财经外刊精选 · 每日精读 Five Deep Reads from Reuters, The Associated Press & Business Insider — for intensive English learning

TOKYO, Sept 11 — The Bank of Japan is set to raise interest rates next week, most likely by 25 basis points, and may signal faster future tightening if price pressures heighten risks of an inflation overshoot, said four sources familiar with its thinking.

A hike to 1.25 per cent would bring the BOJ's policy rate to levels unseen in 31 years. A rate hike just three months after its last one in June also suggests a faster pace of tightening, especially if the bank raises rates again this year.

Many in the central bank see conditions falling into place for another rate hike with the economy on course for a moderate recovery and price pressure building, the sources said.

The BOJ also expects financial conditions to remain loose even if it were to take interest rates to 1.25 per cent, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly.

While the yen's recent rebound could ease pressure on prices by moderating increases in import costs, the currency's past declines and a renewed surge in fuel prices will keep the BOJ on guard over inflation risks, they said.

"With underlying inflation so close to 2 per cent, the BOJ needs to be extra mindful of upside price risks," said one of the sources, a view echoed by three more sources.

The BOJ raised interest rates to 1 per cent in June and pledged to push up borrowing costs further if economic and price developments move in line with its baseline projections. While it kept rates steady in July, the BOJ signalled a strong chance of a near-term hike by warning of the risk of an inflation overshoot due to price pressures from the Middle East conflict, a weak yen and brisk AI-related demand.

Analysts polled by Reuters expect the BOJ to hike rates to 1.25 per cent at the September 17-18 meeting, 1.5 per cent by end-March next year and then to 1.75 per cent in the second quarter of 2027. Most saw the terminal rate as being at least 1.75 per cent.

With markets having fully priced in a September hike, some market players had bet the BOJ could spur a surprise by going with a bigger-than-expected 50-basis-point hike. With no immediate risk of an abrupt jump in wage and price growth, however, the BOJ will likely opt for the usual 25-point hike next week and await more data to gauge whether another near-term increase would be necessary, the sources said.

"Underlying inflation is about to reach 2 per cent, but we don't see it sharply overshooting that level," BOJ board member Kazuyuki Masu said on Thursday, suggesting that he saw no imminent signs of a spike in inflation that warranted a big hike next week.

NO PRE-CONCEPTION ON TERMINAL RATE

Markets are focusing on any hints from Governor Kazuo Ueda's post-meeting briefing on the pace of future rate hikes and how far the BOJ could take rates under the current tightening cycle.

The BOJ likely has no preset idea on the terminal rate, which depends on how past rate hikes could affect the economy and the degree to which firms pass on rising input costs to households, the sources said. There is also no consensus within the BOJ on how fast the BOJ should raise rates.

The board is split between hawks, who see underlying inflation already having hit 2 per cent, and doves like Toichiro Asada, who dissented to the June rate hike. Ueda will thus avoid committing to a specific timeframe for future rate hikes, though he may repeat a comment made in July that the BOJ could speed up rate hikes if it deemed financial conditions as being too loose, the sources said.

After September, the BOJ holds a policy-setting meeting in October, December and then January next year.

Annual wholesale inflation hit 7.6 per cent in August in a sign of mounting price pressure, which the BOJ predicts will push consumer inflation back above its 2 per cent target in coming months.

In quarterly projections made in July, the BOJ expects core consumer inflation to hit 2.5 per cent in the fiscal year ending March 2027 and 2.4 per cent in the following fiscal year, before slowing to 2.0 per cent the year after.

While the yen has gained more than 6 per cent since the joint Japan-U.S. intervention in late July, the expected fall in import costs is being offset by a spike in Brent crude above $100 a barrel that raised fears of renewed inflation pressure.

Nasdaq is putting $100 million behind Payward, the parent company of Kraken, as traditional exchanges deepen their push into crypto and blockchain-based securities.

The investment, made through Nasdaq Ventures, reportedly values Payward at $21 billion and expands a partnership between the two companies that began in March 2026.

Nasdaq Puts $100 Million Into Kraken Parent Payward

Nasdaq Ventures will invest $100 million in Payward as the companies work towards bringing tokenised equities to the market in 2027.

Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the arrangement, reported that the investment values Payward at $21 billion.

Nasdaq did not disclose a valuation, the size of its stake, whether the investment involves newly issued or existing shares, or whether it receives any governance rights.

