Finance, in brief

Christopher Waller, one of seven governors of the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, said on Thursday he is leaning toward leaving interest rates alone at the meeting on 15 and 16 September. [1]

He attached a condition. If August inflation keeps cooling he holds. If it comes in hot, he said, he would consider a rise. [2][14]

The August inflation figures are not published until 11 September. Nobody has seen the number the decision turns on. [2]

That cut against how markets had read Kevin Warsh, the US central bank's chair, who said at Jackson Hole on 28 August that the bank might have more work to do. [2][3]

After Warsh spoke, the two-year US government borrowing rate jumped by more than 0.12 of a percentage point, to about 4.356%. That rate tracks expectations of the US central bank most closely. [4]

After Waller spoke it went the other way. The two-year eased to 4.3609% and the ten-year, the benchmark for US mortgages, car loans and credit cards, fell to 4.768%. [5]

Everything priced off that rate turned with it. Gold rose 2%, bitcoin gained about 6% to $81,759, and the trading app Robinhood was the S&P 500's biggest riser at 17%. [6][7]

What moved between the two speeches was who had spoken, not a new inflation figure. The August one does not exist yet. [3][15][2]

The published odds of a September rise do not agree with each other. One tracker put it at 57.5%, a betting market at 48%, and a later reading near 66%. [4]

Warsh has said he wants markets to react to the ball of incoming data, not the ref. Waller has criticised how sparingly his chair speaks. [3]

US employment figures for August land on Friday, forecast at 58,000 new jobs with unemployment steady at 4.1%. [5]

Why it matters. Watch the 11 September inflation report: it is the one piece of evidence both sides of this argument have said they would accept, and it arrives five days before the vote. [2]

Germany's ten-year government borrowing rate reached its highest since 2011, Japan's held above 3%, the US touched its highest since November 2023 and Britain's hit a post-2008 peak. [8][9]

Why it matters. The named causes are how much governments are borrowing and the oil price, not any one central bank - which is why the rise happened in four countries at once.

Japan's 30-year government borrowing rate touched 4.2%, four times the 1% rate its central bank sets. [16]

Why it matters. Long-term lenders are pricing a country whose central bank has not yet caught up with its own inflation.

The average two-year fixed mortgage in Britain sat at 5.59% and the five-year at 5.63%, both unchanged on the day, according to the data firm Moneyfacts. [19]

Why it matters. British government borrowing costs feed into mortgages quickly, so a flat day is a lag rather than a reprieve.

Britain owes about 3 trillion pounds, or 94% of everything its economy produces in a year, and its government borrowing rates are the highest in decades - above the levels of the Liz Truss episode in 2022. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been in office six weeks. [20]

Why it matters. In Britain a government borrowing rate passes into mortgage rates fast, so a bond market problem becomes a household one within months.

Huw Pill, chief economist at the Bank of England, said the bank should raise its rate to stop inflation staying above target, even with the Middle East war unresolved. He and two colleagues voted for a rise in July; six voted to hold. [21]

Why it matters. Britain's rate-setters are split the same way the American ones are, on the same evidence.

Swiss consumer prices were 0.8% higher than a year earlier in August, up from 0.4% in July and the fastest since September 2024. It was higher than every one of 16 economists' forecasts. A 25% jump in petroleum prices drove it. [22][19]

Why it matters. Switzerland has the lowest inflation in the rich world, so when oil moves it, the oil shock is reaching everywhere.

Consumer prices in the Philippines rose 6.1% in the year to August, down from 6.2% in July, after a run of rate rises. It is still above the Philippine central bank's target. [23]

Why it matters. One of the few places where a series of rate rises can be seen working its way into prices.

Bank Negara Malaysia left its rate at 2.75%, where it has been since a cut in July 2025, citing strong growth and mild inflation. [24]

Why it matters. A reminder that the global squeeze is not universal: some economies have both growth and calm prices.

The yen rose more than 1.7% against the dollar on Thursday, its highest in a month, on bets that Japan's central bank will raise rates on 18 September. [25][26]

Why it matters. A stronger yen makes money borrowed cheaply in Japan and invested abroad more expensive to repay, which can force selling elsewhere.

Japan spent a record 15.4 trillion yen buying its own currency between 30 July and 26 August, and the US joined in. [26]

Why it matters. The US Treasury has an interest in a stable yen: Japanese investors are among the largest holders of US government debt.

