CCTV Script 17/09/26
– This is the script of CNBC’s financial news report for China’s CCTV on SEPTEMBER 17, 2026.
Following the rate hikes by both the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve, monetary policymakers across major global economies may need to reassess their policy trajectories.
Rising US interest rates not only impact domestic borrowing costs within the United States, but also transmit their effects to other economies through the US dollar exchange rate, capital flows, and global bond markets.
KEVIN WARSH
Federal Reserve Chair
“I’ve spent some time with foreign central bank counterparts, not just in the last 20 years, but over the course of the last several weeks. What I heard around the table from most of the advanced economies is they’re suffering from price pressures too. When foreign central banks make decisions where they’re confronted with higher prices, and they choose, consistent with their remit, to raise rates, then they’re helping to quash inflation in their countries, and there’s spillovers and spillbacks in both directions.”
This time, the Federal Reserve explicitly cited persistently elevated inflation as a primary reason for resuming rate hikes. However, debate remains over how much of this inflation stems from economic growth demand versus supply shocks in energy driven by geopolitical conflicts.
While higher interest rates can curb consumption and investment, they cannot directly increase oil supply. This serves as the White House’s central argument against the latest rate hike, while underscoring that Federal Reserve policy exerts asymmetric impacts across different global economies under current conditions.
For economies heavily dependent on energy imports that also carry substantial US dollar debt or external financing needs, the Federal Reserve rate hike creates compounding headwinds. On one hand, elevated crude prices directly inflate energy import bills. On the other hand, higher Fed rates typically bolster the attractiveness of dollar assets, exerting depreciation pressure on local currencies. For nations servicing large dollar-denominated debts, repayment burdens escalate simultaneously. India stands as a prime example of this dynamic. As a major energy importer with global oil prices hovering above 100 dollars per barrel, the Indian rupee has dropped near its lowest level against the dollar since late July.
Meanwhile, Japan, South Korea, and several European economies face a distinct dilemma. While these regions possess stronger financial systems to absorb market shocks, the dual pressures of energy import costs and exchange rate volatility may force local central banks to keep interest rates higher for longer, increasing the risk of an economic slowdown.
This divergence is equally evident at the corporate level. In Silicon Valley, markets are closely monitoring how high-growth, capital-intensive technology and artificial intelligence firms navigate this rate hike.
Elevated interest rates depress valuations on future corporate cash flows while driving up debt financing costs. Capital, however, is not exiting high-growth sectors entirely. Instead, funding is increasingly concentrating among a select group of industry leaders boasting scale, robust cash reserves, and technological edges. Cash-rich mega-cap tech firms remain relatively insulated, whereas data centers, AI infrastructure projects, and early-stage startups that rely heavily on continuous external funding face significantly heightened financial strain.
Although the latest Federal Reserve rate hike drew sharp criticism from the White House, some market participants argued that the central bank should have taken even more aggressive action to rein in inflation.
JEFFREY GUNDLACH
Chief Executive Officer
DoubleLine
“I worry that the inflation problem is not being fully respected. And Kevin Warsh really focused in the press conference on the fact that inflation is not falling fast enough and is still too high, it’s been too high for too long, and I would have just done the 50 and then see what the data does.”
Moving forward, the key question remains whether this rate hike marks a temporary adjustment to immediate price pressures, or signals that the US is re-entering a prolonged monetary tightening cycle, with crude oil prices continuing to serve as a critical bellwether.