Economics

Brazil Supreme Court Unseals Banco Master Fraud Probe: September 11, 2026

Brazil’s Chief Justice Edson Fachin ordered the unsealing Thursday of thousands of pages from a probe into alleged multibillion-dollar fraud centered on failed lender Banco Master, a court ruling seen by Reuters showed.

The investigation has implicated central bank officials, politicians, and even members of the Supreme Court. It comes weeks before a razor-tight presidential contest between leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro.

Justice André Mendonça, who oversees the case, complied with Fachin’s request after earlier disclosures of messages that police say former Banco Master chief Daniel Vorcaro sent to Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Those revelations prompted calls to investigate a sitting justice; Moraes accused Mendonça of abusing authority.

Fachin scheduled a full-court session for Sept. 15 on the Moraes allegations. Hours before the unsealing order, Lula told SBT he favored opening everything: “Investigate everything, disclose everything, regardless of who it hurts.”

Sources: Reuters

Mexico and Washington Race for Trade Deal Before Midterms: September 11, 2026

Mexico and the United States are racing to strike an interim bilateral trade deal before the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections, according to six sources in both countries familiar with the talks, Reuters reported Friday.

Officials see political benefits for President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum if they can announce tariff relief and investment rules before voters go to the polls. “We both want to reach a deal before the midterms,” one Mexico-based source said.

The push accelerated after U.S.-Canada talks collapsed last month and Washington this week banned a broad swath of Canadian alcohol, motorcycle, and dairy imports. Mexico sends more than 80% of its exports to the United States and has pursued a more conciliatory track than Ottawa.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick met virtually with Sheinbaum on Thursday. A major sticking point remains Section 232 tariffs of 50% on Mexican steel and 25% on vehicles. Automakers expect a possible framework similar to one discussed with Canada: about 15% on vehicle imports, with further cuts tied to U.S. content. Mexico this month floated investment-screening powers widely seen as answering U.S. pressure over Chinese capital.

Sources: Reuters, Globe and Mail

Houthis Reach Perim Island at Mouth of Bab el-Mandeb: September 11, 2026

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis reached the strategic island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Friday, four Yemeni government sources told Reuters, tightening pressure on one of the world’s vital shipping corridors.

Two sources from the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized Yemeni government said its forces had withdrawn from Perim and that the Houthis had also taken the mainland Red Sea coastal town of Dhubab, which faces the island.

If the Houthis gain fuller control of the strait — on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz — it could give their backer Iran leverage in the wider war with the United States by squeezing a second major energy transit route.

Saudi Arabia has relied more heavily on Red Sea export routes since the Iran conflict disrupted Hormuz traffic. The International Energy Agency said Friday that Saudi crude supply fell 2.3 million barrels per day in August to 6 million bpd, the lowest in more than three decades, partly because of threats to Bab el-Mandeb traffic.

Yemeni government forces said they would try to retake areas seized in this week’s coastal offensive, including routes toward Mocha, which the Houthis captured Thursday along with the Hanish islands. Reuters reported Thursday that the advance came with guidance from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, according to Yemeni, Iranian, and regional sources; Tehran publicly denies directing the Houthis as a proxy.

Sources: Reuters, Reuters

Brent and WTI Both Top $100 as Tanker Attacks Jolt Markets: September 10, 2026

NEW YORK / LONDON — Crude oil surged about 6 percent on Thursday, with Brent climbing to $107.08 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate clearing $100 for the first time since May, as traders priced in deeper supply risk from the largest spike in tanker attacks since the Iran war began, Reuters reported.

Both benchmarks are up more than 30 percent from early-August lows after hopes for a lasting U.S.-Iran ceasefire faded. Iran said it attacked ships near the Strait of Hormuz after U.S. strikes on Iranian tankers; Iran-aligned Houthis seized Yemen’s Mocha port, adding Red Sea risk on top of Hormuz constraints.

“Crude oil markets are now settling into a prolonged new normal where disruption risk is persistent, not episodic,” an S&P Global Energy analysis cited by Reuters said. OPEC cut its 2026 world demand-growth forecast for a fifth straight month, to 380,000 barrels per day, even as physical markets drew support from stronger Chinese buying in recent weeks.

U.S. crude inventories fell 391,000 barrels last week to 424.1 million, the EIA said, a smaller draw than analysts expected but still consistent with firm refining runs. A Reuters survey found OPEC output down 640,000 bpd in August amid Saudi export disruptions and curtailed Iranian shipments.

For markets, the question is less whether $100 was a headline level than whether China keeps importing into a war premium — and whether further strikes on tankers or export infrastructure push prices toward this year’s $126 peak reached in April.

Equity and rate traders are watching the same tape: higher oil feeds inflation fears already visible in European rate hikes and U.S. mortgage yields.

Sources: Reuters; BBC; Reuters

US Existing Home Sales Fall to 14-Month Low as Mortgages Climb: September 10, 2026

WASHINGTON — U.S. existing home sales fell to a 14-month low in August as rising mortgage rates continued to suppress demand, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday, Reuters reported.

Resales declined 2.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98 million units, matching economists’ forecasts and marking the weakest pace since June 2025. Sales were down 1.2 percent from a year earlier. Closings typically reflect contracts signed in prior months, when the 30-year fixed rate was already climbing.

Freddie Mac data showed the popular 30-year rate averaging about 6.71 percent last week, the highest in more than a year. MBA figures put the rate at 6.85 percent for the week ended September 4. Mortgage costs have risen more than 70 basis points since the U.S. and Israel struck Iran in late February, as oil-driven inflation fears and heavy government borrowing lifted Treasury yields.

