Federal Reserve Governor Jefferson: No Need to Hurry to Further Cut Interest Rates, Strong Economy Makes Caution Appropriate

The European Central Bank (ECB) has warned that future risks to oil and gas prices remain elevated due to geopolitical developments in the Middle East, Ukraine, and Russia. The ECB’s meeting minutes, released Thursday, show that while current oil prices “remain far below recent highs” and futures price curves have weakened, “oil prices will still be far above pre-war levels throughout the forecast period, signaling sustained upward pressure on oil prices with risks tilted to the upside.” Additionally, the ECB noted that the recent drop in oil prices “has not eased the medium-term inflation path reflected in market pricing,” adding that “inflation expectations remain anchored.” The ECB reaffirmed it will continue to fulfill its mandate to maintain price stability and “act in a timely manner” to achieve its medium-term 2% inflation target. (Jinshi)

According to Bloomberg, Ripple’s institutional brokerage arm Ripple Prime has launched its Delta One business, marking the firm’s first foray into the stock market. The service allows investors to execute total return swaps (TRS) on U.S. stocks, U.S. stock indices, and digital assets, catering to institutional clients including hedge funds, market makers, and ETF issuers.

Fed official Schmid said that with inflation remaining above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, the current U.S. interest rate level is not restraining the American economy. Schmid stated: “For my part, I think short-term interest rates may be too accommodative. So, we still have work to do.” At the July meeting, policymakers voted to keep interest rates in the 3.5% to 3.75% range. Three officials dissented, voting in favor of a rate hike. The meeting minutes showed that several officials, including some non-voting members, supported a rate hike, while many others noted that monetary policy would need to be tightened if inflation does not cool. “Some of my colleagues dissented at the last meeting, so I might be in that camp,” Schmid said. He also pushed back against claims that the Fed’s credibility has been damaged. Earlier, a poorly received July press conference by Fed Chair Walsh triggered a sharp reaction in the bond market, with some arguing this had eroded the Fed’s credibility. (Source: Jin10)

According to monitoring by TradingBeats (formerly Hyperinsight), the address linked to crypto figure "Brother Ma Ji" (Huang Licheng) continued adding to long positions over the past hour, with total long open volume reaching approximately $4.99 million. The additions include ~900 ETH (worth ~$2.256 million), ~14 BTC (worth ~$1.115 million), ~8,000 HYPE (worth ~$660,000), and ~200 million PUMP (worth ~$957,000). Currently, the address holds: a 25x leveraged ETH long position on Hyperliquid totaling ~25,400 ETH (valued at ~$63.53 million) with an unrealized profit of ~$1.06 million; a 40x leveraged BTC long position totaling ~469 BTC (valued at ~$37.3 million) with an unrealized profit of ~$185,000; a 10x leveraged HYPE long position totaling ~180,000 HYPE (valued at ~$14.78 million) with an unrealized profit of ~$194,000; plus a 10x leveraged PUMP long position totaling ~200 million PUMP. Additionally, per TradingBeats’ daily profit leaderboard, Brother Ma Ji currently ranks first, with a daily net unrealized profit of approximately $3.4037 million.

Federal Reserve's Schmid says midterm elections will not affect the Fed's October meeting decisions, and interest rates have not curbed the U.S. economy. (Golden Ten)

According to data from BIT (bit.com), U.S. pre-market trading saw broad gains in optical module and storage stocks, as follows: Lumentum (LITE) rose 3.15% pre-market to $968.600; Coherent (COHR) rose 4.35% pre-market to $307.183; Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) rose 5.40% pre-market to $119.900; Nokia (NOK) rose 2.79% pre-market to $10.700; Marvell Technology (MRVL) rose 4.95% pre-market to $257.250. Western Digital (WDC) rose 4.72% pre-market to $491.000; Seagate Technology (STX) rose 4.68% pre-market to $886.010; SanDisk (SNDK) rose 4.95% pre-market to $1575.630; Micron Technology (MU) rose 4.46% pre-market to $980.246.