EUR/USD
1.15447
0.046%
Gold
4997.58
-0.171%
Oil
91.864
-3.523%
USD/JPY
158.711
-0.177%
GBP/USD
1.33715
0.123%
GBP/JPY
212.226
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Real-time News
According to Yonhap News Agency: Samsung Electronics union members voted to strike.1. WTI crude oil futures trading volume was 1,335,333 lots, a decrease of 160,335 lots from the previous trading day. Open interest was 2,089,984 lots, a decrease of 16,134 lots from the previous trading day. 2. Brent crude oil futures trading volume was 251,967 lots, a decrease of 41,432 lots from the previous trading day. Open interest was 283,859 lots, a decrease of 2,651 lots from the previous trading day. 3. Natural gas futures trading volume was 353,207 lots, a decrease of 78,553 lots from the previous trading day. Open interest was 1,560,302 lots, a decrease of 8,673 lots from the previous trading day.On March 18th, Kei Fujimoto, an economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust, stated that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is expected to maintain its policy rate at 0.75% this week. The BOJ will be monitoring how rising crude oil prices increase the cost of petrochemical products and other crude oil-based commodities, and how these cost pressures are transmitted to domestic prices. While rising crude oil prices will directly push up energy prices such as gasoline in the short term, this temporary fluctuation is unlikely to prompt the central bank to raise interest rates sooner than expected.1. Berenberg: The room for further rate cuts is quite limited; the Fed is expected to implement the final 25 basis point rate cut of this cycle at its June meeting. 2. Goldman Sachs: Expects 25 basis point rate cuts in September and December respectively. If the labor market weakens earlier and more severely than expected, rate cuts may be implemented sooner. 3. Deutsche Bank: Rates are expected to remain unchanged this week. Rising geopolitical uncertainty and inflation risks triggered by soaring oil prices are eroding the room for further rate cuts. 4. Credit Agricole: Rates are expected to remain unchanged until the end of the year. Some members may advocate ignoring short-term energy-driven inflation spikes, but most members tend to be more cautious. 5. Rabobank: Under Powells leadership, the Fed is likely to maintain a wait-and-see stance; if Warsh takes office, the Fed may be more aggressive, potentially pushing for rate cuts to combat economic downturn. 6. TS Lombard: Labor market concerns are resurfacing. If the energy shock subsides within weeks, coupled with the base effect of tariff inflation in the second half of the year and a rapid slowdown in rent inflation, two rate cuts are still possible this year. On March 18th, it was reported that Microsoft is considering legal action against Amazon and OpenAI over a $50 billion deal that could violate its exclusive cloud partnership agreement with OpenAI, potentially triggering a conflict between the two tech giants. The crux of the dispute lies in whether Amazon Web Services (AWS) can provide OpenAIs new commercial product, Frontier, without violating a long-standing agreement that requires all access to the companys models to be through Microsofts Azure cloud platform. Amazon and OpenAI have stated that they are building a system to circumvent the agreement. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that Microsoft executives have objected, arguing that this approach is not feasible and violates the spirit of the agreement, even if it doesnt violate its literal terms. This legal threat highlights the broader disagreement between Microsoft and OpenAI. If the dispute ultimately goes to court, OpenAIs plans for an IPO as early as this year could be jeopardized. Even after raising $110 billion last month, the company still needs to raise more cash to pay for the massive computing resources required to train and run large language models.
