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Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a relatively stable value, usually by being pegged to a traditional currency such as the US dollar. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, which can experience large price swings, stablecoins are designed to stay close to a fixed value.

The most widely used stablecoins are USDT (Tether) and USDC (USD Coin), both of which aim to maintain a value of around $1. In simple terms, a stablecoin can be thought of as digital dollars that operate on a blockchain.

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are highly volatile. This makes them useful as investment or trading assets, but less convenient as a stable unit of account. Imagine a trader sells $50,000 worth of Bitcoin. The trader may want to…

European equities are off to a strong start to the week, with the major indices broadly higher:

• Eurostoxx +0.9%
• Germany DAX +0.8%
• France CAC 40 +0.6%
• UK FTSE +0.4%
• Spain IBEX +0.7%
• Italy FTSE MIB +0.7%

The main tailwind driving the move is arguably the pullback in oil prices. Brent is down roughly 2% around $102 as markets take some comfort from signs that Saudi supply flows could recover and crude exports from the Gulf are holding up better than feared. That is helping to ease some of the anxiety from inflation pressures and the bond market that dominated trading last week.

The move is partly a rebound from Friday's heavy sell-off, where major indices in Europe dropped by over 1%. Autos were particularly weak then, led by Volkswagen…

According to Xinhua news agency, China has now put a firm date on its next major political gathering.

The fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee will reportedly run from 26 to 29 October in Beijing. The agenda is expected to centre again on strengthening self-governance, but I'd still expect markets to pay close attention to the economic signals coming out of the meeting.

That is especially relevant given the timing and the broader backdrop.

China president Xi is set to meet with US president Trump this week, with trade, AI, critical minerals and supply chains all expected to feature in discussions. Expectations appear geared more toward extending the current trade truce than delivering some sweeping new agreement.

If the summit…

In the past week, Bitcoin has been handed two developments that would normally be treated as fairly straightforward negatives.

The Fed raised interest rates by 25 bps last week, taking the target range to 3.75%–4.00%. And they arguably did so with a more hawkish twist to it. Then, the US Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, leaving the crypto industry without the regulatory framework it had been pushing hard to secure.

And yet, Bitcoin is now trading back above the $80,000 level. So, what gives?

For many years, one simplistic approach to read Bitcoin has been through the macro lens. Higher rates will lead to tighter financial conditions, then raise the return investors can earn on cash and bonds, and generally make speculative assets…

There are a couple of key expiry levels to take note of on the day, as highlighted in bold below.

The first one is for EUR/USD at the 1.1470 level. If broader market drivers stay relatively subdued in the session ahead, this is the kind of setup where the expiry can remain relevant in keeping price action more contained and sticky around the 1.1470 region heading towards the cut.

The expiry level doesn't tie to any major technical significance, so the impact isn't as profound. That as the closest technical boundary is the 100-hour moving average, and that sits at 1.1500 currently.

So, the influence of the expiries will be tied more to its size and relevance given how close it is to the spot price level. And also the fact that there is little…

US president Trump and China president Xi will be meeting in Washington on 24 September this week. And from a markets perspective, I think the most interesting part isn't necessarily what gets signed. It is instead the position in which both leaders are negotiating from.

On the one hand, China president Xi looks relatively comfortable coming into the meeting. China's export machine has weathered the trade war far better than Washington might have hoped, with its global trade surplus on course to exceed $1 trillion for a second straight year.

If anything, Beijing has shown that it has leverage of its own through the likes of rare earths and critical minerals, where restrictions can quickly create headaches for US manufacturers.

Now, US…

• Trump flips twice on Houthi airstrikes after call with Saudi crown prince
• ICYMI: JPMorgan says Middle East oil flows holding up despite Saudi pipeline outage
• Blackstone's Gray says India is its best private equity market, nearing a tipping point
• All four major Australian banks now forecast RBA hike to 4.60% on September 29
• US urges Americans to leave Iran as Trump weighs response to Tehran's war-ending terms
• ICYMI: BofA keeps call for Fed hikes in October and December as spending runs hot
• Goldman warns TTF and JKM gas could hit 105 euros and $35 if Gulf LNG stays constrained
• PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.7487 (vs. estimate at 6.6951)
• Bessent calls US-China talks very successful, Board of Trade operational ahead of summit
• Hedge…

Oil prices are coming off the boil a little, with Brent crude retreating from its recent highs to trade just below $102 today. Despite the move, I wouldn't mistake that for markets suddenly becoming comfortable with the energy story.

In part, the latest decline reflects some easing concerns over Saudi supply disruptions. And also, Saudi exports have been holding up better than feared - helping to cushion the blow.

There is also some noise from the futures market worth separating from the broader decline in oil prices. The oil curve remains heavily backwardated, meaning near-dated contracts are trading at a sizeable premium to later deliveries. That impacted WTI crude more so with the contract rollover having took place on 18 September, which <a href="https://investinglive.com/education/why-wti-oil-suddenly-gapped-by-5-understanding-futures-contract-rollover/"…

The stop-start signal is itself a market factor, because it shows US, por at least Trump, policy toward the Houthis can swing quickly and leaves open a third reversal. For now, no strikes means the Houthi threat to the Red Sea and Saudi export routes is unchecked, which supports keeping an energy risk premium, with the Bab al-Mandab as a second chokepoint alongside Hormuz. Strikes would carry their own risk, since one official said the Houthis would probably resume firing on US ships if a campaign restarted. Shipping and insurance costs are the first place either path would show, and traders will treat any fresh Pentagon or White House leak as a headline risk.

- Trump has flipped twice on Houthi strikes, first ordering preparations after a…

The message is that the supply hit from the pipeline outage has been smaller than feared, which helps explain why oil fell for three sessions last week even with the Houthi attacks. It does not remove the risk premium, because the rerouting depends on the Strait of Hormuz staying open, which puts the two main chokepoints in the same story. With WTI around $100 and Brent above it, prices already carry a large security premium, so upside from here needs a fresh disruption and downside needs evidence the flows are lasting. Traders will look for weekly shipping and export data to confirm that the recovery is real and not a temporary swing.

--- Flows are holding up better than feared, but at about 6 million barrels a day below last year's…

A public endorsement of India from one of the world's largest private equity firms is a sentiment signal for foreign capital, though it is one investor's view and not a flow or valuation data point. The tilt toward control stakes in IT services, commercial real estate and domestic manufacturing points to where foreign private equity money may keep going. Gray's own caveats are the more market-relevant items: US-India tariff disagreements and higher energy costs from the Iran war, which India feels as a large energy importer. Rupee and Indian equity traders will look for whether such positive investor commentary is backed by actual capital deployment.

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The Economic Times with the info. 

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Blackstone once struggled to make India work, but…

With September about 90% priced, the hike itself is unlikely to move the Australian dollar or the front end of the curve, and a hold would be the bigger surprise. The reaction is more likely to turn on the statement and the vote, given that the banks differ on whether the decision will be unanimous, and on whether the Board signals a willingness to go further. Firm guidance of a follow-up would support the currency and keep pressure on rate-sensitive sectors such as housing-linked stocks, while a softer tone would do the opposite. Oil is the other swing factor, since higher fuel costs are feeding the inflation case, and a de-escalation in the Middle East would weaken it.

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Earlier:

• UBS sees two more RBA hikes to 4.85% terminal rate after…