On Monday, Tradeweb Markets (Nasdaq: TW) unveiled TARA (Tradeweb AI Research Assistant), a conversational AI tool designed to help institutional U.S. credit market participants turn trading data into real-time, actionable market intelligence. Embedded directly within Tradeweb’s institutional platform, TARA allows users to query trading activity, market flows, execution performance, liquidity conditions, and pricing intelligence using natural language. The tool integrates Tradeweb’s proprietary historical and intraday real-time data with analytics from Tradeweb Ai-Price, the firm’s fixed-income pricing engine, delivering personalised insights based on individual client trading activity alongside broader market trends. Izzy Conlin, Head of Strategy & Solutions for Global Markets at Tradeweb, said the launch reflects a shift in how traders engage with market intelligence. “The challenge for traders is no longer access to information, but the ability to efficiently extract actionable insights from massive and growing datasets,” Conlin commented. “TARA is an important step in bringing those capabilities to our global client network.” T. Rowe Price participated in Tradeweb’s TARA pilot programme. Credit Trader Matthew Murphy said the tool represents “an important step forward in how market participants can interact with trading data more naturally, supporting faster decision-making and improved transparency.” TARA currently supports U.S. credit trading workflows, with broader availability for U.S. institutional credit clients expected in July. Tradeweb plans to expand functionality to global credit and government bond traders later in 2026, with future enhancements set to include scheduled prompts, automated reporting, API connectivity, and expansion into additional rates products and asset classes.The post Tradeweb Launches AI-Powered Research Assistant for Institutional Credit Traders first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

On Monday, LME Clear, the clearing house of the London Metal Exchange, announced a series of enhancements to its margin collateral services, with changes designed to offer greater flexibility for Asian members and those operating in Chinese markets. The most significant update raises the maximum amount of Offshore Renminbi (CNH) that each member can hold as collateral by 50%. The move builds on an increase to the interest rate paid on CNH collateral introduced in October last year — a rate that will remain in place until at least the end of 2026. Alongside the expanded limit, LME Clear is also accelerating its settlement window for CNH lodgements and withdrawals, moving from T-2 to T-1, reducing friction for members using CNH to support their clearing operations. On the Warrants as Collateral front, LME Clear has extended its existing programme to accept warrants backed by metal stored in Hong Kong warehouses, adding to the eight locations already recognised under the scheme. Michael Carty, CEO of LME Clear, said the changes were part of a broader drive to improve the collateral experience for clearing members. “The changes announced today will particularly benefit Asian members and users who wish to use CNH, as well as boosting the important role played by warehouses in Hong Kong,” he said. Carty added that Warrants as Collateral allows members to leverage existing metals holdings to support clearing, while the CNH enhancements reflect LME Clear’s ongoing commitment to its Chinese market participants.The post LME Clear Boosts CNH Collateral Limits and Expands Warrants Programme for Asian Members first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

When the US Energy Information Administration published its June Short-Term Energy Outlook last week, its central finding was striking: global oil demand is now forecast to fall by 1.1 million barrels per day in 2026, the first annual demand decline since the pandemic, revised sharply from growth of 0.2 million b/d forecast just a month earlier. The mechanism was straightforward: $100-plus oil destroys its own demand. Over the weekend, Brent appeared to be reading the same document. Crude has now fallen almost 20% from its 2026 highs as ceasefire optimism built through May and into this week, recording its worst monthly performance since Covid. The US and Iran are reported to be “mostly agreed” on a 60-day memorandum of understanding, pending final sign-off. Whether the deal lands this week or not, the direction of travel in the oil market has shifted — and the EIA’s scenario framework now looks prescient rather than academic. What the STEO actually said The June outlook was built around a closed-Strait scenario. With more than 11 million barrels per day of Gulf production effectively shut in, the EIA modelled a world in which OECD inventories would fall to their lowest level since records began in 2003, around 50 days of forward demand cover. Brent was projected to hold near $105 through the summer on the assumption that the Strait would reopen in the third quarter but that shipping traffic would not normalise until early 2027. The demand revision was the EIA’s clearest signal that the energy shock was beginning to feed back on itself. High prices were suppressing consumption across OECD economies, with industrial demand particularly exposed. It was, in effect, the agency documenting the ceiling on oil prices: above a certain level, the cure is embedded in the disease. Why the weekend moves matter for the week ahead The ceasefire reports have done two things simultaneously. They have taken Brent from the EIA’s $105 scenario assumption towards the low $90s, and they have complicated the inflation picture heading into Wednesday’s FOMC decision in ways that last week’s CPI and PPI data — both running hot on headline measures — could not have anticipated when they were released. The hawkish repricing that followed the 4.2% CPI print and the record 6.5% annual PPI reading was built on the assumption that the energy shock was sticky. If the Strait reopens on a 60-day ceasefire timeline, the headline inflation impulse that has driven forecast revisions across the Street, loses a significant part of its foundation. That creates an unusual setup for Warsh’s first press conference as Fed Chair on Wednesday. He inherits a committee that drifted hawkish on data that may now be near its peak, a bond market that repriced meaningfully last week, and a geopolitical development that could bring the energy shock forward to resolution faster than anyone’s base case assumed. The figure to watch The EIA’s intermediate demand index, stage 1 inputs to the production chain, rose 3.2% in May, a series record, and is running 12.3% ahead of a year ago. That pipeline pressure does not unwind with a ceasefire; it reflects costs already absorbed into the production chain, which pass through to consumers