ink questions about whether AI data-center buildouts are getting overdone could keep sentiment fragile. In the background, macro forces kept EM moves small: oil jumped 2.8% after falling more than 7% the prior session on uncertainty around US-Iran talks, and traders largely waited for the US jobs report to reassess what the Federal Reserve might do next.
Why should I care?
For markets: Hungary’s forint can wobble when one plant supplies 40% of the country’s electricity.
Hungary is a clear reminder that not all emerging-market moves are about the US dollar. Reuters said the Hungarian forint slipped 0.4% versus the euro after earlier gains, as investors focused on power-supply worries tied to plans to shut down the country’s only nuclear plant. When one facility generates roughly 40% of national electricity and drought lowers water levels on the Danube, the risk isn’t just higher utility bills: it can mean more imported energy, a worse current-account balance (the gap between what a country buys from abroad and sells), and stickier inflation. Currency traders often demand extra compensation for those risks, which shows up as a higher “risk premium” and can spill over into local bonds and stocks.