The dollar is on track for its best month since September 2022 as war in the Middle East upends energy markets, buffets economic forecasts, and sends investors rushing to the world’s primary reserve currency. Buoyed by those haven flows, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is up about 3% this month. The US position as the world’s largest producer of oil has also supported the currency amid a surge in ...
The dollar is on track for its best month since September 2022 as war in the Middle East upends energy markets, buffets economic forecasts, and sends investors rushing to the world’s primary reserve currency. Buoyed by those haven flows, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is up about 3% this month. The US position as the world’s largest producer of oil has also supported the currency amid a surge in global energy prices, as have fading expectations for global growth. “The dollar rallied as a safe haven bid on weakening global growth expectations,” said Noah Buffam, strategist at CIBC Capital Markets. Investors have favored the dollar since the disruption to global energy markets — particularly the shuttering of the Strait of Hormuz — highlighted Europe and Japan’s dependence on oil and natural gas imports. Traders, positioned for dollar weakness before the conflict, quickly abandoned those wagers. They now hold more than $7 billion in bullish bets in the derivatives market, the most since December. Some Wall Street banks that held a dim view on the dollar heading into the year — JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. among them — are now reconsidering their stance on the US currency. However, day-to-day swings in global risk sentiment and news headlines make updating forecasts exceedingly difficult. Expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year, meanwhile, have foundered as renewed inflationary fears drive traders to reconsider. In the options market, bets on dollar gains dominate the outlook for the next month, although positioning for the period beyond that shows that expectations are for the strength to fade. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says... “The dollar’s haven virtues have revived since the start of the Iran war as it quickly became clear this wasn’t a local conflict with fading FX impact. Dollar bulls can lean on elevated risk aversion, though the price action has underwhelmed so far, which is consistent with our view that t...
(RTTNews) - The China stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting almost 35 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,925-point plateau and it may add to its winnings again on Tuesday.
(RTTNews) - The China stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting almost 35 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,925-point plateau and it may add to its winnings again on Tuesday.
Taiwan has pushed back against a growing number of foreign governments that label it part of China in their internal systems. But questions are mounting over whether Taipei’s retaliatory moves can deliver results. The dispute has widened in recent weeks after South Korea, Denmark and Cameroon were found to have changed how they designate the island in official systems, such as those that handle vi...
Taiwan has pushed back against a growing number of foreign governments that label it part of China in their internal systems. But questions are mounting over whether Taipei’s retaliatory moves can deliver results. The dispute has widened in recent weeks after South Korea, Denmark and Cameroon were found to have changed how they designate the island in official systems, such as those that handle visa documents, residence permits and international conference credentials. Taipei has responded with...
A six-year-old boy in central China was left alone in a hotel for more than two weeks, touching hotel workers who stepped in to care for him like family. According to Henan Television, the boy, nicknamed Chengcheng, checked into a hotel in Zhengzhou, Henan province, with his 25-year-old mother, surnamed Yue, in February. She initially went out at night and returned during the day, but stopped retu...
A six-year-old boy in central China was left alone in a hotel for more than two weeks, touching hotel workers who stepped in to care for him like family. According to Henan Television, the boy, nicknamed Chengcheng, checked into a hotel in Zhengzhou, Henan province, with his 25-year-old mother, surnamed Yue, in February. She initially went out at night and returned during the day, but stopped returning in March and left no contact information. For more than half a month, Chengcheng stayed alone...
'Project Hail Mary' Writer Credits Not Going Woke For Film's Success With an $80.6 million domestic opening weekend, a 95% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 96% audience score, Project Hail Mary is an undeniable blockbuster hit. By its second weekend, the movie crossed $300 million worldwide and dethroned Avatar: Fire and Ash as the top-grossing Hollywood film of 2026 in North America. It’s...
'Project Hail Mary' Writer Credits Not Going Woke For Film's Success With an $80.6 million domestic opening weekend, a 95% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 96% audience score, Project Hail Mary is an undeniable blockbuster hit. By its second weekend, the movie crossed $300 million worldwide and dethroned Avatar: Fire and Ash as the top-grossing Hollywood film of 2026 in North America. It’s become the second-biggest non-franchise opening over the past decade, after Oppenheimer . The Hollywood Reporter published a piece titled "Project Hail Mary: 4 Lessons Hollywood Won't Learn From Its Success," pointing to smart storytelling, sincerity, patience, and practical effects as the pillars behind the film's blockbuster performance. That's a solid four. But, it predictably missed the fifth, and arguably most important point: Don't go woke. In the movie, Ryan Gosling plays Ryland Grace, a science teacher and biologist who wakes up alone on a deep-space mission to figure out how to stop a microorganism from dimming the sun. He eventually makes contact with an alien on the same mission, and the two team up to save their respective worlds from extinction. The premise could have easily become a vehicle for climate allegory and geopolitical moralizing, but it didn't. Andy Weir, the author of the novel, sat down with Will Jordan - better known online as The Critical Drinker - on Jordan's YouTube channel shortly after the film's release. "For me, it's a great example of what you can do now with movies," Jordan said. "If you're faithful to the source material and you don't insult the intelligence of your audience, and give them something really interesting to grapple with, and you know, dare I say it, [don’t] try and shove, like, crappy identity politics into it, you end up with a goddam good movie at the end of it that the people just want to watch. " Weir's response was immediate and unambiguous. "I think you and me are kind of on the same wavelength there when it comes to...