over months rather than weeks. Core inflation, which held below consensus in both the CPI and PPI reports last week, is the number that tells you whether those pipeline costs are being absorbed or passed on. On current readings they are largely being absorbed, which is the argument for the Fed holding rather than hiking, regardless of where headline inflation sits. A ceasefire and a fall in energy prices resolves the headline problem; the core trend is what the committee will watch from here. The STEO’s demand-destruction story was always going to resolve one of two ways: either the shock sustained itself long enough to crater consumption permanently, or it burned itself out through price — and the prospect of a deal suggests the latter. Either way, the EIA’s June figures now read less like a forecast and more like the last full account of the world as it was.The post The EIA said demand-destruction would do the heavy lifting. The oil market spent the weekend agreeing. first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Kudo.com, formerly known as Kudotrade, revealed last week that it has secured a licence from the UAE Capital Markets Authority (CMA). The company believes the move marks a “significant milestone” in its evolution and strengthens its commitment to serving traders across the Middle East. Issued on 9 June 2026, the licence is said to permit  Kudo to undertake promotion and introduction activities within the UAE and to support its expansion across the Gulf Cooperation Council region.  The approval follows the company’s recent rebrand from Kudotrade to Kudo.com, reflecting its growth from a global trading platform into a broader financial services brand. Alongside the licence, Kudo has launched access to a selection of leading GCC-listed equities, allowing clients to trade some of the region’s most influential companies from a single platform.  The offering includes Emaar Properties, ADNOC Gas and e& from the UAE; Saudi Aramco, Al Rajhi Bank and Saudi Telecom Company from Saudi Arabia; Qatar National Bank, Ooredoo and Nakilat from Qatar; and Mobile Telecommunications Company (Zain) from Kuwait. “Securing our UAE CMA licence represents a major milestone for Kudo.com and demonstrates our commitment to operating within trusted regulatory frameworks as we continue to expand globally,” said Finley Wilkinson, Chief Operating Officer at Kudo. Wilkinson added that the Middle East has become one of the most important growth regions for financial services, driven by economic transformation programmes and increasingly sophisticated capital markets, and that the licence allows Kudo to deepen its regional presence while giving clients direct access to GCC investment opportunities.The post Kudo.com Secures UAE Licence, Expands Access to GCC Equities first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith has been censured and fined $225,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) after failing to report thousands of customer complaints submitted through call centre surveys between January 2018 and December 2023. According to the Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent released last week, Merrill Lynch invited customers who phoned its support centres to complete post-call surveys that included a written commentary section, but the firm did not reasonably review these responses to identify complaints, breaching its quarterly reporting obligations under FINRA Rule 4530(d). In a sample period covering January to December 2023 alone, the firm received more than 220,000 written survey responses. While 2,423 customer complaints arising from the surveys were reported on time, more than 1,600 written complaints went unreported.  Most concerned service-related issues, though some involved inability to access funds, difficulties obtaining account information, technical problems with the firm’s online systems, and security incidents. FINRA found that Merrill Lynch’s supervisory system relied on a lexicon of search terms originally developed for consumer banking products, which frequently failed to flag reportable survey responses as “potential complaints.” The matter originated from Merrill Lynch’s self-disclosure in April 2024. The firm subsequently conducted a one-year lookback, resolved the complaints it identified, and reported them to FINRA.  In January 2024, it suspended the written commentary field in its customer surveys. Merrill Lynch consented to the findings without admitting or denying them.The post FINRA Fines Merrill Lynch Over Unreported Customer Complaints first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Two weeks ago, Mastercard quietly did something that would have been impossible eighteen months ago. Its Mastercard Move platform processed live payments settled atomically in central bank money — simultaneously completing both legs of a euro-to-Danish-krone exchange on the ECB’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement platform. No correspondent bank in the middle. No overnight settlement risk. Final, simultaneous settlement in central bank money. It may not have generated the headlines it deserves. What actually happened Mastercard participated in a Eurosystem-led pilot on the TIPS platform, conducted alongside Danmarks Nationalbank and Sveriges Riksbank. Under the pilot, Mastercard Move, Mastercard’s global money movement platform, was among the first non-bank participants to process transactions using TIPS’s new cross-currency functionality (TIPS X-CCY), which went live in June 2025. Payments settled atomically between euros and Danish kroner, meaning both currency legs completed simultaneously, eliminating the settlement risk that typically sits in the gap between the two legs of an FX transaction. Mastercard framed it as a proof of concept: regulated non-bank payment service providers can operate safely at central bank infrastructure level, aligned with ECB governance, EPC scheme rules and ISO 20022 standards. The regime that made it possible Until recently, direct access to TARGET, the Eurosystem’s suite of payment infrastructure including T2 and TIPS, was restricted to banks. Non-banks could be “reachable parties” in TIPS but not direct participants. That changed in stages. The Instant Payments Regulation, adopted in March 2024, amended the Settlement Finality Directive to broaden participation eligibility to include payment institutions and e-money institutions. The ECB published its harmonised access policy in July 2024. The amended TARGET Guideline entered into force on 6 October 2025, opening direct participation to EEA-authorised PIs and EMIs across T2, TIPS, RT1 and STEP2-T. The same ECB annual report that confirmed the framework was in place also noted that, as of end-2025, no non-bank PSP had yet gone live in standard production. Mastercard’s pilot, a non-bank operating on TIPS