<p><strong>GLOBAL: </strong>Over 170 ships navigated the Strait of Hormuz since the US and Iran signed a peace deal. However, the strait's main central shipping channel remains heavily mined, with vessels currently routed through narrower lanes.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Market impact: </strong>Oil prices consolidated recent losses as tanker traffic resumed passage. Meanwhile, US equities declined, while the US dollar rallied amid growing expectations of further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>While narrower lanes allow some crude to flow in the Strait of Hormuz, </strong>it is less than half of the strait's pre-conflict volume of around 138 daily transits. The central shipping lane remains heavily mined by Iran.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>LOCAL: </strong>The national government is set to ramp up its domestic borrowings to a record PHP 1.12 trillion in the third quarter of 2026, pivoting to local financing to counter external market shocks and fund infrastructure spending.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Market impact:</strong> Local equities advanced on bargain hunting, while the peso depreciated to PHP 61.351 against the US dollar, pressured by the US Fed’s hawkish stance.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Domestic borrowing will insulate new liabilities from a weak peso. </strong>However, the effectiveness of this capital injection relies entirely on the absorptive capacity of implementing agencies.&nbsp;</p>