
Australia Flash Composite PMI Slows to 52.5 From 53.2
Australia's flash composite PMI slows to 52.5 from 53.2. Manufacturing is 52.9, services 52.0, employment 49.7. AUD color is 0.7135.
CNBC via FXStreet: Bessent said maximum economic pressure means likely no large-scale kinetic restart. WTI $87.13 this page only. Not averaged with $86 or just-short-of-$88.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration’s plan to crush Iran’s economy will likely negate the need for major US military operations against the Islamic Republic, CNBC reported via FXStreet on Thursday. “If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart,” Bessent said.
The remarks follow Trump’s economic D-Day post that any country providing a lifeline to Tehran will face penalties. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the same page writes, dismissed the campaign as a diversion and said the so-called Economic D-Day would only bring further defeat to Washington.
At the time of writing on that page, WTI was up 0.07% at $87.13. That is this stamp. It is not averaged with Friday’s Asian tape around $86.00, or with last night’s just-short-of-$88 print. Hormuz is not reopened.
Live oil is on prices. The next stamps sit on the economic calendar.
Informational only. Not trading advice, signals, or a guarantee of any market outcome.
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Australia's flash composite PMI slows to 52.5 from 53.2. Manufacturing is 52.9, services 52.0, employment 49.7. AUD color is 0.7135.

Official Stat Bureau Friday: headline 102.0 +1.9% YoY; core 102.1 +1.8%; core-core 102.1 +1.9% on the first 2025 base. FXStreet 2.0%/1.8% quoted, not averaged.

FF LiveSquawk low-impact 20 Aug: Houthis claim a sensitive Saudi target at Najran Airport and Aramco in Najran. No immediate Saudi confirmation. Tasnim: drones, response to Saudi drones over Saada. Not a confirmed hit.