Oil is up about 8% in a week. The producers met on Sunday and added nothing, because they cannot agree the numbers their quotas are built on.

The rest of the day

21 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   Japan's reserves have their biggest fall ever

   Japan's foreign reserves stood at $1.208 trillion at the end of August, down $79.6 billion in a month, its finance ministry said on Monday. That is the largest fall ever recorded. It was led by sales of foreign securities, which are mostly US government bonds and make up about 70% of the reserves. Japan spent 15.4 trillion yen, about $98.66 billion, buying its own currency between 30 July and 26 August. Part of that was done jointly with the United States, the first time the two have acted together since 2011. [7]

   Why it matters — The yen went from about 164 per dollar to 155.20, slid back toward 160, and is now near 156. The money is spent and the currency is roughly where the buying left it. To avoid selling more American bonds, Japan can now draw dollars from a US central bank facility built in 2020. [7][8]

2. 03

   The dollar will not rise on its own good news

   Traders spent Monday morning pricing in a better chance that the US central bank raises rates on 16 September, and the dollar barely moved. Against a basket of currencies it slipped 0.07% to 99.09, close to its recent low of 98.558. A higher interest rate normally pulls money toward a currency. Reuters reported that worries about US government debt were pulling the other way. Elias Haddad of the bank BBH said other central banks raising at the same time removes the gap that usually favours the dollar. [8][9]

   Why it matters — The euro was $1.1618 and the pound $1.3519, both little changed. Reuters put the dollar's weakness partly down to worries about ever-growing US debt, which now stands above $40 trillion. [8][13]

3. 04

   Korea's leveraged chip funds lose most of their value

   South Korea allowed single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds about three months ago. These let an ordinary investor take a magnified bet on one company's shares, with the bet reset every day. Since late May the fund tracking the memory-chip maker SK Hynix has fallen to a third of its starting value, and the one tracking Samsung Electronics has lost half, the Nikkei reported. Neither share has fallen anything like that far. Both have swung violently instead, and the losses have become a political argument in Seoul over whether the products harmed the people who bought them. [11]

   Why it matters — SK Hynix rose 6.1% and Samsung 4% on Monday alone, which shows the size of the daily swings. A fund that resets its bet each morning loses money on those swings even when the share ends near where it began. [10][11]

4. 05

   China puts $54bn into its state insurers and banks

   China's finance ministry said on Sunday it will inject a combined $54 billion into state-owned insurers and banks. China Life, the country's largest life insurer, receives 35 billion yuan, about $5.2 billion. China Taiping gets 7 billion yuan, the People's Insurance Company of China is selling up to 15 billion yuan of new shares to China's finance ministry, China Export and Credit Insurance gets 10 billion and China Reinsurance 3 billion. Chinese insurers have been squeezed by years of very low interest rates, and many smaller ones have reported weakening capital. [12]

   Why it matters — Some of these insurers had been directed to support China's stock market with long-term money. The state is now refilling the capital that job used up, which makes the injection part of the cost of the market-support policy rather than a separate rescue. [12]

5. 06

   US borrowing costs face a test at 4.8%

   The rate the US government pays to borrow for ten years sat near 4.784% on Monday, close to its highest since late 2023. Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, wrote that a sustained move above 4.8% would be particularly concerning. It would mean worries about US borrowing were beating official attempts to talk the rate down. In August the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, announced a buyback of long-dated US government debt. It worked briefly, then the 30-year rate returned to 5.27%, exactly where it stood before he announced it. [13][14][4]

   Why it matters — More than $8.4 trillion of US government debt has to be refinanced before the end of the year, and September could be a record month for company bond sales. The US government is competing for the same lenders. Talking moves a rate for a few days. The amount that has to be borrowed does not change. [13]

6. 07

   Asian shares jump as chipmakers rally

   Asian markets rose sharply on Monday. South Korea's KOSPI index climbed 3.4% and Japan's Nikkei 225 rose about 1.9%, with SK Hynix up 6.1% and Samsung Electronics up 4%. The move followed a rise in American chip shares after OpenAI launched a new model, which revived expectations of more spending on the machines that run artificial intelligence. Japan's Kioxia gained 7.6% and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing 1.5%, while the MSCI Asia Pacific index added 1.1%. American markets were closed for the Labor Day holiday, so trading was thin. [10][4][18]

   Why it matters — Dearer oil and a strong US jobs report made a rate rise more likely this week, and higher bond yields normally pull share prices down by raising the return investors demand from riskier assets. [15][4] In Asia on Monday the chip story won anyway. [10]

7. 08

   Goldman Sachs raises its target for Asian shares

   Goldman Sachs lifted its forecast for the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index to 1,120 from 1,080, which it says implies about 26% upside from where the index sits. Its stated reason is earnings. Second-quarter profits across that index grew 102% from a year earlier, with 44% of companies beating expectations against 27% missing. Goldman said the growth was led by Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia while Australia, Malaysia and India lagged, and that it favours chip and computer-hardware companies. Its 12-month target for South Korea's KOSPI is 12,000. [16]