under ECB governance, is the most prominent public demonstration of the regime in action so far. Why atomic settlement matters For anyone not steeped in payment plumbing, atomic settlement is worth unpacking. In a conventional cross-currency payment, the two legs, paying out in one currency, receiving in another, settle separately, often hours or days apart. That gap is where settlement risk lives: the counterparty could fail between leg one and leg two. Atomic settlement collapses that gap to zero. Both legs complete at the same instant, in central bank money, with finality. The practical implications go beyond risk reduction. Atomic settlement in central bank money removes the need for pre-funding in the destination currency, improves liquidity management, and makes payment outcomes more predictable and transparent. For a business like Mastercard Move — which routes money across borders at scale — removing those frictions matters operationally and commercially. The bigger picture The Mastercard announcement connects several threads in European payments policy simultaneously. TIPS volumes more than doubled in 2025 — 2.47 billion transactions versus 1.35 billion in 2024 — driven by the Instant Payments Regulation pushing euro-area banks to receive instant payments from January 2025, and then to send them at SEPA credit transfer pricing from October 2025. The removal of the €100,000 per-transaction cap at scheme level in October has started drawing in corporate users: 445,961 transactions above €100,000 settled in TIPS in 2025, with payment service providers reporting growing corporate adoption. Cross-currency settlement across the euro, Swedish krona and Danish krone has been live since June 2025. The ECB Governing Council moved the TIPS-UPI (India) interlink to realisation phase in November 2025. A feasibility study on linking TIPS with Switzerland’s SIC IP system runs through 2026. And the access regime for non-banks is, as of October 2025, fully operational across all Eurosystem jurisdictions. What Mastercard’s pilot illustrates is how these pieces fit together: a non-bank, operating under the new access framework, processing cross-currency instant payments via a settlement infrastructure that barely existed two years ago, in central bank money, with atomic finality. What comes next The immediate open milestone is the first standard (non-pilot) payment institution or e-money institution to hold a live TIPS DCA as a direct participant. That hasn’t happened publicly yet. When it does, it will mark the first time a fintech or EMI has settled payments directly in central bank money without a sponsor bank in between, a genuinely structural shift in how retail payment infrastructure is accessed. Further IPR deadlines in 2027 and 2028 extend instant payment obligations to non-euro-area EU banks and to PIs and EMIs across all EU member states. That’s a structural wave of potential direct participants still to come. For banks that currently act as sponsors, settlement agents or BaaS providers for payment institutions, the direction of travel is worth watching carefully. The rails are opening.The post Mastercard on Central Bank Rails: What the TIPS Pilot Means for the Payments Industry first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Europe’s payment backbone is edging closer to a 24/7 future. The European Central Bank’s Governing Council has approved the introduction of a short settlement window in T2, the Eurosystem’s real-time gross settlement system, during most weekends, with the option of extending it to TARGET closing days as well. The new window is due to arrive within the next two years. The decision, confirmed in the Governing Council’s June decisions published on 12 June, follows a public consultation that ran from June to September 2025 and drew responses from 125 entities across 19 countries, institutions that together account for the majority of T2 traffic by both volume and value. T2 currently operates around 22.5 hours per weekday but closes entirely over the weekend. That gap has become an increasingly awkward fit with TIPS, the Eurosystem’s instant payment service, which runs every hour of every day of the year. Banks funding instant payments through the weekend have no way to top up or adjust their TIPS positions until T2 reopens, a problem that has grown sharply since the Instant Payments Regulation took full effect in October 2025. Overnight liquidity parked in TIPS roughly tripled over the course of 2025, reaching a daily average of €88.8 billion by December. The weekend window, expected to run for one to two hours between Saturday evening and early Sunday morning, is designed to close that gap, letting participants rebalance their funding positions mid-weekend rather than front-loading liquidity on Friday and hoping for the best. It arrives alongside two companion measures taking effect this month: from 17 June, excess liquidity held overnight on TARGET accounts, including TIPS accounts, is automatically remunerated at the deposit facility rate, removing the need for the daily end-of-day shuffle of funds back to T2; and new floor and ceiling functionality automates liquidity transfers on TIPS accounts. Consultation respondents broadly backed a phased approach rather than a leap to full 24/7 operation, citing the costs of IT upgrades, additional staffing and the liquidity risks of keeping settlement open when money markets are shut. There is no immediate change to T2’s main cut-off times or value dating. But the direction of travel is clear: the Governing Council has instructed the Market Infrastructure Board to explore further extensions over the medium to long term, and a follow-up market consultation is planned for late 2026 or early 2027. The longer-term case goes beyond instant payments. Extended hours would align T2 with other major RTGS systems globally, support late-day margin calls, and lay groundwork for the digital euro and Pontes, the Eurosystem’s planned DLT settlement link, both of which would sit uneasily on infrastructure that sleeps at weekends. For now, Europe’s wholesale payment rails get a Saturday-night shift.The post ECB Approves Weekend Settlement Window as T2 Inches Toward Round-the-Clock Operation first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Barclays has announced an agreement for its UK retail banking arm, Barclays Bank UK, to acquire GoHenry, the money management platform designed for children aged 6 to 18, from US-based fintech company Acorns. Completion of the deal is expected in Q4 2026, subject to regulatory approvals. GoHenry, which launched in 2012, offers a purpose-built app allowing children to learn to earn, save, spend and invest, supported by parental controls and monitoring tools. The platform also facilitates Junior ISA investments and in-app money lessons. It currently serves more than