The deal gives Nasdaq a direct financial interest in the crypto company it is working with to distribute its own tokenised shares.

Payward wrote on X: "Nasdaq Ventures is investing $100M in Payward as we advance tokenization together with the Nasdaq Equity Token (NET) framework. Equities on-chain only works if it's built to institutional standard from day one. We're building it with the company that's run public markets."

The two firms expect to launch Nasdaq Equity Tokens, or NETs, in the second quarter of 2027.

The products will be digital representations of publicly traded shares that can be issued and traded using blockchain infrastructure.

Kraken is expected to serve as a distribution point for Nasdaq's tokenised equities outside the US.

The tokenised shares distributed through Kraken are expected to carry voting rights identical to those attached to ordinary shares.

Payward Will Add Nasdaq Surveillance Technology

The partnership goes beyond tokenised stocks, with Payward agreeing to use Nasdaq's market surveillance technology across its trading venues.

The technology will cover the range of assets traded through Payward, including cryptocurrencies, equities, tokenised equities, futures and options.

For Kraken, the arrangement comes as the exchange expands beyond its original focus on cryptocurrency.

Payward has been building towards a broader multi-asset platform covering traditional financial products and derivatives alongside digital assets.

Nasdaq president Tal Cohen said: "The next era of market evolution will be defined by how efficiently and seamlessly capital and assets move across the financial system with durable liquidity."

He added: "Expanding our relationship with Payward reflects our conviction that the company can play an important role in building the infrastructure that supports this evolution."

Cohen also said the partnership would advance Nasdaq's work on Equity Tokens while maintaining the "trust, transparency and integrity" supporting capital markets.

Why Are Major Exchanges Taking Stakes In Crypto Firms?

Nasdaq is now the latest major exchange operator to invest directly in a crypto exchange as established financial groups compete to build blockchain-based trading infrastructure.

Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, invested in OKX in March at a $25 billion valuation. The deal included a board seat and an agreement to make NYSE tokenised equities available to OKX's 120 million accounts.

Deutsche Börse followed in April with a $200 million investment for about 1.5% of Payward. Bloomberg's calculation at the time implied a Payward valuation of roughly $13.3 billion.

Payward has since secured another major exchange relationship. Earlier this month, the London Stock Exchange Group agreed to bring its 100 largest listings onto Kraken's xStocks framework.

That leaves Payward working with three major exchange groups at the same time, as Nasdaq, LSEG and Deutsche Börse develop their own approaches to tokenised securities.

Payward's Valuation Has Climbed Despite Weaker Trading Activity

The latest investment places Payward's reported valuation above the $20 billion level set in its most recent primary funding round.

Payward raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation in November 2025, with $200 million coming from Citadel Securities.

The company's second-quarter results showed stronger revenue but weaker profitability and trading activity. Adjusted revenue reached $508 million, up 17% from a year earlier, while adjusted EBITDA fell 71% to $23 million from about $80 million.

Total trading volume declined 18% to $310 billion as spot crypto activity slowed. At the same time, funded accounts increased 42% to 6.6 million, showing that the platform continued to add customers despite lower trading volumes.

Payward has also expanded through acquisitions, completing its purchase of derivatives platform Bitnomial for up to $550 million.

Kraken's IPO Plans Remain Delayed

Payward's plans to enter the public markets have taken longer than initially expected.

The company confidentially filed an S-1 registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2025, but paused the listing in March 2026.

It is now targeting an IPO no earlier than the second quarter of 2027, while also cutting about 150 jobs as part of the delay.

The Nasdaq investment therefore gives the exchange operator a financial relationship with a company that could eventually become a public-market listing candidate, while simultaneously giving Nasdaq a route into the growing market for blockchain-based securities.

CHICAGO (AP) — Diesel prices in the U.S. hit yet another record on Friday, soaring past $6 a gallon on average as Washington's war with Iran disrupts the world's flow of fuel.

The national average of nearly $6.06 is up from $5.85 last week and almost $3.71 this time last year, according to motor club AAA.

Higher diesel prices mean more expensive transportation for a long list of everyday goods. That's because diesel is used for many freight and delivery networks. And some businesses have already passed along steeper costs to consumers in the form of added fees on online orders and packages in the mail.

Shoppers may feel more and more sticker shock, particularly in the grocery aisle. Perishable foods, like meat and produce, face one of the most immediate strains of expensive diesel because they need to be hauled in and restocked frequently — or may be harvested using farm equipment powered by the fuel.