   Why it matters — A bank's target is its own opinion and nothing more. The 102% earnings figure underneath it is measured, and it says the Asian half of the AI build-out is now showing up in company profits rather than only in announcements. [16]

8. 09

   India's rupee is being held up by its central bank

   The Indian rupee rose 0.9% last week to 94.4850 per dollar, its strongest in two months, held up by the Reserve Bank of India selling dollars day after day. Anil Bhansali of Finrex Treasury Advisors said India's central bank is now the biggest factor and the question is whether it follows through. India's ten-year government bond yield ended Friday at 6.9625%, a third straight weekly rise after climbing about 0.15 points over the previous fortnight. Spare cash in the Indian banking system passed 10 trillion rupees, about $105.84 billion, for the first time on record. [5]

   Why it matters — India buys most of its oil abroad and pays for it in dollars, so a dearer barrel pushes the rupee down and forces India's central bank to spend more holding it up. The oil price in the lead story therefore decides how much of India's savings goes on defending its own currency. [5]

9. 10

   About $9bn of Iranian money passed through US banks

   While the US government tightens sanctions meant to cut Iran out of the financial system, Iranian money keeps moving through American banks. The US Treasury identified about $9 billion of Iranian funds that passed through US lenders in 2024 alone, the Wall Street Journal reported. Iran uses foreign partners and front companies to disguise the transactions, which makes them hard for a bank to spot. The report ran on the same weekend that American and Iranian forces attacked each other's ships around the Strait of Hormuz. [19]

   Why it matters — Sanctions work by making banks check who they are paying. When the checking is the weak part, a rule can be strict on paper and leaky in the payment system that is supposed to enforce it. [19]

10. 11

    Sugar has its best month since 2010

    Sugar prices rose 21.5% in August, the biggest monthly gain since October 2010. A summer heatwave cut expected sugar-beet yields in the European Union. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization also blamed worries about Asian production, lower output in Brazil, and India's decision to let raw sugar in without duty. The European Commission now expects EU production to fall 19% to 13.4 million tonnes in the 2026/27 season, from 16.6 million. Sugar is up about 20% in 2026, ahead of the 13% rise in the S&P 500 index of large American companies. [20]

    Why it matters — Sugar beet grows in the same fields and the same months as corn and wheat, so a heatwave that damages one threatens all three. William Osnato of Barchart said forecasters have all been moving their estimates the same way, toward a bigger shortfall. [20]

11. 12

    China's central bank has bought 2,366 tonnes of gold

    China's central bank has raised its reported gold holdings from about 1,950 tonnes when it resumed buying in November 2022 to roughly 2,366 tonnes by July 2026. It added about 225 tonnes in 2023, its largest year on record, and about 20 tonnes in July, its strongest month since October 2023. Estimates built from customs data, refinery exports and physical demand put official buying since January 2024 at 161.6 tonnes, against the 130.9 tonnes the bank reported. Chinese regulators also let ten insurers hold gold last year, capped at 1% of their assets. [21]

    Why it matters — Hong Kong is building vaults that could hold more than 2,000 tonnes, up from about 200 now, along with a clearing system and a delivery link to the Shanghai Gold Exchange. Buying the metal is one business; storing, clearing and settling everyone else's is a much larger one. [21]

12. 13

    An Angolan group buys a third of Angola's second bank

    Congolian Financial has agreed to buy 33.35% of Banco de Fomento Angola, the country's second-largest bank, from the Portuguese lender Banco BPI for at least $452 million. The payment comes in three parts: 345 million euros on completion, about 43.5 million euros in May 2027, and a variable sum equal to half of the bank's 2026 dividend on those shares. BPI has been trying to leave Angola since 2017 under pressure from European regulators, and once owned 48.1% of the bank. It expects the sale to add about 9 million euros to its accounting equity. [22]

    Why it matters — The deal still needs Angola's central bank and its capital market commission to clear it. Unitel, the Angolan telecoms company that owns the majority of the bank, also has a contractual right to buy the shares first, and if it uses that right the sale does not happen. [22]

13. 14

    Games makers argue tariff refunds are theirs to keep

    Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all raised games console prices after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs by executive order last year. At the time they blamed market conditions. The US Supreme Court then ruled those tariffs illegal, which forced the US government to refund the companies that had paid them. Sony's lawyers have now asked a court to throw out a class action from customers, arguing the buyers suffered no injury because they paid the advertised price and got working consoles. Walmart and Costco say they will pass their refunds back to shoppers. [23]

    Why it matters — A court now has to decide who owns money collected under a tax that was later ruled illegal. Sony says the buyers agreed to the advertised price and got working consoles, so the refund belongs to the company. No court has ruled yet. [23]

14. 15

    France pays the most to borrow since 2008

    France's ten-year government borrowing cost has reached 4.2%, its highest since 2008, according to Goldman Sachs. The gap between French and German ten-year rates, the usual measure of how risky lenders think France is, has widened past 0.8 percentage points. French public debt is approaching 120% of the size of the economy, the budget deficit is above 5%, and a split parliament makes spending cuts hard to pass. Marine Le Pen leads first-round polling above 30%, ahead of Edouard Philippe and Jean-Luc Melenchon on about 15% to 20% each. [26]

