French wages. Hourly wages in France’s non-agricultural market sector rose 2.5 percent year on year in the third quarter of 2026, a very slight acceleration from 2.4 percent in the second quarter, INSEE’s flash Labour Cost Index showed. Hourly labour costs rose at the same 2.5 percent annual rate. INSEE attributed the small acceleration in part to the automatic uprating of the minimum wage in June 2026, up 2.4 percent, triggered by the resurgence in inflation, and to slightly higher value-sharing premium payments of 519 million euros in the quarter against 447 million euros a year earlier. By sector, wages accelerated most in construction, up 2.8 percent, with industry at 2.2 percent and services at 2.5 percent. Detailed results follow on December 15. The print matters because it is the second-round channel in the euro area’s largest energy-driven inflation case: French consumer inflation was confirmed at 3.4 percent for October in a separate story yesterday, and pay growth re-accelerating, even slightly, is the pattern the ECB’s hawks cite.
Brazil retail sales. Retail sales volumes in Brazil rose 0.2 percent in September from August, statistics agency IBGE said, a surprise increase against a consensus expectation of a 0.2 percent fall, with sales up 1.7 percent over 12 months. Reuters noted that high interest rates continue to drag on consumer demand in Latin America’s largest economy. The print follows October inflation slowing to 0.14 percent on the month, covered yesterday, with the 12-month IPCA rate at 4.63 percent, above the central bank’s target tolerance ceiling, so consumption holding up does not open a near-term easing path.
South Africa sanctions. The Prudential Authority, the South African Reserve Bank’s prudential regulator, imposed administrative sanctions on HBZ Bank Limited and, in a separate release, on the Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, both announced on November 13. The releases are the regulator’s own record of the actions; no market-moving rate implication was claimed for either, and they are carried here as the financial-regulation lines of the day.
Dollar week. The dollar was poised for its best week in over a month on Friday, Bloomberg reported, carried by the same Federal Reserve hike pricing that drove the Treasury selloff: a December increase priced as certain, with the size, 25 or 50 basis points, the remaining question. The currency move is the FX expression of this week’s rates story and is covered through the yield stories above rather than as a separate item.