Finance, in brief

The US Treasury said on Wednesday it will buy up to $6bn of its own bonds maturing in 10 to 20 years, at an operation on Thursday afternoon. [1][6]

That is triple the $2bn it bought at last month's long-dated operation. [3]

A buyback is the US government paying cash to take its own old bonds back off investors. With fewer long bonds left to buy, they should get dearer, and a bond that gets dearer pays its holder a smaller yield. [3]

The yield is what the lender earns, and it sets the cost of borrowing across the rest of the economy - houses, cars, company loans. [3]

It went the wrong way. The ten-year yield reached 4.8568% on Wednesday, the highest since November 2023, and closed at 4.836% against 4.805% the day before. [2][5]

The twenty-year rose about the same amount to 5.3%, and the thirty-year settled at 5.2846%. [2][3]

Investors had been told to expect more. Scott Bessent, the US Treasury secretary, said last month that doubling these operations to $4bn was the least he could do, which some read as a floor rather than a size. [1][7]

Some had expected a bigger number on Wednesday, and the US Treasury also said future operations will be at least $4bn and will concentrate on ten- and twenty-year bonds. [4][8]

Then the same afternoon the US government sold $39bn of new ten-year notes and got 2.71 bids for every dollar on offer, the strongest demand at a ten-year sale since 2019. [2]

Tom di Galoma of Mischler Financial, a bond dealer, said buyers turned up because the US government had already said it would buy ten- to twenty-year paper the next day. "Investors may have thought it was a risk-free trade," he said. [2]

That sale pulled yields back off the day's high, so one announcement moved the same market twice, in opposite directions, inside six hours. [2]

Bessent told an audience at Southern Methodist University in Texas on Tuesday that investors are misreading the economy, defended buying yen to hold up Japan's currency, and said of betting against him: "I am the house now." [3]

Shares fell for a third day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost just over 400 points, or 0.8%, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.6%. [9]

The US government sells another $22bn of thirty-year bonds on Thursday, the same afternoon the buyback runs. [2]

Why it matters. Watch Thursday's $22bn thirty-year sale. If it draws a crowd like Wednesday's ten-year did, the demand is coming from people expecting to sell into the US government's own buying, and it will thin out when the operations stop.

The European Central Bank, which sets interest rates for the 21 countries using the euro, is expected to lift its main rate to 2.50% from 2.25% on Thursday. Markets put the chance of at least a quarter-point rise at 100%. Euro-zone inflation was 3.3% in August, with energy prices 14.3% higher than a year earlier, because the bloc imports most of its fuel and the US-Iran war has pushed oil up. It raised in June for the first time since 2023, then held in July. Thursday's staff forecasts were finished before oil crossed $100. [11][12][14]

Why it matters. It is the second rise this year for households and firms borrowing in euros, and their central bank is answering a fuel price it cannot change. One economist expects further rises in October and December; another sees a long hold at 2.50%. Christine Lagarde's press conference matters more than usual, because the chairman of the US central bank has stopped saying what he plans to do next. [11][12][13][16]

Brent crude, the price most of the world's oil is sold against, rose 3.4% on Wednesday to close at $101.21 a barrel. US crude gained 3.3% to $96.05. Both were the highest closing prices since May. It followed the biggest wave of attacks on shipping since the six-month war between the United States and Iran began. US forces sank five Iranian oil tankers. Iran said it attacked ten ships near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel a large share of the world's oil passes through. [9][15][10]

Why it matters. Fuel feeds into almost every price, which is why bond yields rose across Europe, Japan and the United States on the same day. India, which imports about 85% of its crude, is one of the places where it shows up fastest in the shops. [10][36]

US producer prices for August are published on Thursday and consumer prices on Friday. They are the last figures the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, gets before deciding on rates on 15 and 16 September. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect consumer prices up 0.4% in the month and 3.4% over the year. About 70% of 93 economists in a Reuters poll expect no change, down from 90% in August; futures price a 60% chance of a rise. The question opened in the spring, when the United States attacked Iran and oil spiked. [16][17][18][21][9]

Why it matters. A rise would be the first since July 2023 and would land on every American with a loan whose rate moves. One economist called it the most consequential inflation report in some time. A forecaster at Evercore ISI says a monthly reading of 0.22% or lower in the measure the Fed watches favours a hold, while 0.24% could tip it to a rise. [16][17][19]

