Market Information Tuesday 17 March 2026

The United States is allowing Iranian oil tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz to keep global oil markets supplied, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Oil prices have surged roughly 40% since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, with Brent crude hovering around $102 per barrel. The International Energy Agency (IEA) warns global supply could drop by 8 million barrels per day this month. Bessent expects prices to fall well below $80 per barrel once the conflict ends.

The Australian dollar slipped 0.25% to $0.7053 after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) raised its cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.1%, though a narrow five-to-four vote reduced expectations for further tightening. Surging oil prices driven by the U.S.-Israel war on Iran are fuelling global inflation concerns, lifting the U.S. dollar index over 2% this month. The Japanese yen weakened to 159.31 per dollar as markets remain cautious amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.

Amsterdam-based cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) company Nebius has secured a major deal with Meta, valued at up to $27 billion over five years, under which Nebius will supply Meta with data centre capacity to support AI development. This follows an earlier $3 billion agreement with Meta and a deal worth over $19 billion with Microsoft. Last week, Nvidia invested $2 billion in Nebius to further expand its data centre capacity. Nebius reported revenue of $530 million last year, a fivefold increase year-on-year.

The 6M Euribor increased with 6 basis points to 2.29% compared to previous business day. The 10Y Swap decreased with 5 basis points to 2.96% compared to previous business day.

In the attachment, today’s market data on money and capital market rates as well as other rates are presented.