Morning Edition · Monday, August 17, 2026
Markets
Private Credit Distress Signals Return to Levels Last Seen in 2017, Financial Times Analysis Finds
Fitch Ratings measured the United States private credit default rate at 6 percent in April, and investors asked to pull more than $20 billion from semi-liquid funds in the first quarter.
Macro
Gold Trades Near $4,390 an Ounce as Central Banks Add 289 Tonnes Through a Falling Quarter
Official-sector purchases rose 62 percent from a year earlier even as the metal sat far below its January peak of $5,589, a divergence between price and reserve policy.
Markets
Iran Declares a "Fully Offensive" Turn in Hormuz as the US Deal Lapses and Brent Climbs Past $90
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran will strike to break the US naval blockade if diplomacy fails, hours before the 60-day memorandum of understanding expired with no extension talks.
Tech
Washington Prepares to Tell 35 Countries to Choose Between American and Chinese Artificial Intelligence
A draft State Department letter warns signatories of the June AI Opportunity Statement that joining Beijing's competing framework would exclude them from the United States-led coalition, with Kazakhstan so far the only member of both.
Crypto
Bitcoin Recovers Above $64,000 in Asian Trading After Every Major Token Fell Over the Week
XRP slipped to about $1 while futures open interest in the token reached $2.78 billion, with traders on Binance and OKX positioned long against social sentiment at a three-month low.
Geopolitics
Trump Endorses the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement Signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan
The treaty signed on 7 August binds three states that together field close to 1.4 million active personnel, and Turkey's foreign minister says he wants to add more members.
Geopolitics
Trump Orders Reduced Exercises With South Korea as Seoul Says the Drills Began on Schedule
The president tied the cut to costs and to Seoul's refusal to join actions against Iran, and South Korea's defence ministry confirmed the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises started on Monday as planned.
Geopolitics
Kushner Meets Hamas Leader in Egypt as Israel's Coalition Splits Over the 15-Point Road Map
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejected the United States-backed plan, met Kushner on Monday and agreed with Washington that a demilitarized Hamas is the goal, even as his national security minister called publicly for killing 30 to 40 people in Gaza each night.
Geopolitics
Russia Reports Downing 205 Drones Overnight Across Nine Regions as Sochi Airport Restricts Flights
The defence ministry listed Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Volgograd, Kaluga, Kursk and Rostov among the affected regions, days after Ukrainian drones struck a refinery 800 miles from the border.
World
Moody's Puts Last Summer's European Heat Losses at €43 Billion Against €500 Million of Insured Payouts
Only 17 percent of European companies hold cover for business interruption without physical damage, and a Belgian wildfire has burned 3,000 hectares as it moves toward the German border.
World
Congo's Ebola Outbreak Becomes the Country's Deadliest With 2,325 Reported Deaths
Confirmed cases have reached 4,945 and the share of cases ending in death has risen from about 20 percent in early June to 46 percent, in an outbreak caused by a virus species with no approved vaccine.
Macro
Portugal and Spain Lead Europe's Housing Shortage as Tel Aviv Apartment Prices Pass 5 Million Shekels
Spain's accumulated deficit exceeds 730,000 homes while Portuguese construction costs rose 6.9 percent in May, and Israeli data shows prices in Tel Aviv separating from its neighbouring cities.