half a million UK children, with over 2 million young people having used the platform since its launch. The company employs approximately 200 staff and operates on a cloud-based technology platform. Barclays has confirmed it will retain the GoHenry brand as a standalone app. The bank said the acquisition accelerates its strategy to deepen customer relationships, particularly with mass affluent households, and supports its ambition to serve customers across all life stages. Vim Maru, CEO of Barclays UK, said the deal would “turbocharge” the bank’s offering for households and families, while GoHenry founder Louise Hill highlighted that joining Barclays would give the platform greater capacity to serve more UK children and offer members a pathway to continue their financial journey beyond the age of 18. Financially, the transaction is expected to reduce Barclays’ CET1 ratio by approximately 5 basis points upon completion, though it will not affect the group’s existing 2026 or 2028 financial guidance. Acorns will retain the GoHenry US business, operating under the Acorns Early brand, as well as European platform Pixpay.The post Barclays to Acquire Youth Finance App GoHenry from Acorns first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Italy’s financial markets regulator, Consob, has ordered the blocking of seven websites found to be unlawfully providing investment services and activities relating to financial instruments, as part of its continued efforts to combat financial fraud. The seven platforms targeted are: Orvelin-invest.org, Credessa, Kcapital, Web-tradereurope.com, Zelvaris Group Ltd, capital-liquidity.com, and Wealth Trade Capital. The latest action brings the total number of websites blocked by Consob to 1,736 since July 2019, when the authority was first granted the power to order the blocking of websites belonging to unauthorised financial intermediaries. Of those, 204 relate to crypto-asset activities. Consob exercised its powers under Italy’s “Growth Decree” to enforce the blocks, with Italian internet service providers currently in the process of restricting access. The regulator noted that, for technical reasons, it may take a few days for the blocks to fully take effect. Beyond the latest enforcement action, Consob has also highlighted a growing sophistication in online financial scams. The regulator warned that fraudsters are increasingly exploiting artificial intelligence tools, including cloned websites, fake emails, and AI-generated images, voices, and videos featuring politicians and celebrities, to manipulate investors into making damaging financial decisions. Consob urged savers to verify that any operator offering investment services or crypto-assets is properly authorised before committing funds. Investors are also encouraged to check that relevant prospectuses or white papers have been published.The post Consob Blocks 7 More Websites in Ongoing Crackdown on Illegal Investment Services first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Binance has expanded its tokenized securities offering on Binance Spot, adding five new bStocks trading pairs alongside Spot Algo Trading Bot functionality, as the exchange deepens its push into real-world asset tokenization. Starting June 11, 2026, Binance opened trading for bStocks versions of Micron (MUB/USDT), NVIDIA (NVDAB/USDT), Circle (CRCLB/USDT), Sandisk (SNDKB/USDT), and Tesla (TSLAB/USDT). MUB/USDT went live first at 17:00 UTC, with the remaining four pairs following at 18:00 UTC the same day. bStocks are tokenized securities issued by BTech Holdings Limited, a Binance group affiliate, and are classified as Certificates representing Financial Instruments under the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) framework. They represent an interest in underlying securities held by the issuer rather than direct share ownership, and are offered via an Approved Prospectus exclusively within the ADGM. To encourage early adoption, Binance is offering zero maker fees on all five trading pairs through August 31, 2026. Users who already hold the underlying stocks can convert their holdings into bStocks on a 1:1 basis at zero conversion cost. Deposit and withdrawal support for all five tokens opens on June 12, 2026. The exchange also confirmed that a SpaceX bStocks listing (SPCXB) is in the pipeline, with further details to follow. Notably, bStocks are not available to US users.The post Binance Launches bStocks Tokenized Securities Trading Pairs and Algo Bot Support on Spot first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Analysis written by Eric Chia, Financial Markets Analyst at Exness.  June 12 is the opening bell. The real SpaceX trading story begins the morning after when the gap between IPO narrative and fundamental delivery starts to close, one event at a time.  The Macro Backdrop — Is SpaceX Timing This Wrong?  There is a question that Wall Street’s IPO euphoria has largely smothered, but that serious traders cannot ignore: SpaceX is listing into one of the most hostile macroeconomic backdrops. The timing looks fine on the surface. SpaceX has drawn approximately $250 billion in investor demand, exceeding the $75 billion it is seeking to raise. But one layer below that surface, almost every major macro indicator is flashing amber simultaneously.  The Middle East and Oil prices- The military conflict that erupted earlier in 2026 sent oil prices sharply higher and has not fully resolved. A fragile ceasefire is currently holding, but with no guarantee of permanence. For a company operating one of the world’s largest rocket launch programmes and burning through significant capital on R&D, sustained elevated energy prices are not a rounding error. They are a direct cost pressure on every launch and a persistent threat to the margin expansion story the bulls are counting on.  The Fed Is Not Coming to the Rescue – May’s nonfarm payrolls came in hotter pushing Treasury yields higher and reinforcing market expectations that the Federal Reserve will remain firmly on hold. When the risk-free rate stays elevated, every dollar of future cash flow that a stock like SpaceX is priced on gets discounted more aggressively.  The Market Top Signal Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud – the simultaneous IPO of SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic within the same calendar year may be a classic late-cycle liquidity event. History is unambiguous on this pattern, the largest, most hyped IPO cohorts tend to cluster near market peaks, not market troughs.  