EUR/USD

In August 2026, household spending on goods declined month-on-month (-0.5% in volume* after +0.4% in July – revised data). Energy consumption fell again (-2.3% after +0.9%), as did food consumption (-0.4% after +0.2%). Consumption of manufactured goods, however, increased again (+0.3% after +0.4%). In August 2026, household energy expenditure contracted ...

Over the course of a year, according to the preliminary estimate made at the end of the month, consumer prices are projected to rise by 3.0% in September 2026, following a 2.4% increase in August. Energy prices are expected to accelerate again, driven by higher prices for petroleum products and gas. Services inflation is projected to increase slightly, ...

According to preliminary figures from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), retail sales in Germany rose by 1.3% in real terms (price-adjusted) and by 1.7% in nominal terms (not price-adjusted) in August 2026 compared to July 2026, after adjusting for calendar and seasonal effects. Compared to the same month of the previous year, August 2025, sales ...

Federal Reserve officials delivered a mostly hawkish round of remarks on Tuesday, September 29, with Governor Michael Barr and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee stressing the risks of persistent inflation, while New York Fed President John Williams said there is no need to rush after the central bank's September rate increase. That hike lifted the Fed's ...

The European Central Bank faces a challenging backdrop of renewed energy market stress alongside surprisingly resilient economic growth, as reflected in the latest flash PMIs. This mix has pushed short-end rates to price in a tightening cycle that sees three to four more hikes over the next year. We think this is too much and expect only one more hike from ...

If anyone at the Federal Reserve is looking for evidence arguing against another interest rate hike, they’re unlikely to get it in data due Wednesday that is expected to show ongoing price pressures and consumers who nevertheless continue to spend. The personal consumption expenditures price index, the primary inflation gauge for central bank policymakers, ...

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said on Tuesday the U.S. central bank has time to weigh the data before deciding when to hike interest rates again, in remarks that said one more increase is ​likely before the year ends. “With the policy action we took at our September meeting, there is no need for urgency,” Williams said in the text ...

Thank you for inviting me to speak here today. Last year at Sibos I leaned into the conference theme and discussed how a range of emerging technologies could shape the next frontier in global payments. Consistent with this year's theme, today I want to focus more specifically on the state of artificial intelligence (AI) in payments and raise a few questions about how this technology could change the way payment systems operate. As I have discussed before, within the financial sector, the payments industry has long been at the forefront of using AI to improve operations. There is a rich history of deploying machine learning to combat payments fraud. The industry was also an early adopter of large language models (LLMs) for payment reconciliation and similar tasks. Now it is helping to build foundational infrastructure for AI agents to operate more broadly in the economy. These agents can plan and execute multistep processes using LLMs, enabling those agents to transact autonomously. Given the global audience for this event, I'll start by discussing the implications of AI for the efficiency and security of cross-border payments. Then I will turn to a potentially transformative topic for the payments industry—agentic commerce. Potential for Cross-Border Pay Feds Waller Makes No Comments On Monetary Policy Or Economic Outlook In Remarks On Payments In The Age Of Ai Agents

The Conference Board measure of consumer confidence has fallen to 81.9 in September from 88.6 in August (the consensus forecast was 89.0). The current conditions index fell 8 points and expectations dropped 6 points. The headline reading was weaker than every forecast in the survey and leaves sentiment at a 12-year low. The details show anxiety about both ...

Fed's Williams: Inflation should ease because the biggest shocks have largely played out.