FINWIRES · TerminalLIVE
FINWIRES

US CENTCOM Claims Strait of Hormuz Open

By

The US Central Command, or CENTCOM, said the southern route through the Strait of Hormuz remains "free and open for all commercial vessels seeking to transit the international waterway," in a post on the social media platform "X" on Wednesday.

CENTCOM said during the past three months, US forces have assisted more than 1,000 vessels in successfully transiting the Strait of Hormuz, despite unwarranted aggression from Iran, and the transits are continuing.

CENTCOM is the combatant command of the US Department of Defense.

Related Articles

International

Thailand's Inflation Eases to 1.95% in July

Thailand's headline consumer price index rose 1.95% in July from a year earlier, easing from a 2.42% increase in June, the country's Trade Policy and Strategy Office said in a Wednesday press conference.The reading came in below analysts' expectations for a 2.55% increase, according to Investing.com data.

^SET
International

New Zealand Records 7% Annual Increase in New Lending in June

New Zealand recorded NZ$16.1 billion of new lending in June, up 1.7% from May and over 7% higher compared with the same month a year earlier, according to data published Wednesday by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.Total monthly new residential lending increased to NZ$8.3 billion in June from NZ$8.2 billion in the previous month, but was down nearly 4% from the year-ago reading of NZ$8.7 billion.Total new business lending, excluding agriculture, was NZ$3.9 billion in June, up from NZ$3.4 billion in May and marking an increase of NZ$351 million from a year earlier.Meanwhile, agriculture new lending totaled NZ$3.1 billion in June, rising from NZ$2.5 billion in May and up by nearly 48% compared with a year ago, the data showed.New consumer lending increased by over 3% from the previous month and by nearly 11% from a year earlier to NZ$236 million in June.

^NZ50
International

New Zealand's June Quarter Unemployment Data Shows Highest Reading Since September 2015, Westpac Says

The rise in unemployment in the June quarter in New Zealand was above market and central bank expectations and the highest reading since September 2015, Westpac said in a Wednesday note.The unemployment rate in the country rose 5.6% in the June quarter, up 0.2 percentage points from the March quarter and up 0.4 percentage points from the June quarter of 2025. The seasonally adjusted employment rate was about 67%, unchanged from the previous quarter.This followed an upward revision in the March quarter to 5.4%.The employment measures data was mixed and supports Westpac's expectation of soft growth in activity over the quarter, per the note.The data points to a stabilization rather than an accelerating in wage pressures, the bank said, noting that the distribution of pay increases was unchanged from last quarter. More employers are citing the cost of living as a reason for increasing pay rates, while fewer are citing the need to attract or retain workers, the lender added.

^NZ50