Finance, in brief

US inflation held at 3.7% a year in July, unchanged from June and above the Federal Reserve's 2% target for a 65th straight month. [1][17]

Core inflation - the measure that strips out food and fuel - stayed at 3.3%, exactly where June left it. [3][4][7]

Economists had expected a smaller 0.1% rise on the month. It came in at 0.2%. [18][5]

Traders now put a 44% chance on a US rate rise at the September meeting, up from about 36% just before the figures landed. [2]

The Fed has not moved since December. Its rate has sat in a band of 3.50% to 3.75% for eight months. [1][2]

July's reading was published on 26 August. The meeting that will act on it is 16 September, nearly seven weeks after the month it measures ended. [1][17]

South Korea did not wait. Its central bank raised to 3.00% overnight, a second rise in two meetings, its highest rate since February 2025. [8][9]

Korea's own rate-setters now pencil in 3.25% by the end of this year and one further rise in early 2027. [8]

Kevin Warsh, the Fed's new chairman, speaks at Jackson Hole on Friday. He has scrapped the practice of telling markets what comes next. [10][11][12]

Of 31 economists surveyed by CNBC, 80% want more from him. Some 45% expect no steer on rates at all. [11]

The dollar rose to an eight-day high of 99.13 against six big currencies, and the 10-year US borrowing rate rose to 4.664%. [6][7]

Cheaper fuel did not help. Bond yields rose anyway, because the measure the Fed leans on most is the one that leaves fuel out. [7][14]

The 30-year US borrowing rate sat at 5.181% and the two-year at 4.199% before the figures landed. [16]

The US Treasury is doubling its buying-back of long-term debt to $4bn from 9 September, after long-term borrowing costs hit a near two-decade high last week. [13]

A $70bn sale of five-year government notes went ahead on Wednesday, with a seven-year sale following on Thursday. [14]

Wall Street traded flat on the third-quietest trading day of 2026, while the dollar and borrowing rates ticked up. [19][37]

The pound slipped 0.2% to $1.3625, off a six-month high, with almost no British news to move it. [38]

The next reading lands on Thursday: weekly US jobless claims, forecast at 208,000 against 206,000 the week before. [20]

Why it matters. Watch whether Warsh names on Friday what would make him raise: the 44% priced for September is a guess about a man who has said nothing.

Finance chief Colette Kress said revenue would grow 70% in the year to January 2028, against the 44% analysts expected. Shares rose more than 4% after hours, with Wall Street focused on its $30bn of other companies' shares. [21][22][23]

Why it matters. Supply sets the ceiling now, not demand - Jensen Huang said memory shortages cap what Nvidia can ship. [21][24]

Brent crude fell 0.7% to $87.24 a barrel after Iran and Oman said they were finalising a temporary framework to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. [25][26]

Why it matters. The strait carried a fifth of the world's oil before the war. Flows are now about a quarter of that. [25]

The yen traded near 159 to the dollar, having touched a near 40-year low of about 164 in July before officials stepped in. [28][6]

Why it matters. One beef importer now fixes prices quarterly rather than monthly, because the currency moves faster than his contracts. [29]

Brazil's Treasury said the share of its debt tied to the Selic, its overnight interest rate, could reach a record 53% this year, up from 51.1% in July. [30]

Why it matters. Where a country borrows at floating rates, a rate rise lands the same night, and investors expect debt to rise whoever wins October's election. [30][31]

The Treasury will give the Bank a second objective, to support payments innovation and digital money such as stablecoins, keeping financial stability first. [32]

Why it matters. Stablecoins are crypto tokens designed to hold a fixed value, and Britain already softened its planned capital rules for their issuers. [32]

Antoine Martin, vice chairman of the Swiss National Bank, backed rules making UBS hold roughly $20bn more of its own money against its foreign arms. [33]

Why it matters. Swiss banking grew far more concentrated after UBS absorbed Credit Suisse in 2023, so one failure now reaches further. [33]

The African Union will open an African credit rating agency in Mauritius on 5 October, an alternative to Fitch, Moody's and S&P Global. [34]

Why it matters. African governments say the big three downgrade them too fast in crises. The agencies say they apply one formula worldwide. [34]

A Hong Kong judge ruled that PwC International owed Evergrande a duty of care. The team winding up the collapsed developer can now pursue a 57bn yuan ($8.48bn) claim over its audits. [35]

Why it matters. A global firm's local partnerships have long been treated as separate. This decision tests whether the name at the top carries the bill. [35]

Salesforce shares rose 11% straight after its results and about 13% later in the evening, helped by a $2.6bn gain on its stake in the AI firm Anthropic. [36][22]

Why it matters. Net income jumped 87% to $3.53bn, but much of that came from an investment revalued rather than software sold. [36]