The Price of Money

Energy and the cost of money set the tone this week. Crude held above $100, the ten-year Treasury yield pushed through 5 per cent, and the Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time since 2023. But the tightening is not coming from corporate borrowing, and the week's data from Britain, China and Korea point to very different pressures again. In our charts this week:

Futures now price above the Fed's own path

US companies are funding investment from cash

Blue Chip marks growth up, inflation down

UK pay growth and vacancies keep falling

China's investment slump

Korean chips are nearly half of all exports