US consumer spending posted its largest increase in a year, with core PCE rising 0.2%

The U.S. core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index rose 3% year-over-year in August, hitting its lowest level since February and coming in below the market consensus of 3.3%. The prior reading was revised down from 3.3% to 3%. Month-over-month, the index increased 0.2%, also missing the 0.3% forecast. Full PCE rose 3.4% year-over-year and 0.3% month-over-month, both below market expectations. In the same period, U.S. personal spending rose 0.9% month-over-month in August, beating the 0.8% forecast. Inflation-adjusted real personal spending grew 0.6%, marking its largest monthly increase since March 2025. The combination of lower-than-expected inflation and resilient consumer spending has complicated the Federal Reserve’s assessment of its future policy path. Following the data release, U.S. short-term interest rate futures rose, as traders scaled back bets on a Fed interest rate hike in October. The CME FedWatch Tool shows the probability of the Fed holding rates steady in October is now 52.9%. U.S. two-year Treasury yields briefly fell more than 5 basis points to 4.843%, while spot gold rose over $20 to trade above $4,210. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) also adjusted the calculation methods for some PCE components this time, and it remains unclear how much these revisions impacted the final data.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board has approved revisions to its annual stress tests by a 6-1 vote, marking a major win for large Wall Street lenders. Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said in a statement Wednesday: "Stress tests are a key component of our regulatory capital framework. Today’s reforms preserve their robustness by ensuring the stress tests are more transparent, granular, and risk-sensitive." The Fed noted that the two final rules are largely aligned with proposals put forward in 2025, which were welcomed by the banking sector at the time. Established in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the stress tests are designed to evaluate how Wall Street lenders would withstand hypothetical recession scenarios. Separately, the Fed is soliciting public feedback on a plan aimed at "better reflecting differences in banks’ business models when it comes to generating fee income."

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has begun accepting authorization applications from crypto firms. Relevant companies seeking to continue operations in the UK must submit their applications by February 28, 2027, as the new regulatory regime will officially take effect on October 25, 2027. The new regime brings additional services including trade matching, crypto asset trading, staking, and digital asset custody under FCA oversight, while introducing requirements such as crypto asset access and disclosure, market manipulation prevention, prudential regulation, and consumer protection. The FCA stated that applying firms must demonstrate compliance with standards including consumer protection, customer asset safeguarding, market integrity, and financial resilience, and submitting an application does not guarantee approval. Crypto firms already registered under the UK’s Money Laundering Regulations will also need to reapply, as their existing registration will not automatically convert to FCA authorization. Companies meeting relevant transitional conditions and submitting applications within the application window may continue to provide specified crypto asset services during the review period, including onboarding new business.

Well-known trader Bonk Guy posted a statement noting that the latest PCE data has not been fully priced in by the market, with its related impacts yet to be fully digested. Given the historical strength of the fourth quarter and the current period ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, he expects the market rally could soon gain significant momentum, adding that he remains bullish on USELESS. Earlier reports indicated that the U.S. August core PCE price index rose 3% year-on-year, below the 3.3% consensus forecast and marking a six-month low. The prior reading was revised from 3.30% to 3%.

According to GMGN market data, the Solana-based meme coin Super Inu (SI) briefly hit a market cap of over $68 million, marking an all-time high. It is now trading at $65.78 million, with a 24-hour increase of 176%. In related news, late last night and early this morning, US President Trump said he will sign an artificial intelligence (AI)-related document with executives from multiple tech companies in Washington on Tuesday, calling the document "ethically binding". Trump also stated that he has officially renamed "artificial intelligence (AI)" to "Super Intelligence (SI)". BlockBeats reminds users that relevant token prices are highly volatile, so investors should exercise caution.

Robinhood’s on-chain decentralized exchange (DEX) Fables announced that its Token Generation Event (TGE) will take place on October 20, with the ve(3,3) mechanism launching simultaneously. The points campaign will continue at a rate of 250 million points per week for two weeks, ending on October 19. A full claim guide will be released on October 12, covering point conversion ratios, lockup options, and the PROLOGUE redemption process. Point participants must choose between claiming liquid FABLES or locking their tokens into veFABLES for a custom lockup period between October 12 and 19; longer lockups will yield higher allocation ratios. Wallets that fail to complete the selection by October 19 will forfeit their eligibility. Final allocations will be calculated after the points campaign concludes, with the claim window opening at TGE and lasting one month. The PROLOGUE snapshot will be taken between October 17 and 18, with 25 million FABLES reserved for PROLOGUE holders: every 40 eligible PROLOGUE tokens will entitle holders to at least 1 liquid FABLE. At TGE, the total liquid FABLES allocated to PROLOGUE reserves, point claims, and initial liquidity pools will not exceed 75 million tokens. Team allocations total 80 million FABLES: 40 million permanently locked as veFABLES, and the remaining 40 million with a 6-month lockup vesting over two years, with no team tokens entering circulation at TGE. To date, Fables has launched 52 markets on Robinhood Chain, holding approximately $45 million in deposits, with cumulative trading volume exceeding $2 billion and generating over $3.9 million in fees.