“It’s not surprising to see a mild dip in home buying activity due to high mortgage rates,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. Inventory nonetheless rose 3.2 percent to 1.62 million units — the highest since November 2019 — equating to a 4.9-month supply. The median existing-home price increased 1.6 percent year over year to $429,100.

First-time buyers made up 30 percent of sales, still short of the roughly 40 percent share associated with a robust market. Distressed sales remained low at 2 percent. Regional sales fell in the Northeast, Midwest and South and held steady in the West.

For households, the message is familiar: more listings help shoppers on paper, but monthly payments remain the bottleneck while Middle East risk keeps long-term rates sticky.

Sources: Reuters; NAR; Reuters

Volkswagen Sets Aside €16 Billion for Job Cuts and Plant Overhaul: September 10, 2026

BERLIN — Volkswagen has set aside roughly €16 billion ($18.6 billion) to fund job cuts and potential plant closures under a landmark restructuring pact approved last week, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The figure covers Europe’s biggest carmaker’s costliest overhaul in decades as it confronts Chinese competition, tariffs and surplus factory capacity. German magazine Der Spiegel first reported the earmark; a Volkswagen spokesperson declined to comment on the cost total.

According to the reporting, up to about €10 billion would cover measures such as severance and early-retirement schemes tied to eliminating roughly 60,000 positions over time, while about €6 billion would be reserved for the possible end of vehicle production at four German plants — Emden, Zwickau, Hanover and Neckarsulm — that lack defined model plans for the 2030s. No final closure decisions have been made.

The supervisory board unanimously backed “Future Plan 2030” on September 3, adding tens of thousands of planned reductions on top of cuts already under way since late 2024. Works-council representatives have stressed that compulsory layoffs remain ruled out through 2030 under existing agreements and have framed headcount targets as planning assumptions linked to margin goals.

CEO Oliver Blume has argued the company must slim its lineup, raise efficiency and protect investment capacity even as capital spending plans are tightened. For drivers and dealers, the industrial story is the product pipeline: fewer models, a sharper EV transition and uncertainty for communities built around German assembly plants.

The cost disclosure lands as European auto makers reassess where they can still make money building cars. Volkswagen’s bet is that paying for a smaller footprint now is cheaper than defending overcapacity through the end of the decade.

Sources: Reuters; Financial Post

US Gasoline Hits $4.22, Diesel Sets Records as Oil Tops $100: September 10, 2026

NEW YORK — U.S. drivers faced another jump at the pump Wednesday as Brent crude settled above $100 a barrel and AAA data showed the national average for regular gasoline at $4.22 a gallon—nearly 42 percent above the $2.98 prewar average—while diesel hit a record $5.94, up 58 percent since the conflict began, the Associated Press reported via OPB.

Brent settled at $101.21 and U.S. crude at $96.05 after U.S. strikes on Iranian tankers and Houthi attacks on Saudi facilities tightened already constrained supplies. Higher diesel costs feed into trucking, farm equipment and parcel hubs, often showing up as supermarket prices and shipping fees; airlines have cut flights while raising fares as jet fuel climbs.

Market research head Lukman Otunuga of FXTM called Brent above $100 “a major psychological milestone,” saying the larger worry is inflation if prices stay elevated. Bank of America analysts this week raised their second-half oil forecast and said a durable deal before the midterms looks “increasingly unlikely.”

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he does not expect oil prices to cool before November’s elections but that they would come down “right after”—linking pump pain directly to the midterm calendar for U.S. consumers.

Sources: AP via OPB

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ECB Raises Rates 25bp as Iran War Fuels Inflation: September 10, 2026

FRANKFURT / BERLIN — The European Central Bank raised its key interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday, lifting the deposit facility rate to 2.50 percent, the second hike this year as energy costs from the Iran war keep inflation elevated, Il Sole 24 Ore reported.

The Governing Council said the Middle East conflict “continues to exert inflationary pressures, which are expected to remain well above target for an extended period,” and framed the move as commitment to bringing inflation back to the 2 percent medium-term goal.

President Christine Lagarde, speaking in Berlin, said the outlook remains highly uncertain, with upside risks to inflation and downside risks to growth from the Middle East war and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Staff projections put headline inflation at 3 percent in 2026, 2.5 percent in 2027 and 2.1 percent in 2028.

Lagarde said the economy proved resilient in the second quarter despite the energy shock and that growth appeared to continue into the third quarter. The ECB will stay data-driven and decide meeting by meeting.

Sources: Il Sole 24 Ore, Reuters

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Trump Bans Canadian Alcohol, Dairy and Motorcycles: September 9, 2026

WASHINGTON — After Canadian counter-tariffs of up to 50 percent on hundreds of U.S. goods took effect, President Donald Trump issued proclamations Tuesday night banning certain Canadian alcohol, dairy products, and motorcycles and mopeds from entering the United States effective Sept. 29 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern.

The orders also expand 50 percent tariffs to additional goods, including golf carts, cotton mattresses, bamboo and rattan furniture, and more aluminum and cheese. Some items were removed from the 50 percent list, among them non-white cement, tissues, bed sheets, fishing rods, sugars, and road salt.

Trump further directed that Canada be barred from U.S. government procurement through the General Services Administration and the U.S. Trade Representative.

The measures escalate a bilateral trade conflict that has already raised prices and disrupted cross-border supply chains.

Sources: ABC News

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