On March 15, Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Sudani issued a statement on the 14th saying that the leaders of the extremist group "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria had been killed. The statement said that with the coordination and cooperation of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command and the international coalition, Iraqi intelligence services successfully killed Abdullah Maki Musli Rafiyi, the leader of the extremist organization "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria. In his statement, Soudani called him "one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world."

(1) The Nikkei Stock Average retreated on Wednesday from an all-time high set in the previous session, with technical signals suggesting that the rally of more than 9% over the past three weeks was too rapid. (2) The Nikkei Stock Average closed slightly down 0.08% at 39,208.03. The index hit an intraday high of 39,426.29 points last day and closed at an all-time high of 39,239.52 points. (3) The number of decliners and gainers in the overall market was 120 and 104 respectively, and the other stock was unchanged. (4) Two heavyweights, Fast Retailing and SoftBank Group, Uniqlo brand operators, collectively weighed down the Nikkei by 45 points, outpacing the index's overall decline of 32 points. (5) At the same time, e-commerce and gaming companies stood out on the news that they would launch Newbie Games, soaring more than 24%. The Topix stock price index fell 0.13%. (6) The Relative Strength Index (RSI), which measures Nikkei's momentum, was around 78 on Wednesday and has remained above 70, which indicates the market is overbought, every trading day since Feb. 13. (7) Maki Sawada, equity strategist at Nomura Securities, said: "Considering the speed of the rebound, the market is showing signs of overheating, so some pullbacks are understandable. Today's decline is not driven by particularly negative news, so the retracement is likely to be limited. ” (8) Among the 33 industry sub-indices of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, electricity and natural gas stocks led the gains, rising more than 3%, followed by paper and pulp stocks with a 2.55% increase. (9) Miscellaneous stocks, on the other hand, were the worst performers, down 1%

(1) The Nikkei index hit its highest level since February 1990 on Friday and is expected to record its best weekly performance since March 2022, driven by weakening bets on the Central Bank's early exit stimulus and the return of foreign capital. (2) The Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.06% to 35,422.95 at noon, and rose 2.25% to 35,839.65 at the beginning of the session for the first time since February 1990. The Nikkei is up 6.13% for the week. (3) However, there were warning signs from technical indicators, with the Nikkei Relative Strength Index (RSI) rising to 73.63. Data over 70 indicates that the market is overheated. (4) A measure of the Fluctuation of the Nikkei. Surged over the past two days to its highest level since Oct. 31, when Japan's Central Bank unexpectedly adjusted policy to allow bond yields to rise further. (5) Maki Sawada, a strategist at Nomura Securities, said: "It's not uncommon for the Nikkei to pull back at any time at the height of this rally," she said, adding that she had expected the Nikkei to open lower on Friday. "We're also heading into the weekend, so this is a ripe environment for short-term profit-taking. ” (6) The Rebound of the Nikkei supported the of the Nikkei after the decline in bets on the negative Intrerest Rate policy of the Japanese Central Bank at the end of the January 22-23 meeting after the massive New Year's Day earthquake on the Noto Peninsula.

Markets expect the Fed to be ready to pause rate hikes while maintaining a tightening bias, suggesting it could resume raising rates as early as next month. Powell has signaled that Fed officials prefer to wait to assess the impact of past rate hikes on the economy and the impact of recent bank failures on credit conditions. However, with inflation still more than double the central bank's target, the committee is likely to stress that it leaves open the possibility of another rate hike in July or September. Dean Maki, a former Fed researcher at Point72, said: "For Powell, he will face a more tricky press conference. I think his goal is to remind the market that the possibility of raising interest rates in July is quite high." The Fed is likely to keep interest rates on hold for the first time since a rate hike cycle began in March 2022, analysts said. Powell and other officials are likely to characterize the decision as a "hawkish skip," maintaining the bias for a rate hike at the July meeting.