Your Morning Fix

• The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reduced its key rate by 25 basis points to 5.75% for the third consecutive meeting, aligning with most analyst expectations, but signaled fewer cuts in 2025.
• The Philippines’ balance of payments (BoP) deficit widened to USD 2.276 billion in November, the largest in 26 months, due to increased foreign debt repayments, according to the BSP.
• Following the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish cut, the peso fell to an all-time low of PHP 59 against the US dollar on Thursday, its third time hitting this record low this year.
• Japan’s core inflation accelerated in November due to rising food and fuel costs, putting pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates further despite maintaining them at 0.25% recently.
• Mexico’s central bank reduced its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 10.00%, with the possibility of larger rate cuts in future meetings due to the progress on inflation. This marks the fifth rate cut this year from a record high of 11.25% in March.