Hajime Takata, a board member at the Bank of Japan, said a quarter-point rise this month was not necessarily set in stone, and that rises in two meetings running remained possible. [27][28]

Why it matters. The same shape as the American argument: a conditional read as a decision.

Nvidia, which makes the chips artificial intelligence runs on, agreed to buy Hugging Face, the site where developers share and download AI models, for $12,930,300,000. Its chief executive Jensen Huang confirmed the figure in a blog post. [29][30][31]

Why it matters. It is the second-biggest purchase in Nvidia's history, after $20bn for the chip firm Groq's assets in December 2025.

Nvidia reported $96.2bn of revenue in a single quarter, up 106% on a year earlier, with $89bn of it from data centres. Net profit was $64bn. It guided the next quarter to $108bn, assuming no data-centre sales to China at all. [32]

Why it matters. Its profits are large enough to absorb the higher borrowing costs that are weighing on other share prices.

The sportswear company's revenue fell 4% to $2.42bn and sales at shops open a year or more dropped 9%. It cut full-year revenue guidance to $10.35bn-$10.5bn from $11bn-$11.15bn. A $134.5m tariff refund flattered the quarter's margin. [33]

Why it matters. A rare clean read on middle-income spending, and the direction is down; a new chief executive, Heidi O'Neill, starts next week.

De Nederlandsche Bank shifted 86 tons of gold from New York and Ottawa to London between March and August, confirming it this week. It cited increasing geopolitical unrest and said London gold is the easiest in the world to sell quickly. It holds 612 tons in all; 18.5% is still in North America. [34]

Why it matters. France's central bank sold 129 tons held in New York last year and bought replacements in Europe. Paul Donovan of the bank UBS called the Dutch move not normal behaviour.

Front-month gold futures reached $4,510 an ounce on Thursday, up $143.70 on the day, after Waller's remarks. Spot gold held at $4,477.10 on Friday and silver at $66.90. [35][7]

Why it matters. Gold pays no interest, so it gains whenever the expected path of interest rates falls.

Brent crude traded at $95.67 a barrel on Friday and was up 7.1% over the week; US crude was up 9.8%, the biggest weekly gains since the week to 20 July. Renewed US-Iran fighting is the reason given. [7]

Why it matters. Fuel costs are the single clearest route from a war to an inflation figure, which is what makes the September rate argument live.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said more than 17 million barrels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, a record since the conflict began. Samir Madani of TankerTrackers.com estimates about 9.14 million barrels left the whole region that day, and says the higher figure adds several days together. [38]

Why it matters. Traders price oil off supply claims, and this one moved a market before anyone checked the arithmetic.

Loans not being repaid reached 32.78% of everything the country's banks have lent at the end of June, the highest share of any country. That is up on three months earlier, and part of the rise is loans that were previously hidden now being counted. [36]

Why it matters. The number got worse partly because the counting got honest, which is a different thing from the economy getting worse.

Nearly 90% of more than 6,500 companies issuing bonds in China hold a rating of AA or better, against 4.4% in the United States. Foreign borrowers rated B globally - a grade that carries a 15.34% chance of default within five years - are rated AAA when they sell bonds inside China. [37]

Why it matters. A grading scale squeezed into its top band cannot tell a safe borrower from a risky one, in a market worth 37 trillion yuan.

Bitcoin rose about 6% to around $81,759 after Waller spoke, having slipped below $77,000 during the bond sell-off earlier in the week. Coinbase shares gained 10%. [6][40]

Why it matters. When government bonds pay more, money leaves assets that pay nothing; when that reverses, it comes back the same day.

Paul Atkins, chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, said he expects a procedural Senate vote on the Clarity Act on 15 September and that it could reach the US president's desk this month. The agency is also preparing its own rulebook in parallel. [39]

Why it matters. The bill has stalled repeatedly over how to treat interest paid on stablecoins.

Upstart, which lends using artificial intelligence, put its macro index at 1.50, meaning roughly 50% more default risk than it would expect in a normal economy. It has been above normal since early 2022, though below the 1.68 peak of 2024. It lent $1.34bn in August. [41]

Why it matters. One of the few public measures of how stressed ordinary borrowers are, published monthly rather than quarterly.

The Bancorp, which holds deposits and issues cards for Chime, PayPal and Cash App, reported quarterly profit of $60.7m and a 34.7% return on shareholders' money. Money moving across its partner programmes rose 22.5% to $53.45bn. [42]

Why it matters. It has no branches and no brand, and is the sixth-largest debit card issuer in the United States.