Money is going into short-dated government bond funds and staying out of long ones. Short US Treasury exchange-traded funds took $12.2bn in the 20 trading sessions to 8 September, and intermediate ones about $5.7bn, according to LSEG Lipper. Long-term bond funds have drawn just $2.5bn all year, against $54.2bn for intermediate funds. Lending for thirty years pays little more than lending for two, so the extra risk is not being paid for. [23]

Why it matters. Anyone whose pension holds long government bonds is on the other side of that: the iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond fund is down more than 4% this year and a long-dated Fidelity fund more than 5%. [24]

Small-company shares have fallen below a level chart-watchers follow, and the Russell 2000 index of them is heading for its first quarterly loss since early 2025. Smaller firms borrow more, and more of what they borrow carries a rate that moves with the market rather than a fixed one. They had been beating the S&P 500 earlier in the year. [25]

Why it matters. If borrowing costs are going to bite the wider stock market, this is where it usually shows up first, which is why investors are watching an index most people never hear about. [25]

The rise is not only American. French government borrowing costs are at their highest in 18 years and German at their highest in 15, while Japan's ten-year yield passed 3% this month for the first time in three decades. The US thirty-year rate touched 5.3% on 17 August, a 19-year high and 2.4 percentage points above its 2017-19 average. One argument is that this is a return to normal rather than a crisis: rates were higher than this through most of the four decades before 2007. [27][26][23]

Why it matters. Governments everywhere are borrowing more at the same time, and the price of that borrowing is set by the same lenders. Morningstar argues the cause is a stronger economy rather than fear of US debt, which would mean better returns for bond buyers later. [26]

Gold rose 0.3% to $4,412.84 an ounce on Thursday morning in Asia, helped by a weaker dollar, while traders waited for the US inflation figures. Silver rose 0.2% to $67.42. Gold pays no interest, so it usually suffers when rates rise; it is going up anyway. An ANZ strategist said that is because confidence in the long-term value of government debt is being eaten away. US federal debt passed $40 trillion for the first time last month. [22]

Why it matters. People buy gold when they doubt a currency rather than an economy. It is going up in the same week the US government is paying more to borrow. [22]

The Bank of Japan is expected to lift its rate to 1.25% on 18 September, and to 1.75% by the second quarter of 2027, sooner than forecasters thought. The yen has already climbed to seven-month highs on that expectation and was at 153.70 to the dollar on Thursday, pausing rather than reversing. Japan kept rates near zero for decades, so each rise there pulls money home that had been lent out around the world. [10]

Why it matters. The rise has not happened yet and the currency has already moved, which is the same pattern as Wednesday's bond sale in the United States. [10][2]

India's consumer price inflation probably rose to 4.80% in August from 4.45% in July, a 20-month high, according to a Reuters poll of 44 economists. The figures are published on 14 September. An erratic monsoon pushed up sugar, cereals, milk, edible oils and eggs, and sugar alone likely added at least 0.15 percentage points. Fuel added more, with crude near $100. It is the third straight month above the Reserve Bank of India's 4% target, though still inside its 2-6% band. [36]

Why it matters. India's central bank held rates last month and is not expected to raise until next year, so households there absorb the food and fuel increase without a policy answer. [36]

Holders of Senegal's government bonds have formed a creditor group of at least eight fund managers and hired the law firm White and Case, four people with knowledge of it told Reuters. Senegal has been in trouble since 2024, when new leaders revealed that the previous government had hidden billions in borrowing; the total reached about $13bn, a quarter of the country's economy. Last week the International Monetary Fund agreed a fresh $2.2bn loan in principle, and Senegal said it would rework its debts under the G20 process for low-income countries. [29]

Why it matters. The lenders organised before any offer exists, because they know one is coming. White and Case has advised governments in Ethiopia and Ukraine and creditors in Lebanon and Sri Lanka. [29]

Angola wants to let foreign investors buy its $18.6bn of local-currency government debt, its finance minister Vera Daves de Sousa told Reuters, and is talking to JPMorgan about joining a new index of frontier-market local debt. At present buying Angolan government paper needs central bank approval and a local banking arrangement. Angola's government will meet international investors in Luanda, the capital, later this month. Angola has far less domestic government debt outstanding than Kenya, whose economy is only slightly larger. [30]

Why it matters. Borrowing at home in its own currency would cut Angola's dependence on dollar debt, which gets dearer whenever its own currency falls. Senegal, on the same continent, is reworking about $13bn of debt after years of borrowing abroad. [30][29]

