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Glonghui June 16｜Bank of America has upgraded ExxonMobil’s rating from “Neutral” to “Buy”, maintaining the target price at $154. (Glonghui)

Glonghui, June 16 — Mobileye Global will launch its own autonomous taxi service in the United States next year, putting this autonomous driving technology provider in direct competition with some of its current customers. Mobileye plans to deploy about 100 vehicles in a major U.S. city starting in 2027 and aims to expand the fleet to approximately 17,000 vehicles within the next five years. The company stated that this move will not change its commitments to clients. The directly operated robotaxi business will run in parallel as a supplement to its existing operations.

(1) The US Treasury market opened higher on Tuesday, with yields on 2-year to 20-year bonds falling by 0.8 to 2.9 basis points. The 10-year yield was reported at 4.443%. Stock markets edged higher, and oil continued its decline—WTI July contract dropped intraday to $78.14, the lowest since March 10, as the market awaits more details on the US-Iran peace agreement.(2) The global central bank decision week has officially begun: The Reserve Bank of Australia kept rates unchanged at 4.35%, with a unanimous 9-0 vote. Previously, it had raised rates by 25 basis points for three consecutive times since early February. The statement noted that rising fuel prices are directly pushing inflation up and showing signs of spilling over into other goods and services, indicating that further rate hikes may be underway.(3) The Bank of Japan voted 7-1 to raise rates by 25 basis points to 1%, its highest level since 1995. Committee member Asada Junichiro favored keeping rates unchanged. Governor Ueda was absent due to health reasons. The Bank also decided to continue reducing government bond purchases at a pace of 200 billion yen per quarter and adjusted its forward guidance, dropping the "low real rates" wording, hinting that rates are approaching neutral levels.(4) Germany's ZEW Economic Sentiment Index soared to 10.5 in June, far exceeding the previous value of -10.2 and expectations of -6.0, but the Current Conditions Index remained sluggish at -81.0. German bond futures showed no obvious reaction. In the US, May import-export prices and building permit data will be released; the Treasury will auction 65 billion 6-week T-bills and 13 billion 20-year bonds, while the New York Fed will conduct a repo operation in the afternoon for up to $4 billion in 7- to 10-year coupon bonds.(5) This week sees a flurry of central bank decisions—Wednesday features the Federal Reserve (Walsh's first press conference) and Sweden's central bank, Thursday brings the Norges Bank, Swiss National Bank, and Bank of England. With oil prices at a three-month low, the hawkish moves from the Reserve Bank of Australia and Bank of Japan suggest the "tail" of global liquidity tightening may last longer than markets expect. The focus going forward will be on how the Federal Reserve, in its first rate decision, balances the disinflation effects from falling oil prices with the persistence of core services inflation.