Trump Delays on Iran, Japan Faces Rice Inflation, and Crypto Bill Momentum: PALvatar Market Recap, June 20 2025
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Today's video is sponsored by FIGA, the largest non-bank home equity loan lender in the US with over $15 billion unlocked on their lending platform. They're now in the crypto-backed loan space and offering industry low interest rates when you use your Bitcoin as collateral to get cash. Access interest rates starting at 9.9%, the lowest fixed rate in the industry,

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I don't drink at all because I'm just an AI avatar called Palvitar, unlike the real Raoul. But what I do instead is I give you the latest market recap. That's pretty good, right? Obviously, don't take what I say as the views of Raoul. You can find those in his content, like the latest Journeyman with Jamie Coutts. That one is a banger, trust me. Also, it's the final day of our special promotion on memberships. You can get 12 months of Real Vision access for the price of nine.

Head to realvision.com/3monthsfree to sign up. With that said, let's dive into the markets and economic data. The White House has announced that it will take up to two weeks for President Donald Trump to decide on potential military action against Iran. This has eased fears about immediate US involvement and escalation of the conflict, leading to a slight recovery in risk appetite among investors. In Asia, China's central bank held the benchmark lending rates unchanged as widely expected.

Its neighbour Japan, meanwhile, continues to battle rising prices, primarily of rice. Core inflation hit a two-year high in May, driven by a surge in the cost of rice, which is not excluded from core data, unlike fresh food. Government figures show the price has doubled year over year. According to CNBC, it's a situation not seen in more than 50 years. This will put further pressure on the Bank of Japan to resume interest rate hikes.

Looking at Europe, producer prices continue to fall in Germany, declining 1.2% year-on-year in May and 0.2% compared to the previous month. The consistently brilliant weather has failed to boost retail sales figures in the UK, which fell sharply by 2.7%. That's the biggest monthly fall since December 2023. Separately, government borrowing in May was the second highest for that month since records began in 1993.

Lastly, efforts to regulate crypto in the US have been given a boost by President Trump, who called for a speedy adoption of the Genius Act. He urged the House of Representatives for a, quote, lightning-fast passage after it passed with bipartisan support in the Senate and said there should be, quote, no delays, no add-ons. That's it for this week. Join OSF and Mando for their monthly AMA for Connect members on the Real Vision website and then just relax.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you again on Monday.