Shanghai Enflame Technology, an AI chip designer backed by the internet company Tencent, will start trading on Shanghai's STAR Market on Friday. It sold 43 million new shares at 142.18 yuan each, raising 6.12bn yuan, about $912m, and valuing the company at about $9.12bn. Only 4.16% of its shares will actually be tradable on day one. It expects a loss of 700-860m yuan for January to September, on revenue up between 326% and 455%. Tencent will own 17.95% and was 83.79% of its sales last year. [31]

Why it matters. Only about a twenty-fifth of the shares can change hands on Friday, so a small number of buyers will set the value put on the whole company. One customer, Tencent, provided almost all of last year's sales. [31]

The US Senate takes a procedural vote on 15 September on the Clarity Act, which would define which digital tokens count as securities and which regulator supervises them. The crypto industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars pushing it. During the congressional recess that began on 8 August, crypto groups and banking groups ran opinion pieces in local newspapers in Oklahoma, Kentucky and Kansas, and held events in Iowa and Michigan. One advocacy group says its supporters contacted members of Congress nearly 50,000 times in August. Banks warn the bill lacks safeguards. [32]

Why it matters. The date of the vote is fixed and public, so all the money is spent in the weeks before it rather than on the day. Analysts quoted by Reuters think the bill's chances look slim. [32]

Brian Armstrong, chief executive of Coinbase, the largest US crypto exchange, told CNBC on Thursday that the Clarity Act is ready for a yes vote and that senators he has spoken to are on board. He said that even if it fails, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are ready to publish their own rules within a day or two of the 15th. Getting 60 votes is the obstacle, with ethics provisions still being negotiated. [33]

Why it matters. Armstrong is describing two ways to the same outcome, while analysts quoted by Reuters say the bill's chances look slim. Coinbase is meanwhile expanding beyond crypto trading into shares, commodities and stablecoins. [33][32]

The US Justice Department is investigating whether Nvidia, which makes most of the chips AI runs on, structured a deal with the chip startup Groq to avoid antitrust review, the New York Times reported. Nvidia paid $17bn last year for a non-exclusive licence to Groq's chip technology and hired several of its executives, including the founder Jonathan Ross. Buying a company outright triggers a review; licensing its technology and hiring its people may not. The department opened the inquiry shortly after the deal and has sent Nvidia a formal request for information. [34]

Why it matters. The report says the department is unlikely to try to unwind the deal but could fine Nvidia. What is being examined is how the deal was built, not what Nvidia paid. [34]

India's Serious Fraud Investigation Office has recommended a detailed investigation into Xiaomi, the Chinese electronics maker, over its business model and its compliance with foreign investment law, according to a government memorandum seen by Reuters. It wants the movement of funds examined, and whether Xiaomi obtained the approvals required after India tightened rules on Chinese investment following deadly border clashes in 2020. Xiaomi says it has received no notice and complies fully with Indian law. The memorandum was drafted in May. [35]

Why it matters. It surfaces days before China's president Xi Jinping is expected in India for a BRICS summit. Xiaomi was once India's best-selling phone brand and is already fighting tax demands there. [35]

PepsiCo has given Publicis Groupe, the French advertising group, its $1.7bn global media, data and technology account without running a formal pitch, ending a partnership with Omnicom of more than 25 years. Publicis already handles Coca-Cola's advertising in North America and was bidding for Coke's global business; it has now withdrawn from that contest and is expected to resign the North America account, worth about $805m. Coca-Cola is putting that business back under review. [37]

Why it matters. Advertising groups have merged into a handful of firms, so a company like PepsiCo has few alternatives if a rival gets there first. Pepsi moved before Publicis could be locked up by Coke. [37]

The private equity firm Silver Lake is merging Cegid, which sells business management software, and Silae, a payroll and human resources platform, both French and both already majority-owned by Silver Lake. The combined company is valued at more than 10bn euros, about $11.6bn, and will put payroll, accounting, electronic invoicing and payments data in one place with a 1,400-person development team. Software shares fell hard this year on fears AI would replace subscription software, then recovered in May. [38]

Why it matters. The two companies say joining up lets them spend more on research as AI arrives. It also puts payroll, accounting, invoicing and payments data for French businesses under a single owner. [38]

Visa and the International Finance Corporation, the private-sector arm of the World Bank, agreed a deal under which the IFC will carry part of the credit settlement risk on Visa transactions at enrolled banks. It covers about $200m of risk over five years, starting with 14 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and around 50 financial institutions rated below investment grade. Those banks are often too weak on paper to be allowed into card networks at scale. [39]