The Multiplier Nobody Can Ignore – Starlink generates revenue. The AI compute deals generate headlines. But the catalyst that sits at the intersection of all three business segments and whose success or failure touches every line of the S-1 simultaneously, is Starship. SpaceX’s bull case not only depends on rockets alone. The Anthropic and Google compute deals already add $26 billion in annualised contracted revenue independent of any rocket. But Starship is the multiplier. A successful commercial debut makes Starlink’s V3 deployment faster, makes orbital data centres buildable, and makes the cost structure of every segment cheaper. It does not create the business. It accelerates all of it, simultaneously.  But a stock is not just a business, it is a business plus a price. And the price at which SpaceX is entering the market is the most demanding valuation multiple ever attached to a new listing, in a macro environment where the primary risk to high-multiple equities, sustained elevated rates combined with geopolitical shock is actively present rather than theoretical.  Can the Hype Eclipse the Pessimism? In the short term, SpaceX shows potential, this is not just a hype play as $250 billion in demand chasing a $75 billion raise means SpaceX opens with mechanical buying pressure that will overwhelm any macro concern on Day 1.  The question is not Day 1. The question is Month 3, Month 6, and Month 12, when the IPO premium fades, the first lock-up tranches begin to unwind, and the stock has to justify its price on fundamentals in real time. That is when the macro backdrop stops being a footnote and starts being the story.  Traders who understand this asymmetry will look for opportunities to position around that transition not against the hype in the opening days, but ahead of the reality check that follows.The post Beyond Launch Day: The Catalysts Traders Should Watch first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

US consumer price inflation hit 4.2% in May, its fastest annual pace since April 2023, and the sell-side response has been swift: rate cut forecasts for 2026 are being abandoned across the Street ahead of next week’s FOMC meeting on 16–17 June. Wednesday’s CPI report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was a split-screen affair. Headline prices rose 0.5% on the month, in line with expectations, driven overwhelmingly by energy — the energy index jumped 3.9% in May and accounted for over 60% of the monthly all-items increase, with the 12-month energy gain now running at 23.5%. Core CPI told a calmer story, rising just 0.2% on the month and 2.9% year-on-year, while core commodities prices actually declined 0.1%. Forecasts pulled The hot headline has nonetheless reset expectations. A Reuters poll of economists conducted 4–9 June found none expecting a cut at next week’s meeting, with nearly 70% now forecasting the funds rate stays in its current 3.50%-3.75% range for the rest of 2026. That figure was under half a month ago, and roughly a third before that. Several major banks have gone further, scrapping intentions to cut this year and pushing easing timelines to 2027. The minutes from April’s meeting showed the committee itself drifting the same way: it was the second consecutive meeting at which more policymakers saw a potential case for a hike should inflation remain above target. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack has since said she would push for an increase as soon as July if recent trends persist. The decision The meeting will be the first chaired by Kevin Warsh, who succeeded Jerome Powell earlier this year. With a hold at 3.50%–3.75% fully priced, the market-moving content sits in the statement language; particularly whether the committee retains its easing bias, which drew three dissents in April’s unusually split 8-4 vote, and in the press conference guidance on what would put a hike on the table. Market context The decision lands less than a week after the ECB raised rates for the first time in three years, leaving the transatlantic policy picture in flux: a Fed on extended hold against an ECB beginning to tighten is a materially different rate-differential setup from the dual easing cycle most desks The post US rate cut calls vanish ahead of next week’s FOMC meeting after 4.2% CPI print first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

US producer prices delivered the week’s second inflation jolt on Thursday and the market reaction was a study in looking past the headline. The Producer Price Index for final demand rose 1.1% in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, well above the 0.7% consensus and matching April’s pace (itself revised down from an initially reported 1.4%). On an unadjusted 12-month basis, final demand prices are now up 6.5% the largest annual advance since November 2022. Goods prices jumped 2.8% on the month, the biggest increase since the series began in 2009, with energy surging 10.7% and accounting for the bulk of a broad-based goods advance. Further up the pipeline, the picture is hotter still: the index for stage 1 intermediate demand rose 3.2% in May, a series record, and is now running 12.3% higher year-on-year, its largest annual gain since June 2022. Those are input costs that have not yet reached consumers. Why markets didn’t flinch A 6.5% wholesale inflation print a week before an FOMC meeting would ordinarily move markets violently. It didn’t and the reason sat in the core measures. PPI excluding food and energy rose 0.4% on the month, below the 0.5% consensus, echoing Wednesday’s CPI report where core also undershot. The combined message of the two reports: the energy shock is enormous, but its spillover into underlying prices remains, for now, contained. Treasuries took the print calmly. The rate-sensitive 2-year yield rose 3 basis points to around 4.16%, while the 10-year was little changed near 4.53%. The more telling move was in Fed pricing at the margin: odds of a quarter-point hike at the December meeting edged higher on the CME FedWatch tool, confirming that the debate has shifted from when the Fed cuts to whether it hikes. The dollar’s muted week For all the inflation fireworks, the dollar has been trading geopolitics, not data. The greenback slid to its weakest in a week before steadying in Friday’s early trading, as reports suggested a Middle East ceasefire deal is possible, a development that would take the steam out of oil and, with it, much of the hawkish repricing. The euro held near its strongest level in a week at around 1.1576, still supported by the ECB’s hike a day before the PPI landed. That leaves an unusual setup into next week’s FOMC decision: wholesale inflation at multi-year highs, hike probabilities creeping up, and a dollar that can’t catch a bid because the same conflict driving the inflation is also one headline away from resolution. If a ceasefire materialises, the entire energy-led inflation impulse, and the policy repricing built on it,  comes into question. If it doesn’t, Thursday’s pipeline pressure data suggests the worst of the pass-through is still ahead. Either way, the May PPI’s intermediate demand figures are the numbers to file away. Energy shocks fade from headline indices quickly; costs already absorbed into the production chain take longer to unwind.The post Hottest PPI since 2022 meets a market that read the fine print first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

