Hotter US inflation of 3.7% hits tech shares on Wall Street, and the sell-off rolls through Asia on Thursday
US consumer prices rose 0.6% in September from August and 3.7% over the year (Bloomberg); the FT and Le Temps tied the jump to energy prices linked to the Iran war, and Bloomberg put the rise in gasoline at 9.1%. On Wednesday the S&P 500 fell 1.1% and the Nasdaq 1.9%, Wall Street's worst day since July (SCMP, Clarín); the Dow slipped 48 points, or 0.1% (SCMP). Bloomberg and the FT linked the chip-led fall to worries about interest rates and the debts of AI companies. On Thursday Reuters, the FT and Bloomberg described a tech sell-off across Asia, with the Nikkei sliding at the open (Straits Times) and the Kospi down more than 5% (Chosun Ilbo, Infobae). Reuters reported Fed officials Daly, Bowman and Collins on the outlook for rate hikes, and said the dollar retreated from an 18-month high.
Inflation that stays high makes more interest-rate rises in the United States likelier, and US rates set the price of money across the world, including for emerging-market borrowers.
A stronger dollar makes imported fuel, medicines and machinery dearer in shillings, and higher US rates raise the cost of foreign loans for governments and companies, Kenya's among them. DailyDrop has not seen the USD/KES rate confirmed in two sources.
Fed officials Daly and Bowman say there is no urgency to act, and that it is better to be deliberate (Reuters).
Collins sees another rate hike on the table before the end of 2026 (Reuters), and Goolsbee called the data discouraging (FinancialJuice, citing Yahoo).
One hot month is not a trend, but the market is treating it as one. Thursday's US producer prices are the next test of whether inflation is broadening.
DailyDrop Kenya edition No. 11 · Morning · THU., OCT. 15, 2026