Your Morning Fix

• Philippine GDP growth fell to 3% in late 2025 amid the flood control scandal, dragging full-year expansion down to 4.4%—its weakest since the pandemic and below target for a third straight year.
• The Department of Energy is opening a 500,000-hectare offshore area in Southern Palawan for petroleum exploration, with proposals due by March 16 following a February 2 pre-challenge conference.
• The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is drafting new rules to strengthen anti-money laundering oversight of cryptocurrencies, aiming to close regulatory gaps left by older laws.
• The S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped Thursday as weak tech earnings—led by Microsoft’s 10% drop on disappointing cloud results and AI spending concerns—kept the sector under pressure despite partial recovery later in the session.
• Oil prices surged about 3% to a five‑month peak, as fears of US strikes on Iran threatened global supply.