The Global Pulse Weekly Update 15th Sep'26

Fighting near the Strait of Hormuz pushed crude above $100 a barrel. Expensive oil makes everything else cost more, so it arrives as inflation. US price data on Thursday and Friday was not alarming but not reassuring either, and most traders now expect the Federal Reserve to raise rates next week. Europe raised this week, Japan is expected to follow.

Higher rates hit gold, down 1.8%. Neither pays you anything to hold, so when cash and bonds start paying more, people sell.

The S&P 500 (▼0.8%) and Nasdaq (▼0.7%) fell four days straight, then bounced on Friday as oil eased. The FTSE 100 (▼1.7%) got no rescue from its oil majors, because the same inflation pushed a Bank of England rate cut further out of reach. The Nikkei 225 (▼1.6%) and SSEC (▼1.1%) both closed hours before Friday’s rebound, so neither caught it.

India had the hardest week. The Nifty 50 fell 2.1%, a fifth consecutive losing week. India buys most of its oil abroad, so a crude spike lands as a bigger import bill. Foreign investors sold again, and the rupee had its worst week since May.