The European Central Bank raised interest rates on Thursday for the first time since 2023, lifting the deposit facility rate by 25 bps to 2.25%, and President Christine Lagarde was quick to defend the move against critics who fear it could deepen the eurozone’s slowdown. Speaking at the post-meeting press conference in Frankfurt, Lagarde said the decision was robust across three different scenarios the ECB had mapped for how the energy shock might evolve, arguing that the conflict in the Middle East is generating inflation pressures that the central bank cannot afford to ignore. The hike marks a sharp reversal of the easing cycle that defined the ECB’s approach through much of 2025. Eurozone inflation accelerated to 3.2% in May, its highest reading since September 2023, driven by a near-11% surge in energy prices following disruptions to oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Core inflation has also climbed, reaching 2.5% in May. No pre-set path Lagarde declined to commit to a tightening cycle, telling reporters there would be no pre-set path for interest rates and that the Governing Council would remain data-dependent, deciding meeting by meeting. She did, however, push back firmly on the suggestion that Thursday’s move was a one-off “insurance” hike, a comment markets read as leaving the door open to further increases, with some analysts now pencilling in a second hike as early as September. She also acknowledged the deteriorating growth picture, noting that labour demand has cooled and that business surveys point to a slowdown, particularly in services, as the war weighs on activity. Forecasts revised Alongside the decision, the ECB published updated staff projections, revised notably from the March round. Headline inflation is now expected to average 3.0% in 2026 (up from 2.6%) and 2.3% in 2027 (up from 2.0%), returning to the 2% target in 2028. More telling for the policy path, core inflation was lifted to 2.5% for both 2026 and 2027 — a signal that the Governing Council sees the energy shock feeding through to underlying prices rather than washing out. GDP growth forecasts were trimmed to 0.8% for 2026 and 1.2% for 2027. Market reaction The euro failed to capitalise on the hawkish tilt. EUR/USD slipped towards 1.1500 in the American session as renewed threats from US President Donald Trump against Iran lifted the US dollar, with the Dollar Index consolidating above the 100.00 mark. With the hike largely priced in ahead of the meeting, the spot reaction said more about geopolitics than policy. On the rates side, Lagarde’s rejection of the “insurance hike” framing did its work: consensus has coalesced around a second 25bp move before year-end, with September the favoured date, though some desks see July as live if energy prices stay elevated. Traders’ near-term focus now shifts to geopolitical headlines and the oil complex as the dominant drivers for the pair, with incoming inflation prints determining whether the September pricing firms or fades. The ECB’s next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for July, where markets will be watching closely for any firmer guidance on the pace of tightening.The post Lagarde defends ECB’s first rate hike in three years as “robust” amid energy-driven inflation surge first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

CME Group announced plans to introduce round-the-clock trading for two new smaller-sized commodity contracts on Thursday.  The exchange revealed a new 10-barrel WTI crude oil futures contract and its existing 1-ounce gold futures, pending regulatory approval. The new WTI contract, sized at one-tenth of CME Group’s existing Micro WTI futures, is scheduled to launch on 30 August. The extension of 24/7 trading to the company’s 1-ounce gold futures is set to begin on 26 July. The 10-barrel WTI contract will be cash-settled and listed on NYMEX, while the 1-ounce gold contract is cash-settled and listed on COMEX. “Our new WTI and gold futures provide regulated products that are right-sized and available 24/7, ensuring traders can manage exposure whenever news breaks,” said Derek Sammann, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Commodities Markets at CME Group. The announcement comes against a backdrop of strong demand for WTI exposure. Micro WTI Crude Oil futures averaged 272,000 contracts per day in May, representing a 317% increase compared to May 2025, while WTI Crude Oil options reached a record average daily volume of 320,000 contracts in the first quarter of 2026. CME Group’s gold franchise also continues to grow. The exchange trades approximately $100 billion in notional gold value daily, and its 1-ounce gold futures contract, launched in January 2025, averaged 90,000 contracts per day in 2026.The post CME Group to Launch 24/7 Trading for Smaller WTI Crude Oil and Gold Contracts first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Nomura said Tuesday that it has appointed three Managing Directors to its US Technology Investment Banking team, expanding the firm’s software and emerging technologies coverage. Larry Phillips has joined as Head of US Technology in New York, partnering with Matt Warner, who remains Co-Head of US Technology. Todd Feldman joins in New York and Cyrus Deboo in San Francisco, both as Managing Directors. All three arrive from Stifel’s Technology Investment Banking team. Phillips, who was most recently Head of US Technology Investment Banking at Stifel, brings has than 30 years of experience across technology sectors, with a recent focus on core AI, vertical software, payments and fintech.  He has executed more than 100 M&A and financing transactions and previously co-founded Mooreland Partners, which Stifel acquired in 2019. Feldman has more than 25 years of experience advising companies across customer data, communications, networking and media technologies, having begun his career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.  