The Canadian lender's quarterly revenue rose 23% to C$38.8m and profit 53% to C$10.1m, with total assets up 26% to C$6.9bn. Its shares slipped anyway. [43]

Why it matters. Investors marked down a bank growing quickly because the margin on that growth is thinning.

The building materials distributor lifted first-half revenue 6.7% to 1.34bn pounds and adjusted profit 8.2% to 98.5m pounds. Revenue in Great Britain fell 5.1%; Spain, Portugal and Ireland carried the group. [44]

Why it matters. Building materials track housebuilding, so this is what higher British borrowing costs look like in a company's accounts.

The lawn and turf equipment maker reported quarterly sales of $1,225.8m, up 8.4%, and earnings per share of $0.81, up 50%. It raised full-year sales growth guidance to 6.3%-6.6% from 4.0%-6.5%. [45]

Why it matters. Equipment sales are a slow-moving read on business investment, and this one is being revised upward.

The automation software company reported quarterly revenue of $410m, up 13%, and yearly subscription revenue of $1.938bn, up 12%. Hitesh Ramani was promoted to chief financial officer. [46]

Why it matters. Steady rather than spectacular growth from a company selling the unglamorous half of automation.

The electronic signature company lifted its forecast, with chief executive Allan Thygesen crediting artificial intelligence tools that now execute contract steps end to end. [47]

Why it matters. One of the first mid-sized software firms to say AI is adding to its revenue rather than threatening it.

The best high-yield savings account paid up to 6.18% a year on Thursday, while the average American savings account paid 0.38%, according to the deposit insurer. The best certificates of deposit paid 4.14% to 4.60%. [48][49]

Why it matters. The gap between the best and average rate is now larger than the entire increase the US central bank is arguing about.

A monthly survey of US services businesses rose to 56.5 from 54.6, a separate industry survey to 55.4 from 54.1, and weekly claims for unemployment benefit moved back toward their usual level near 200,000. [50]

Why it matters. Healthy activity is exactly what makes a rate rise arguable; a weakening economy would settle the question.

The bank HSBC published a report titled Nope, it's not 1997. It said the differences between Asia's position today and the run-up to the 1997 crisis outweigh the similarities. It did note real parallels: rising US borrowing costs and the fall of the yen. [52]

Why it matters. Worth reading against the day's alarm: nearly thirty years on, the comparison is being made again.

Strategists at Panmure Liberum, led by Joachim Klement, argue that ordinary economic cycles could overwhelm worries about government debt and reverse the rise in borrowing costs within a year. [53]

Why it matters. A minority view, and the only one in the day's coverage that expects the trend to break.

On 1 September, the day bonds led the news, broad bond index funds fell about half a percentage point. In the 2022 rout the typical medium-term bond fund lost about 13% and long-dated US government bonds nearly 30% - but those started from a 1.5% return, against about 4.8% now. [51]

Why it matters. A higher starting return is what absorbs a price fall, which is why the same headline means less than it did four years ago.

With midterm elections two months away, the ten-year US borrowing rate has climbed above 4.8% and the five-year sits just under 4.6%. Robin Brooks of the Brookings Institution notes rates are climbing in essentially every Western economy except Switzerland and Sweden, which kept their deficits small. [10]

Why it matters. It puts a floor under mortgage and car loan costs at exactly the moment affordability becomes an election issue.

Analysts at the Dutch bank ING put the normal level for the US ten-year rate at 4.5% and the euro area's at 3%. Both are running about 0.3 of a percentage point above that. [17]

Why it matters. A useful measure of how much of this is panic and how much is a genuine repricing: not much, so far.

Analysts note that US-Iran escalation pushed US crude above $90 and toward $95, reviving inflation worry, while a stronger yen raises the risk that money borrowed cheaply in Japan gets pulled back, forcing selling elsewhere. [54]

Why it matters. Two separate pressures that would both land on share prices through the same door.

Growth in the euro area has averaged 0.9% a year since the financial crisis. In the United States it has been above 2%. [55]

Why it matters. The gap is why European government borrowing costs rising hurts more per point than American ones do.

A survey of 82 investors, lenders and bankers found 80% expect money to move materially into healthcare software products by 2029, as those firms build financing into billing and payment systems. [56]

Why it matters. Another industry discovering that the profitable part is lending, not the product.