Inflation in the US was a surprise: it dropped to an annual rate of 2.7% in November

15:30

Long overdue and for the first time since September following the government shutdown, inflation data in the US is back on stage.

Now the State Bureau of Statistics publishes that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of November was 2.7%, the expectation was that inflation rose to 3.1%, still above the Federal Reserve’s target. In September, the last month for which inflation data is available, both the general index and the core index rose by 3% compared to a year earlier.

The core index was 2.6%, compared to expectations of 3%.

Economists at Bank of America wrote in preparation for the publication that commodity inflation is expected to remain “sticky” due to tariffs, while services inflation is expected to be more moderate, due, among other things, to the health insurance section. This dynamic of opposing forces within the inflation data is expected to leave the Fed on standby at the end of the January meeting, when traders are currently pricing in a 25% chance of an interest rate cut as early as next month.

15:15

As expected the central bank of the ECB left the interest rate unchanged at 2.15%.

A little while ago, the Bank of Great Britain lowered the interest rate in the country by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.75%.

14:38

Wall Street contracts are rising following an optimistic forecast from the largest US memory chip maker, which helped ignite a recovery in technology stocks on a day packed with data releases and central bank meetings.

Micron the largest manufacturer of computer memory chips in the US, published a positive forecast for the current quarter – a sign that rising demand and a lack of supply allow the company to charge higher prices for its products.

Revenues for the second quarter of the fiscal year are expected to be 18.3 to 19.1 billion dollars, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The analysts’ forecast was on average only 14.4 billion dollars. Earnings per share, excluding certain items, are expected to be $8.22 to $8.62, compared to a previous forecast of $4.71.

Micron shares are up about 10% in early trading. The stock has already recorded a 168% increase since the beginning of the year, and closed on Wednesday at a price of $225.52.

14:00

As expected, the Bank of Great Britain lowered the interest rate in the country by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.75% a few minutes ago.

13:00

The Israeli shipping company Zim is for sale, but MSC will not be the buyer.

“We would like to deny any interest in the acquisition Zim “, an MSC spokesperson told Lloyd’s List yesterday. Reports widely published in the media in Israel claimed that both Hapag-Lloyd and MSC submitted offers to purchase ZIM, and that Maersk also expressed interest. However, an MSC spokesperson told Lloyd’s List that no offer from MSC was ever put on the table.

Zim’s board of directors confirmed on November 25 that Zim’s CEO Eli Glickman and Israeli shipping owner Rami Unger previously submitted a non-binding offer to purchase the company. The board of directors stated that it rejected the offer and began a strategic review of the company, while appointing Evercore as a financial consultant. As part of the review, the board noted that “indications of interest from several parties, including strategic interest” were received.

The confirmation that MSC is not a potential buyer comes shortly after Zim reached a settlement with a group of activist shareholders, ending the drama surrounding the board vote scheduled for December 26.

The activist investors – Moore, Reading Capital and Sparta 24 – asked to appoint three directors on their behalf, but Zim sent a letter to the shareholders in which she urged them to vote against the proposal, and published messages supporting this position from the leading advisory bodies for proxy votes – Glass Lewis and ISS.

12:22

company BP has appointed Woodside Energy CEO Meg O’Neill as its next CEO, a move that reinforces the British energy giant’s “back to basics” strategy. O’Neill will replace Marie Okinclos, who held the position for less than two years.

O’Kinclos will step down as early as today, with Carol Howell, BP’s senior vice president of supply, trading and shipping, serving as interim CEO until O’Neill takes over on April 1. O’Neill will be BP’s fourth CEO in six years.

Steven Isaacs, a strategic adviser at Alvine Capital, which holds a position in BP stock, told CNBC on Thursday’s Squawk Box Europe show that while BP has been a “very weak performer for a long time,” this move could be “the last piece of the puzzle” to reorganize the company.

“BP drank a little too much of the ‘Kool-Aid’ of the energy transition and neglected its core business… So I think that the CEO change is a kind of confirmation that we are going back to basics. And that, I think, is pretty good for the stock,” Isaacs said.

BP shares ended the previous trading day up 0.7% following the news. On Thursday, it first extended the increases, but later switched to decreases. In the last stage, a decrease of 0.1% was recorded.

10:50

Trading in Europe is going up slightly now – Paris is up 0.2%, London and Frankfurt are stable around the base index.

08:50

In Asia, there is a negative trend this morning led by the Tokyo Stock Exchange which falls by 1.2% led by Softbank which falls by 7%, Shanghai rises by 0.2%, the Hang Seng falls by 0.4% and the Nifty index in India falls by 0.1%.

The contracts on Wall Street are in a positive trend and Nasdaq rises by 0.2% following the positive report of the memory chip company Micron yesterday after the lockdown. The company’s stock rose by 8% in late trading, after the company beat profit forecasts and also published a strong forecast.

● “Not for the faint of heart”: What do investment experts predict for Wall Street in 2026?