It can take time for those costs to trickle down. But the surge in diesel prices doesn't appear to be going away anytime soon.

Prices at the pump for diesel and regular gasoline — which hit nearly $4.30 on average in the U.S. Friday — closely follow that of crude oil. And oil has renewed its rise recently. This week, both Brent, the international standard, and U.S. crude surpassed $100 a barrel for the first time in months as fighting between the U.S. and Iran escalated again.

Political ramifications may pile up in the meantime. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly tried to downplay the effects of the war he co-launched, said that oil prices likely won't come down until after November's midterm elections.

What's driving the latest jump for diesel

American diesel prices are now over 60% higher than they were before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February, when the national average sat at about $3.76 per gallon per AAA. Prices quickly climbed as the cost of crude oil — the main ingredient in refined fuel like diesel, as well as gasoline — soared amid supply chain disruptions across the Middle East, notably with most tanker traffic bottlenecked in the key Strait of Hormuz.

Despite some during hopes for peace earlier in the summer, oil has now renewed its climb as fighting once more escalates. And more supply disruptions are piling up. The International Energy Agency reported Friday that Saudi oil production fell to a three-decade low last month due to Houthi attacks on its energy facilities.

And elsewhere, losses in the Middle East have been amplified by the war in Ukraine, as the IEA also noted Friday. Disruptions in Russia's refining system stemming from intense Ukranian attacks have nearly halted product exports.

When adjusted for inflation, fuel prices have been higher in the past. Ahead of the 2008 financial crisis, for example, diesel hit about $4.74 a gallon, equivalent to $7.20 in 2026, according to the government's latest data. And 2022's then-record of nearly $5.82 — reached just months after Russia invaded Ukraine — would be about $6.56 this year when accounting for inflation.

That doesn't take the pain away from today's steep prices, which are already bringing ripple effects for the economy and wider costs of living. Drivers are feeling the pain with gasoline, too.

Friday's average $4.29 for a gallon of regular unleaded is up from $2.98 before the Iran war, although still below the 2022 peak of nearly $5.02 a gallon nationwide.

Diesel has been more expensive than gasoline in the U.S. for decades, and its price has risen at a faster pace before. Some reasons include less flexibility in demand and diesel's position in global commerce overall. Individual households may find ways to drive less when gas prices are high, for example, but there's fewer immediate substitutes for networks that rely on diesel to haul goods worldwide.

All eyes on food

Diesel is integral to every part of the food supply chain. It powers farm equipment and fishing boats, as well as the trains and trucks headed to grocery stores.

Fuel accounts for roughly 15% to 30% of the total cost of food, according to the Independent Grocers Alliance, a grouping of 7,500 global supermarkets. So higher diesel costs often result in more expensive groceries, although it can take a while for energy shocks to wind their way through the supply chain.

Items that need to stay refrigerated while they're transported are often the first to see prices rise, according to David Ortega, a professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University. In July, for example, overall U.S. grocery prices were up 2.7% compared to a year prior, but seafood prices were up 7% and fresh fruit prices were up 4.9%.

Ortega cautioned other factors can be at play, too. Lettuce also faced higher transportation costs in July, but a drop in demand due to the cyclospora outbreak caused prices to fall.

Still, consumers could feel more of a squeeze the longer diesel prices remain high.

"Early on, much of the cost increase gets absorbed along the supply chain through existing freight contracts and retailer margins," Ortega explained last week. "But as contracts reprice and fuel surcharges take hold, more of that cost makes its way to the grocery store."

Fuel shocks range far and wide

Back in April, e-commerce giant Amazon rolled out a temporary 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on some third-party sellers. United Parcel Service, FedEx and the United States Postal Service also moved to add fees on some of the packages they ship earlier in the war, citing rising costs for fuel overall.

Experts warn that price hikes could mount the longer diesel remains expensive. A range of other products are also transported by diesel-powered networks, including clothing, cosmetics and furniture.

The ramifications extend beyond consumer goods. Some public transit buses and trains also run on diesel. And diesel generators are often used for backup or emergency power, if not central electricity sources in some remote parts of the world.

Experts warn the consequences could continue to deepen, particularly in African and Asian countries, which rely more on Middle East imports and have already been hit the hardest by energy shocks.

