensing, Reddit Premium subscriptions and products within its user economy, such as Reddit Gold and Collectible Avatars.

Reddit faces significant competition from the likes of Alphabet, ChatGPT, Gemini, Anthropic, Meta Platforms, Snap, Roblox, Pinterest, Nextdoor and others in terms of user growth and ad dollars.
 

Key Global Macro

Friday’s U.S. September Federal nonfarm jobs report should be a major trader focus.

On Monday, the Fed’s influential Chris Waller gives a speech. Ditto Musalem, Williams, Bostic, and Hammack.

The BoE’s Ramsden and the ECB’s Lane also give speeches.

U.S. Pending Home Sales are out for AUG. I see a +0.7% y/y prior reading.

On Tuesday, the NBS Mainland China manufacturing PMI for September comes out. I see a 49.4 prior reading.

Mainland China’s RatingDog Manufacturing PMI also comes out for September. The prior reading there was a slightly higher 50.5.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) makes a policy rate decision. 3.6% is the current policy rate.

Japan’s Tankan Large Manufacturing Index for Q3 is out. Look for a rise to 15 from 13.

On Wednesday, the E.U.’s core HICP inflation rate for Sept. is out. I see a +2.3% y/y prior core HICP reading. Broad HICP was +2.0% y/y.

U.S. ADP private payrolls are out. The prior reading was +54K.

The S&P global manufacturing PMI for September is out. 52 is the prior reading.

The ISM manufacturing PMI comes out for September too. Expect a 49.2 number, following a 48.7 prior reading.

U.S. total vehicle sales come out. 16.1 million is the prior reading.

On Thursday, U.S. initial jobless claims come out. 218K is the prior week’s reading. The 4-week moving average is 238K.

This is Mainland China’s National Day holiday.

On Friday, U.S. nonfarm payrolls for September come out. A paltry +22K job additions was the prior unrevised print for August.

The prior August U.S. household unemployment rate was 4.3%.
 

Conclusion

On Sept. 24th, 2025, Zacks Research Director Sheraz Mian published a new outlook.

His key points—

(1) For Q3-25, Zacks expects total S&P500 index earnings to be up +5.2% from the same period last year, on +6.0% higher revenues.

(2) The positive revisions trend makes the overall setup for the Q3 earnings season favorable.

But it raises the odds of actual results — coming up short of expectations.

In other words, it is reasonable to worry whether expectations for the period are too high, particularly for the Tech and Finance sectors.

(3) Excluding the Tech sector contribution?

Q3 earnings for the rest of the S&P500 index would be up only +2.2% (versus +5.2% otherwise).

(4) For the Magnificent 7 group?

Zacks expects Q3 earnings to be up +12.1% from the same period last year, on +14.6% higher revenues.

This would follow the group’s +26.4% earnings growth, on +15.5% revenue growth, in the preceding period.

It’s the start of a new month. That means there is going to lots of useful macro data out.

Enjoy this first week of October 2025, in trading and investing!

John Blank, PhD.
Zacks Chief Equity Strategist and Economist