Yesterday trading on Wall Street closed down, this is the fourth day in a row that technology stocks are leading the way. The declines even worsened before the closing – the S&P 500 closed down 1.2%, while the Nasdaq fell 1.8%. The Dow Jones index is down 0.7%. Compared to the declines, energy stocks jumped by more than 2% following the drop in oil prices.

You should pay attention to the rotation of money on Wall Street – the technology sector In the S&P 500 index, it fell by about 6.2% during one week, on the other hand, during the last month, the financial sector increased by about 6%, the materials sector increased by about 5.4% andThe cyclical consumption sector (Consumer Discretionary) by about 3.4%. “You’re definitely seeing a pretty clear rotation from large growth stocks to large value stocks, and what’s really happening, I think, is that people are positioning themselves in a more defensive position for what’s expected next year,” said Brian Mulberry, director of client portfolios at Zacks Investment Management.

The leading AI actress oracle and the chip maker andBroadcom two stocks that led the last rotation outside of technology, fell by more than 4% and more than 5% respectively. also Nvidia decreased by about 3%. The two dual Israeli chip shares, Nova andCamtech They also dropped sharply.

Oracle denied just last week a Bloomberg report that it had postponed some projects for OpenAI until 2028. But yesterday the Financial Times reported that investment firm Blue Owl Capital would not support a $10 billion deal for the company’s new data center.

● Fund managers are optimistic, but one dramatic figure signals that the markets are about to fall

OpenAI is having conversations with Amazon Regarding a possible investment and an agreement to use its artificial intelligence chips, CNBC confirmed. The details are still subject to change and have not yet been finalized, but according to a source familiar with the matter, who asked to remain anonymous since the talks are confidential, the scope of the investment may exceed $10 billion

Warner Bros. Discovery is recommending that shareholders reject Paramount’s all-cash offer, arguing that Netflix’s offer is superior. In a letter to shareholders, Warner called Paramount’s offer “an illusion”, again raised concerns about the reliability of the capital offered by Paramount and even questioned the structure of the Ellison family’s commitment to finance the deal.

In the commodity market, oil prices in the world are in a clear weakening trend in the last year, from a record level of 78.7 dollars per barrel of oil during the month of January this year to a level of 56 dollars today. The weakening of the oil price stems from the decrease in security concerns, and also from a possible rapprochement between the US and Russia, as part of Trump’s efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Diplomatic success in this area may ease the economic sanctions imposed on Russia.

Cryptocurrencies showed signs of recovery yesterday but later fell back to $86,800, Ethereum returned to $2,830. Bitcoin is on its way to only the fourth year of annual declines in its history, in an annual summary, Bitcoin fell by about 8% and its price is currently about 30% lower than the all-time high of just over $126,000, which was recorded at the beginning of October.

Now, one of the biggest threats to cryptocurrencies is the Bank of Japan. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is expected to announce its next interest rate decision tomorrow and growing speculation about a rate hike is raising concerns that Bitcoin and other risk assets could come under renewed pressure. The bank’s governor, Kazuo Ueda, hinted that further interest rate hikes are possible as early as this month.

The Bank of Japan’s policy decisions have a wide global impact due to the carry trades, a strategy in which yen borrowers invest at zero interest rates to purchase higher-yielding dollar assets. When Japan raises interest rates, these deals tend to fall apart, leading to outflows from stocks, bonds and even digital assets like Bitcoin.

Long overdue and for the first time since September following the government shutdown, inflation data in the US is back on stage – this afternoon (15:30 Israel time) the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of November is expected to show that inflation rose by 3.1%, still above the Federal Reserve’s target. In September, the last month for which inflation data is available, both the general index and the core index rose by 3% compared to a year earlier.

Economists at Bank of America wrote in preparation for the publication that commodity inflation is expected to remain “sticky” due to tariffs, while services inflation is expected to be more moderate, due, among other things, to the health insurance section. This dynamic of opposing forces within the inflation data is expected to leave the Fed on standby at the end of the January meeting, when traders are currently pricing in a 25% chance of an interest rate cut as early as next month.

And in the world, within two days, investors are preparing for five interest rate decisions, four central banks in Europe are expected to publish their decisions regarding monetary policy today, tomorrow it will be the Bank of Japan.

Today the European Central Bank (ECB), the Bank of England (BoE), the Riksbank of Sweden and the central bank of Norway (Norges Bank) are all meeting, but only one of them is expected to change the interest rate.

Norway’s central bank is expected to leave the interest rate unchanged at 4%, as is the Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank, at 1.75%.

The Bank of England is the only central bank expected to cut interest rates today, with a small majority of the nine members of the Monetary Committee (MPC) expected to support a 25 basis point cut, which would lower interest rates to 3.75%. the-The ECB is expected to leave interest rates unchanged.

Tomorrow, the Bank of Japan The interest rate is expected to be raised to 0.75%.