Deboo, who relocates from Stifel’s London office, has more than 25 years of advising on vertical application software, tech-enabled services and consumer internet. “The addition of Larry, Todd and Cyrus increases our ability to bring differentiated advice and solutions to technology clients globally,” said Patrice Maffre, International Head of Investment Banking at Nomura. Miguel Espinosa, Head of Investment Banking, Americas, said the expanded team is well-positioned to provide clients with sector expertise and cross-product solutions.The post Nomura Bolsters US Technology Investment Banking With New Hires first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Sucden Financial, the multi-asset execution, clearing and liquidity provider, has released its audited financial results for the year ended 31 December 2025, revealing a mixed but broadly positive performance. Net revenue climbed 3.4% year-on-year to £88.1 million, up from £85.2 million in 2024, while total net assets grew 3.7% to £187.8 million from £181.1 million, underscoring the firm’s continued business expansion. However, profit before taxation fell 19.1% to £29.7 million, compared to £36.7 million the prior year. The London-based firm attributed the decline primarily to the impact of declining interest rates, alongside ongoing investment in its technological infrastructure. Chief Executive Officer Marc Bailey struck a confident tone in his comments accompanying the results. “We delivered a strong underlying performance across the business in 2025,” he said. “Increased revenues reflect the breadth of our diversified offering and our effective risk management process, which enabled us to successfully navigate volatile markets. We continue to invest in and grow our business, creating new opportunities for our clients to benefit from rapidly changing market dynamics.” Founded in 1973 and backed by parent company Sucden, one of the world’s leading soft commodity trading groups, Sucden Financial has grown from its roots in commodity futures and options into a diversified global provider spanning FX, fixed income, and commodities. The firm operates independently on a day-to-day basis and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The results suggest Sucden Financial remains on a steady growth trajectory, even as shifting macroeconomic conditions weigh on near-term profitability.The post Sucden Financial Reports Revenue Growth in 2025 Despite Profit Dip first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

The High Court has confirmed the appointment of special administrators for Euro Exchange Securities UK Limited (EES), marking the first case of its kind for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). EES chose not to contest the court’s initial decision, which had brought the firm’s trading to an immediate halt last week. The company acknowledged it was not in its interests to seek a return to normal operations and said it would cooperate with administrators to ensure client money is returned as quickly as possible. Duncan Perring and James Bennett of Teneo Financial Advisory Limited have been named joint special administrators under the Payment and Electronic Money Institution Insolvency Regulations 2021. Since their provisional appointment last week, the pair have taken control of the firm, secured a significant volume of material and frozen funds. The FCA said it acted following lengthy engagement with EES and due to serious concerns about the firm’s business practices, which the regulator said indicated significant financial crime risk. Specific issues identified included systemic weaknesses in EES’s financial crime framework and safeguarding arrangements, as well as concerns over the firm’s ownership and governance structure. The FCA worked alongside government partners, including the Security Industry Authority, as part of coordinated efforts to disrupt financial crime. Matthew Long, the FCA’s Director of Payments and Digital Assets, said: “The risk of payment firms being used by criminals to launder cash to fund other offences is significant, which is why they must meet expected standards. Fighting financial crime is at the heart of our strategy.”The post High Court Confirms Special Administrators for Euro Exchange Securities UK first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

On Thursday, Webull (NASDAQ: BULL) unveiled its Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, allowing retail investors to interact with its trading infrastructure through natural language AI instructions, with no coding required. The online investment platform announced the official launch of the Webull MCP server, having quietly rolled it out in April. The technology is said to bridge Webull’s OpenAPI with AI agents, enabling everyday investors to execute trades, monitor positions, and access real-time market data simply by typing conversational commands. Specifically, users can query live market data, view account balances and positions, place, modify, and cancel orders, and review order history, all without writing a single line of code. The launch marks a notable step in the democratisation of algorithmic and API-driven trading tools. Anthony Denier, Group President and U.S. CEO of Webull, framed the release as a strategic priority. “AI is fundamentally changing how investors can engage with markets, and MCP reflects Webull’s commitment to being at the forefront of that change,” he said. “By lowering barriers to advanced trading tools, we are building what we see as a foundational capability for the next generation of self-directed investors.” The MCP server is currently available to all U.S. clients, with a broader international rollout planned across additional markets in the near future. Webull serves more than 27 million registered users globally across 16 markets.The post Webull Launches MCP Server, Letting Investors Trade via Plain-Language AI Commands first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Analysis written by Van Ha Trinh, Financial Markets Analyst at Exness. The most interesting aspect of this IPO may not be what SpaceX has built. It is the fact that two rational, informed traders study the same prospectus and arrive at valuations nearly a trillion dollars apart. That tension is the story. Because nobody can agree whether it is visionary or delusional, and the gap between those two positions is measured in hundreds of billions of dollars. What the Prospectus Actually Reveals SpaceX declares it has identified the largest actionable Total Addressable Market (TAM) in human history and then quantifies it at $28.5 trillion. #image_title Source: SpaceX Form S-1, Exness The chart tells you everything about how SpaceX wants to be seen: Space (launch, satellites, exploration): $370 billion ~ 1.30% Connectivity (Starlink broadband + mobile): $1.6 trillion ~ 5.62% AI (infrastructure, consumer, advertising, enterprise): $26.5 trillion ~ 93.08% The internal composition of that TAM is where it gets truly audacious. Of the $28.5 trillion total, $26.5 trillion nearly 90% of the entire figure is attributed to xAi alone. Not rockets. Not Starlink. A category SpaceX did not compete in until it absorbed xAI six months ago. Now here is where the GDP comparison becomes the most useful analytical lens available. $28.5 trillion is almost exactly the annual GDP of the United States, the largest economy on Earth, representing roughly 25% of all global economic output. Put differently, SpaceX is claiming it has identified a market opportunity equal in size to every good and service produced by 335 million Americans in an entire year. Global GDP sits at approximately $110 trillion. SpaceX’s claimed TAM represents roughly 26% of the entire world’s annual economic output, and that is excluding China and Russia. The TAM is not the problem. TAMs are always aspirational. The problem is the implied capture rate baked into the IPO price and whether a company that generated $18.7 billion in total revenue last year deserves to be priced as though it has already won a war it has not yet entered. This comparison is not just an interesting bar chart. It is a diagnostic tool for intellectual honesty. Understanding SpaceX’s Business Structure #image_title Source: SpaceX Form S-1, Exness Following the merger with xAI, the company operates across three core segments: Connectivity (Starlink), Launch, and AI.  