    Why it matters — The CAC 40, France's main share index, has been Europe's weakest large-company index in 2024, 2025 and 2026, trailing the STOXX 600 by 7.8%, 5.2% and 6.8%. Only about 15% of those companies' sales are made in France, so the discount is about France's public finances rather than the businesses. [26]

15. 16

    Apple's launch could go against its shares

    Brandon Nispel, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, told clients that Apple's iPhone event on 9 September is likely to push its share price down rather than up. Apple has two uncomfortable choices. It can raise prices across the range and risk shocking buyers, or raise them on selected models and invite questions about its profit margins. KeyBanc expects three new iPhones, including a first folding model. KeyBanc kept an Underweight rating and a $250 target against a share price of $324.96, and expects about 80 million iPhone 18s built across two quarters. [24][25]

    Why it matters — Nispel wrote that neither pricing choice is a good outcome, and that Apple's September event is usually followed by a modest fall in the shares. A launch normally lifts a phone maker; this one has investors asking what the phone will cost to build. [24][25]

16. 17

    Microsoft will publish Azure's revenue on its own

    Microsoft said it will start reporting quarterly revenue for Azure, its cloud computing business, and will cut its reporting segments from three to two. The structure it is replacing has been in place since 2015. Azure has been one of the largest winners of the AI boom, and analysts at Stifel estimated in July that about half of Azure's revenue growth in Microsoft's 2026 financial year came from OpenAI alone. Amazon began disclosing revenue for its cloud arm in 2015 and Alphabet did the same in 2020. [27]

    Why it matters — Until now investors could only see Microsoft's cloud growth folded inside a larger number. Publishing the figure means anyone can check the AI story against one line rather than inferring it from the total. [27]

17. 18

    The AI land rush reaches American farmland

    Land bought in the United States for future data centres reached about $6 billion in the first half of 2026, a 79% rise on a year earlier, CNBC reported. Data centres need large amounts of land, electricity and water, so builders are going to rural areas where all three are cheaper. Sid Miller, the Texas agriculture commissioner, told a protest in Lubbock in July that developers were taking the state's best farmland and paying sometimes ten times its value. That, he said, made it hard for farmers to refuse. [28]

    Why it matters — The farmers who sell are getting far more than the land was worth for growing crops. The neighbours who did not sell now compete with a data centre for water, power and road space. [28]

18. 19

    Zscaler grows 25% as firms pay to police AI

    The cybersecurity company Zscaler reported quarterly revenue up 25% from about $719 million a year earlier, and cut its net loss to $3.37 million from $17.58 million. Its annual recurring revenue, the yearly value of its subscriptions, also rose 25%, to $3.77 billion, beating a $3.75 billion estimate. Chief executive Jay Chaudhry said demand is coming from companies trying to control what AI software is allowed to reach inside their networks, and called it a longer-term opportunity with significant barriers to entry. Security shares have risen sharply this year on that demand. [31]

    Why it matters — Every company putting AI software to work has to decide what it may touch and what it may not. That decision is turning into a subscription somebody sells. [31]

19. 20

    Gold ends a week of swings almost exactly flat

    Gold traded flat at $4,426.93 an ounce on Monday morning. It finished last week at $4,429, down 0.6%, after crossing above and below $4,400 repeatedly as traders changed their minds about US rates. Silver rose 0.2% to $66.37 an ounce and platinum fell 0.5% to $1,813.77. Gold pays no income, so a higher interest rate makes cash more attractive by comparison and normally weighs the metal down. [17]

    Why it matters — Two forces are cancelling out. The fighting around the Strait of Hormuz pushes people toward gold, and the growing chance of a US rate rise pulls them back to cash. [17]

20. 21

    Citi builds a gauge for the new US central bank chief

    Citi has built what it calls a Warsh shadow rate, a gauge assembled from the indicators Kevin Warsh, the new chairman of the US central bank, said he watches in his speech at Jackson Hole. Warsh put weight on underlying inflation, the money supply, jobless claims, financial conditions and share prices, and played down inflation expectations, wages and the headline jobs number. Citi says the measures he favours are mostly pointing toward tighter policy while the ones he plays down have softened, and that the gauge is near levels seen before past rate-raising cycles. [30]

    Why it matters — Citi's own economists still do not expect a rise this month. They say August inflation on Friday decides it: a core rise of 0.3% or more makes an increase likely, 0.1% would probably delay it, and 0.2% settles nothing. [30]

21. 22

    Hong Kong counts its Belt and Road listings

    More than 100 companies from countries in China's Belt and Road programme are now listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with a combined market value above HK$340 billion, about $43.4 billion. Hong Kong's financial secretary published the figure in his weekly blog and said more state-owned companies from Central Asia are preparing to list in the city. Belt and Road is China's programme of trade and infrastructure investment across Asia, Africa and Europe. [29]

    Why it matters — A stock exchange lives on which companies choose to list on it. Hong Kong's government is publicly counting the ones that came through China's Belt and Road programme, and says more state-owned firms from Central Asia are on the way. [29]