Why it matters. A public institution is absorbing a risk that private banks would not, in order to connect people without bank accounts to digital payments. [39]

The European Commission has proposed replacing three directives on public tenders with a single regulation and building one EU-wide platform. Governments would be allowed to reject a bid when less than half of what it supplies is made in Europe. Quality would have to carry at least 30% of the scoring, so a contract could no longer go automatically to whoever bids lowest. Public buying is about 15% of EU output, roughly 2.5 trillion euros in 2025. Companies bidding today face different templates and languages across 27 countries. [40]

Why it matters. The stated target is cheap subsidised goods from outside the bloc, especially from China. Mario Draghi, who used to run the European Central Bank, has argued for years that the bloc does not use its own buying power to any purpose. [40]

Energy Transfer, a large US pipeline operator, is set to become the first major company to move its primary stock listing from New York to the Texas Stock Exchange, according to people familiar with the matter. The Texas exchange launched to challenge the dominance of the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, and its whole plan depends on persuading companies to switch rather than only attracting new ones. [41]

Why it matters. The Texas exchange has no large listings yet, and its plan rests on persuading companies to leave New York rather than only attracting new ones. Energy Transfer would be the first to test whether that works. [41]

Two litigation funders are in conflict over who should lead the next phase of a 36bn pound claim against the miners BHP and Vale. The law firm Pogust Goodhead brought the case in the United Kingdom for more than 600,000 Brazilians hit by the 2015 Fundao dam collapse. The miners were found liable in November. Litigation funders pay legal costs in exchange for a share of any award, so they are investors in a lawsuit rather than parties to it. [42]

Why it matters. The people the case is about are not in this argument. It is being had between two sets of investors over how to maximise the payout. [42]

Steve Witkoff, the US president's Middle East envoy, reported earning more than $100m from the company holding his stake in World Liberty Financial, according to a new financial disclosure. That included nearly $69m in cash and $38m in cryptocurrency, and is more than three times what he declared a year earlier. Witkoff co-founded World Liberty with Donald Trump and members of his family in 2024. Its token, WLFI, has fallen sharply since it became publicly tradable last autumn. [43]

Why it matters. The same person negotiates for the US government in the Middle East and holds a large stake in a crypto company he founded with Donald Trump. [43]

Bitcoin's 50-day average price rose above its 200-day average on Tuesday, a crossing chart-watchers call a golden cross and read as bullish. It is the first since May 2025. Bitcoin traded around $79,300 on Wednesday, up 34% since the start of July but still 58% below its record of about $126,000 in October 2025. The whole crypto market is worth about $2.7 trillion and has barely moved for a fortnight. [44][45]

Why it matters. The signal is a pattern in past prices, not news about anything, and one analyst notes it usually takes time to work. Bitcoin has fallen for nine months and this is the first technical sign that has turned. [44][45]

Donald Trump's pledge to centre bitcoin mining in the United States is coming apart, squeezed between the AI building boom and a long crypto slump, Bloomberg reports. Mining means running computers to verify transactions in exchange for new coins, and it only pays when the electricity costs less than the coins earn. Bitcoin's total market value is down about $1 trillion from its October 2025 peak, while data centre operators will pay far more for the same power. [46]

Why it matters. Two industries want the same electricity, and the one earning more per kilowatt takes it. [46]

Nivie Kaul lost more than $8m in a crypto scam in 2022, gave up her work as a legal consultant and learned to trace money across digital ledgers. Her claim in Turkey triggered a prosecution of what prosecutors call a professional money-laundering ring, and a Turkish court ordered a wallet holding more than $100m seized in 2023. Before Turkey could distribute it, US law enforcement took custody of that wallet and other holdings totalling $225m, in an operation aimed at a scam compound in the Philippines. [47]

Why it matters. Victims who did the tracing themselves are now arguing with the US government that seized the money about who gets it back. [47]

Delivery riders in Buenos Aires are taking loans from the same apps they work for. PedidosYa lends to riders at 131% a year and the digital wallet Personal Pay at about 170%. One courier earns about 70,000 pesos, roughly $46, a day, while recovering an impounded motorcycle costs about 140,000 pesos. Argentina's fintech lending has grown twenty-fold to 10 million loans in six or seven years. Nearly 6 million people, almost a third of borrowers, are more than 90 days behind. [48]

Why it matters. Borrowing to get back the tool you earn with binds the worker to the platform twice over. President Javier Milei's cuts to subsidies have squeezed the same households. [48]