IMF officials said they held constructive discussions with Lebanese authorities in Bangkok and will continue talks in the coming weeks.

Goldman Sachs APAC president (ex-Japan) Kevin Sneader said AI infrastructure investment is driving strong growth across the firm’s Japan, India and China businesses, with North Asia particularly benefiting from AI-related capex. Goldman identified 42 AI-enabled companies listed on Indian exchanges whose aggregate market performance rose about 60%, a finding Sneader said runs counter to views that India is disadvantaged by a lack of indigenous large language models. He added that 42% of India’s agriculture has potential for AI application, implying a large long-term opportunity. Goldman opened an office in Mumbai last year.

Fitch US economics head Olu Sonora said the latest inflation report is a red‑light warning for the Fed. Energy inflation pushed the headline as expected, but the key problem is core inflation—particularly super‑core services inflation—remaining stuck above 3%. Higher energy costs are beginning to feed into broader services prices, raising the risk of a more persistent inflation surge. An end‑of‑month rate hike is now clearly under discussion, though December remains the more likely timing.