Starlink / Connectivity: The Core High-Margin Cash Engine Financial Performance: Generated $11.4 billion in 2025 revenue, accounting for 61.9% of the company’s total top-line performance. It has successfully captured a massive 10.3 million subscriber base spanning 164 countries. Profitability: Delivered a stellar segment-level operating income of $4.4 billion at an approximate 63% EBITDA margin. It stands as SpaceX’s sole profitable division after clearing its capital-intensive deployment phase. Competitive Moat: Operates as a software-style global infrastructure monopoly with an unreplicable fleet of 9,600+ low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. This establishes an order-of-magnitude lead over emerging competitors like Amazon’s Kuiper (~500 satellites) and OneWeb (~650 satellites). Launch Services: Starship Development Driving Asymmetric Upside Financial Performance: Contributes approximately 22% of total top-line revenue, posting over $4 billion in 2025. Capital Constraints: The division is heavily exposed to a capital-intensive investment phase, posting a $662 million operating loss in 1Q2026 with cumulative Starship development spend exceeding $15 billion. Market Dominance: The Falcon 9 continues its run as the world’s most reliable and frequently launched vehicle, executing approximately 161 launches in 2025 compared to competitors such as Rocket Lab and Blue Origin with only 18 and 11 launches, respectively. The Disruption Ultimate Goal: If Starship successfully achieves its target cost structure to reduce launch costs to ~$100/kg (down from the current ~$1,500/kg), the technology will render every existing launch vehicle commercially obsolete. Artificial Intelligence (xAI): The High-Beta Infrastructure Pivot Financial Performance: Recorded $818 million in Q1 2026 revenue and $3.2 trillion in 2025, but remains locked in a high cash-burn phase. Current Operational Losses: Posted a staggering $2.47 billion operating loss in Q1 2026, acting as the primary driver behind SpaceX’s consolidated red ink. Monetization & “Picks and Shovels” Model: Rather than competing directly with entrenched consumer AI rivals, the segment prioritises industry collaboration through an infrastructure leasing model. This is anchored by a disclosed $1.25 billion/month compute contract with Anthropic ($15 billion annually), establishing a clear path toward near-term profitability. Future Catalyst: The segment aims to develop space-based orbital AI data centers, providing a definitive solution to the intense power consumption and heat dissipation bottlenecks currently facing ground-based tech infrastructure. The Bull Case: Three Compounding Speculation, Each Explosive on Its Own Starlink’s Software-Like Hyper-Monetization: Boasting an incredible 63% EBITDA margin, Starlink functions more like a high-margin SaaS giant than a telecom utility. As it aggressively scales from residential users to high-ARPU enterprise, maritime, aviation, and direct-to-cell markets, it will unlock an unstoppable, recurring cash fountain to fund the rest of the ecosystem. Starship’s Dominance of Space Logistics: Achieving a cost structure of $100/kg will give SpaceX absolute pricing power over the global space economy. This is the ultimate asymmetric upside in the prospectus, allowing SpaceX to launch its own massive constellations and heavy orbital infrastructure at near-zero internal cost while forcing traditional aerospace entities into obsolescence. Space-Based AI Centers Dominate the Next Tech Wave: The $15 billion annual Anthropic contract proves that xAI’s true value lies in infrastructure provision rather than consumer apps. By moving supercomputers into low-Earth orbit, SpaceX offers a definitive solution to Earth’s power grid shortages and heat dissipation bottlenecks, unlocking a Total Addressable Market (TAM) valued at $26.5 trillion for orbital AI computing. The Bear Case: Brilliant Business, Mission Impossible #image_title Source: SpaceX Form S-1, Exness Stretched Multiples and Inflated TAM Projections: The aggregate $1.75 trillion valuation implies a standalone valuation of $600 billion to $900 billion for the AI segment. Underwriters allocating $26.5 trillion of the $28.5 trillion total TAM to AI is classic IPO marketing fluff. In reality, xAI’s consumer vertical heavily lags behind incumbents, and the mảng is bleeding cash with a $4.3 billion net loss in Q1 2026 alone. Endless Capex Black Holes and Cash Burn Vulnerability: To maintain its lead, SpaceX must remain a hyper-aggressive cash burner. Starlink’s hard-earned profits are currently being entirely consumed by AI losses and Starship’s multi-billion dollar development cycles. If global tech capital expenditure or the AI arms race cools down, SpaceX’s heavily leveraged financial structure will face severe post-IPO strains. Thermal Physics Bottlenecks and Governance Red Flags: Technically, operating high-density data centers in a vacuum environment faces unforgiving radiative heat dissipation hurdles that lack large-scale commercial precedent. Governance-wise, Elon Musk holding over 85% of voting rights with only ~46% equity is a major corporate governance warning sign for institutional funds demanding standard checks and balances. The bull and bear debate is not a sign of market confusion. It is a sign that SpaceX is genuinely, structurally unlike anything that has ever been brought to public markets before. For traders who understand asymmetry, that same ambiguity is the setup. The most interesting aspect of SpaceX may not be the rockets, the satellites, or even the AI ambition. It may be the company has managed to build something so complex, so multi-layered, and so dependent on one man’s continued execution. In the history of public markets, that has never happened before listing day. It is happening now.The post Is SpaceX worth $1.75 trillion? first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.