Morning Edition · Thursday, October 15, 2026
Markets
Hot US inflation revives Fed rate-hike bets and South Korea's Kospi falls 8%
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell almost 5% by the midday break, following a Wall Street sell-off in chip stocks. The sell-off began after US consumer prices for September rose 3.7% from a year earlier, slightly above forecasts.
Markets
Brent falls toward $104 despite a Houthi strike on Aramco offices and a mine sinking a ship in Hormuz
Prices fell 1.6% in Asian trade. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said a cargo ship sank after hitting a mine, the first such sinking it has reported during the war.
Geopolitics
Washington considers letting sanctioned tankers carry oil and seeks Russian diesel before the midterms
Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed that talks on easing shadow-fleet sanctions are under way. Moscow says the diesel supply deal President Trump announced is still being negotiated.
Crypto
Bitcoin falls below $81,000 as nearly $1 billion of crypto bets are liquidated and gold and silver also drop
Ether fell about twice as much as bitcoin and accounted for close to 60% of forced closures. Silver lost about 6% on Wednesday after the US inflation report.
Geopolitics
US military adds its largest non-nuclear bomb to Iran strike plans, CNN reports
The new options cover Iranian energy infrastructure and the underground site known as Pickaxe Mountain, but military sources quoted in the report doubt the weapon can reach deep bunkers.
Geopolitics
Zelensky ends three-day pause on refinery strikes, saying Russia ignored Trump's energy truce
Ukrainian officials say Russia hit power and gas facilities more than 200 times during the pause. Missile and drone alerts were issued across at least eight Russian regions overnight.
Macro
Bank of Japan board member says the central bank need not be overly cautious about raising rates
Junko Koeda said the neutral interest rate is "considerably above 1%." Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Japan's largest bank, is cautiously buying government bonds again after 30-year yields rose sharply this month.
Geopolitics
EU prepares tougher China trade measures after a hybrid-car quota deal it sees as proof that threats work
The deal caps Chinese hybrid imports at about 350,000 vehicles a year, and EU leaders meet Thursday to review it. Beijing is presenting its export performance as steady.
World
Brazil's Senate votes 75 to 1 to cap the workweek at 40 hours, 11 days before the presidential runoff
The constitutional amendment ends the six-day work schedule for up to 30 million workers, and business groups warn it will raise labor costs.
World
Pakistan's treasury-bill yields stay above the 11.5% policy rate as emergency rule tightens Islamabad's hold on Khan's home province
Troops have surrounded Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the elected government was suspended. The World Bank rates its two Pakistan loan programs as carrying "substantial risk."
World
US bank regulator says all nine of the largest US banks restricted customers on political or industry grounds
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) named JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citibank among them, and the consumer finance regulator has opened its own inquiry.
Crypto
Russia's central bank clears Sberbank to trade crypto, with tight limits on retail buyers and broker lending
Sberbank plans to launch bitcoin products in December. The regulator says brokers may not borrow cryptocurrency, and the tokens Sberbank is testing include the dollar-pegged Tether.