According to the latest data from Global Petrol Prices, diesel prices in Nigeria have surged over 90% since late February — followed by nearly 87% in Indonesia and 80% in Lebanon.

Price tags vary widely between countries, due to factors ranging from fuel taxes to local economic conditions. As of Monday, diesel prices in Nigeria were about $4.95 per gallon (1,730 naira per liter) on average. Meanwhile, the highest sticker price reported by Global Petrol Prices was in Hong Kong, China, where diesel costs have jumped almost 26% during the war and averaged at $17.78 a gallon (nearly 37 Hong Kong dollars per liter) Monday.

A long road of constrained supply — and perhaps higher and higher prices — could be ahead.

S&P Global Energy said Thursday it now doesn't project crude oil production in the Middle East to return to prewar levels by the end of 2027. "The market is not returning to calm, it is adjusting to the new normal," said Jim Burkhard, VP and global head of crude oil research at S&P Global Energy, noting security and logistical challenges continue to limit oil flows.

SEATTLE, Sept 11 (Reuters) — Boeing and its engineering union reached a tentative contract agreement on Friday, union officials said.

The four-year offer includes higher general wage increases than the first offer, which members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) overwhelmingly rejected in an August 21 vote.

If approved, the roughly 17,000 members of SPEEA's professional and technical units would get a 10% wage raise on October 16, followed by 4% raises plus merit-based increases in 2027 through 2030.

"Our final contract offer addresses the top priorities identified by our employees and SPEEA's bargaining teams, including an immediate wage increase and larger wage pools with guarantees," Boeing's Ben Nimmergut, vice president and functional chief engineer for production engineering, said in a statement.

The latest offer includes changes to work-from-home policies and overtime limits for professional unit members, according to the union.

After rejecting Boeing's first offer, SPEEA members said in an internal survey that their top priority was getting higher general wage increases.

"We heard you clearly, in your survey responses and comments at Town Hall meetings. We took your words with us back to the table, and they shaped every conversation we had with Boeing executives," SPEEA's negotiating team said in a statement.

The tentative deal "isn't everything we'd asked for, but it represents a real step forward toward improving our pay and work lives and rebuilding the relationship between Boeing leadership and our union's members," the team said.

The current contract expires October 6. If a deal is not finalized by then, SPEEA members can go on strike.

SPEEA members are critical to Boeing's efforts to certify its 737 MAX 10 and 777-9 jets, both of which are years behind schedule.

The previous offer had 3% general wage increases. Several SPEEA members told Reuters that would nearly guarantee their salaries fall behind inflation.

The Consumer Price Index, an inflation benchmark, rose 4.5% over the past year for the Seattle area, where most SPEEA members work, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in July.

SPEEA has not negotiated a new contract for its Northwest members with the company since 2012. Members approved contract extensions in 2016 and 2020.

Discovery Loop is reportedly seeking funding at a valuation of about $50 billion, a potential leap that would put a huge private-market target on Jeff Dean's new company and its plan to automate scientific and engineering research.

The financing is still in discussion, according to people familiar with the matter. Discovery Loop declined to comment and Dean did not respond to a request for comment. The terms could change, and there is no guarantee the company will secure a round at the reported valuation, making the figure a fundraising target rather than a completed transaction.

A fivefold change in the reported ask

Only a few weeks earlier, Business Insider reported that Discovery Loop was raising $1 billion at an approximately $10 billion valuation. The new reported target is about five times higher. Neither figure is a confirmed financing price, but the shift shows the valuation investors are being asked to consider for the same newly formed AI venture.

Business Insider reported the earlier target a few weeks before the current talks; both fundraising efforts remain unconfirmed.

A high-profile team and a defined ambition

Dean co-founded Discovery Loop after resigning as Google's chief scientist. Sanjay Ghemawat, Quoc Le and Oriol Vinyals are his co-founders. The company is structured as a public benefit corporation, according to launch coverage, and its initial funding round was announced with Radical Ventures and Khosla Ventures as leads, alongside Lightspeed, Kleiner Perkins and Doerr Capital.

Alphabet was identified as a founding investor and cloud partner. Discovery Loop says it aims to run thousands of experiments in parallel to tackle hard problems in science and engineering. In launch coverage, its founders described systems that would propose, implement, evaluate and iterate experiments automatically.

The initial round's size and valuation were not disclosed, leaving the current reported target as the clearest public indication of the price now under discussion.