Westpac says US resilience limits scope for further Fed easing. Summary: US growth remains resilient, with activity tracking above trend despite uncertainty. Labour market stable, unemployment steady around 4.3% and wage growth firm. Household balance sheets strong, wealth at record highs supporting consumption. Inflation risks persist, particularly in core services, complicating Fed easing. Westpac delays final rate cut call…
GBP/USD maintains its upside momentum in place, hovering around daily highs near 1.3650 and setting aside part of the recent three-day drop. Cable’s improved sentiment comes on the back of the Greenback’s irresolute price action, while recent hawkish comments from the BoE’s Pill also collaborate with the uptick.
The key market influence today is the closure of Chinese mainland markets and half days on ly in Hong Kong and Singapore (more detail below the screenshot). The calendar lists China house price data due today. These were published last week: Japanese economic growth data will be eyed. Fourth-quarter GDP is expected to have expanded by 0.4% from the…
Standard Chartered’s Edward Lee and Jonathan Koh highlight that Malaysia’s economy grew 5.2% in 2025 after 5.1% in 2024, driven by strong domestic confidence, AI-related investment and accommodative policy. They expect GDP growth to moderate to 4.5% in 2026, above official projections, and see Bank Negara Malaysia keeping policy rates stable near term despite upside risks to growth. Growth…
Last week’s conflicting jobs data & softer CPI left markets directionless. This week: Fed minutes, U.S. GDP, PCE inflation, UK CPI, & global PMIs determine rate-cut timing.
Rate cuts by year-end Fed: 58 bps (90% probability of no change at the upcoming meeting) BoE: 48 bps (64% probability of rate cut at the upcoming meeting) ECB: 8 bps (98% probability of no change at the upcoming meeting) SNB: 7 bps (93% probability of no change at the upcoming meeting) Rate hikes by year-end BoC: 1 bps…
Gold (XAU/USD) price makes a U-turn on Friday and trims some of Thursday’s losses, rising nearly 2% following the release of a softer-than-expected inflation report in the US, which increased speculation that the Federal Reserve (Fed) could lower rates. At the time of writing, XAU/USD trades above the $5,000 milestone. XAU/USD rallies nearly 2% after cooler US inflation data…
The data center industry faces a severe power shortage. Demand for artificial intelligence (AI) compute capacity is growing exponentially, fueled by the generative AI (GenA)) boom and the rollout of power-hungry GPU clusters. Meanwhile, the supply of reliable electricity is limited by an aging utility grid that expands slowly and is weighed down by bureaucratic delays. This mismatch has…
This was already evident when we saw the German and French trade data last week. For some context: US tariffs impact show up in German and French trade numbers, but is there a bigger worry? Of note, German exports to the US last year plunged while French exports were steady at the balance after some frontrunning was done before…
Standard Chartered’s Senior Economist Tommy Wu raises Taiwan’s 2026 GDP growth forecast to 8.0% from 3.8%, citing strong Q4-2025 expansion and robust global semiconductor demand. The bank expects economic momentum to stay firm through 2026, supported by booming ICT and electronics exports and a recent US trade deal, while growth remains uneven and income disparity may widen. AI-driven export…
