President Trump told Axios Thursday that he's approaching a critical juncture in the Iran war over whether to restart massive attacks in an effort to bring the conflict to a close.

- "I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not? It's a big decision. Anything could happen with me."

Why it matters: Though Trump has made similar threats before, his comments come ahead of a planned meeting Tuesday with leaders from six Gulf countries on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

(Continue Reading – Axios)

The Bank of England has voted 6-3 in favour of keeping rates on hold at 3.75%, but the overriding message is clear: it is prepared to hike interest rates if energy prices stay high. The chances of a November hike hinge entirely on whether oil and natural gas prices come lower.

Our global base case assumes that they will. That would enable the Bank to stay on hold, as it voted to do today, and even cut rates in 2027. But if we’re wrong, it’s clear the Bank is prepared to hike in November – and if it does, we suspect it will do so again in the new year. It’s as simple as that. But either way, it suggests market pricing of four rate hikes over the next year looks overdone.

(Continue Reading – ING)

The Bank of Japan is expected to raise its policy interest rate to a 31-year high of 1.25 percent from 1 percent at a two-day policy meeting from Thursday in a bid to contain mounting inflationary risks from higher oil prices and a weak yen.

The BOJ is set to lift the rate again after raising it three months earlier, the shortest period between increases since the central bank began the current rate hike cycle in March 2024.

Higher import costs from the yen's depreciation to its lowest level in decades against the U.S. dollar and a surge in crude oil prices due to the Middle East conflict have heightened concerns that inflation could overshoot the BOJ's expectations.

(Continue Reading - Mainichi)

The U.S. Senate's failure to advance the Clarity Act on Tuesday leaves the crypto industry in the world's largest economy without an overarching federal framework and with the roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) shrouded in ambiguity.

The absence of legal certainty matters. The immediate reaction hit U.S.-focused crypto infrastructure providers, with publicly traded firms like crypto exchange Coinbase Global and stablecoin issuer Circle Internet sliding 10% in the aftermath of the vote.

U.S. retail investors lose access to a clear, regulated market. U.S. institutions lose the certainty they need to commit capital at scale. The country as a whole loses ground in what is increasingly a jurisdictional race to become the world's crypto hub.

(Continue Reading – CoinDesk)