Flash News

TREE NEWS update: US President Donald Trump said he would wait and see whether he pursues a legal challenge over a news ban, in remarks delivered without further detail. The comment leaves open the possibility of litigation but gives no timeline, target or stated grounds. No formal action has been announced.

TREE NEWS update: Scope Ratings raised Greece’s credit rating to BBB+ from BBB. The upgrade moves the sovereign one notch higher within investment-grade territory, where it has sat since Scope restored an investment-grade assessment. No change to the outlook was specified in the rating action.

TREE NEWS update: Scope Ratings cut France’s credit rating to A+ from AA-, the agency’s latest sovereign action on the country. The downgrade lowers France’s standing one notch within Scope’s scale, with no further details given in the rating action. France’s sovereign rating is closely watched by markets as the country’s public finances remain under pressure.

TREE NEWS reports: Eight of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors closed lower, with utilities down 1.4%, materials off 1.1%, real estate down 0.94% and telecom slipping 0.74%. Information technology was the standout gainer at 0.81%, while industrials added 0.47%.

TREE NEWS update: US President Donald Trump said the government will recommend that pharmaceutical companies produce smaller vaccine doses, with five shots administered at six-month intervals. He said the administration will also recommend that some children skip vaccination, and will require drugmakers to make the adjustment.

TREE NEWS reports: The S&P 500 closed up 0.1% and the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.6%, while the Dow fell 1.6% for the week and the S&P slipped about 0.2%. Strategy was the standout, rising 16.4% in the Nasdaq 100, with SanDisk up 10.8% and Lam Research, Seagate, Applied Materials and Teradyne each gaining at least 5%. Qualcomm dropped 5.6% and Thomson Reuters fell 5.1%.

TREE NEWS reports: The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closed up 0.7% but fell 0.4% for the week. Among Chinese ADRs, Alibaba rose 4.3%, ASE Technology gained 4%, Pinduoduo added 1.5%, Xiaomi climbed 0.7%, Meituan rose 0.6% and BYD edged up 0.4%.

TREE NEWS reports: Traders flipped to a net bullish position on the Japanese yen in the week of September 15, the first time in 2025.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission positioning data. The shift marks a reversal in speculative futures positioning after the yen had been sold against the dollar through most of the year.

TREE NEWS reports: The dollar rose 0.44% against the yen to 156.67 in late New York trading on Friday, September 18, capping a weekly gain of 1.99% with a range of 153.38-158.05. The euro added 1.08% on the week to 180 yen and sterling gained 1.03% to 209.892 yen. The yen also fell 2.20% against the offshore yuan to 4.2718, extending its decline.

TREE NEWS reports: The ICE US Dollar Index closed New York trade at 100.200 on Friday, September 18, down 0.05% on the day but up 1.08% for the week, with a weekly range of 99.093-100.564. The Bloomberg Dollar Index was roughly flat at 1202.78, gaining 1.03% over the week within a 1190.51-1206.24 range.

TREE NEWS reports: Speculative traders on the COMEX cut their net long position in silver by 1,544 contracts to 12,632 contracts in the week ended September 15.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. The weekly CFTC positioning report tracks speculative net length held by non-commercial accounts in New York silver futures.

TREE NEWS reports: The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission reported that bitcoin net long positioning stood at 2,468 contracts for the week of September 15. The figure reflects the net bullish positioning of traders in CFTC-regulated bitcoin futures markets for that reporting week.

TREE NEWS reports: Speculators increased their net short position in CBOT US ultra-long Treasury futures by 63 contracts to 345,203 in the week ended September 15, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said. Net shorts in CBOT US Treasury futures rose by 2,640 contracts to 203,157 over the same week.

TREE NEWS reports: The CFTC reported that speculative net long positions in NYMEX WTI crude fell by 2,571 contracts to 136,768 in the week to September 15. Combined Brent and WTI net longs rose by 18,254 contracts to 429,413, a 17-week high. NYMEX gasoline net longs dropped to 83,217 contracts, a three-week low, while natural gas net shorts rose to 76,801 contracts, a six-week high.

TREE NEWS reports: US President Donald Trump said this week on social media that the global diesel price surge is driven mainly by the Russia-Ukraine conflict rather than the US-Iran war. Estimates compiled by Bloomberg and verified by diesel traders show the Iran conflict removed more diesel supply. Energy Aspects, Kpler and Vortexa estimate Middle East oil output fell about 770,000 barrels per day from March to mid-August versus a year earlier, while Russian output fell about 350,000 bpd over the same period.

TREE NEWS reports: CBOT wheat futures fell 1.76% over the week to $7.1350 a bushel, while soybean oil dropped 2.13%, in Friday (Sept 18) New York trading. The Bloomberg Grains Subindex slipped 1.13% to 34.3745 points, down 0.54% for the week after hitting 35.1949 on Sept 16. Corn lost 0.57% on the week to $5.2725 a bushel, soybeans gained 0.52% to $13.03, and lean hogs tumbled 5.64%.

TREE NEWS reports: NASA and Boeing are negotiating for Starliner to fly more than 10 additional missions, people familiar with the matter said, as the agency seeks to ensure continued US access to low Earth orbit. A NASA spokesperson said the agency is developing plans to meet its sustained LEO presence goals and expects to release details soon. The talks come roughly two years after Starliner’s 2024 malfunction left astronauts stranded.

TREE NEWS reports: The Hang Seng Index’s main night session closed down 0.23% at 24,678 points. The Hang Seng Tech Index’s night session also slipped, falling 0.204401 points. The overnight moves reflect the latest after-hours trading in Hong Kong’s equity market.

TREE NEWS reports: The onshore yuan closed at 6.6984 per dollar at 03:00 Beijing time, up 76 pips from Thursday’s night session close. Trading volume for the session was $52.21 billion.

TREE NEWS reports: WTI October crude futures closed down $1.86, or more than 1.82%, at $100.30 a barrel, still up nearly 0.25% for the week. Middle East Abu Dhabi Murban crude fell 2.06% to $118.89 a barrel, down 0.48% on the week. NYMEX October natural gas settled at $2.9120 per million BTU, gasoline at $3.5276 a gallon and heating oil at $5.0578 a gallon.