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Time of India
10 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Stocks struggle, oil up for 3rd week as Trump weighs US action on Iran
Asian share markets faced uncertainty amid worries of a possible US-Iran conflict. Oil prices are likely to increase due to the escalating Israel-Iran tensions. Israel bombed nuclear targets in Iran. Donald Trump will decide on US involvement in the next two weeks. Brent crude oil fell but is set for a weekly gain. Japan's core inflation rose. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Share markets in Asia struggled for direction on Friday as fears of a potential U.S. attack on Iran hung over markets, while oil prices were poised to rise for a third straight week on the escalating Israel-Iran Israel bombed nuclear targets in Iran, and Iran fired missiles and drones at Israel as a week-old air war intensified with no sign yet of an exit strategy from either White House said President Donald Trump will decide in the next two weeks whether the U.S. will get involved in the Israel-Iran war. The U.S. President is facing uproar from some of his MAGA base over a possible strike on fell 2% on Friday to $77.22 per barrel, but is still headed for a strong weekly gain of 4%, following a 12% surge the previous week."The 'two-week deadline' is a tactic Trump has used in other key decisions, including those involving Russia and Ukraine, and tariffs," said Tony Sycamore, analyst at IG."Often, these deadlines expire without concrete action, (similar to TACO), and there is certainly a risk of this happening again, given the complexities of the situation."Still, a cautious mood prevailed in markets with Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures both 0.3% lower in Asia. U.S. markets were closed for the Juneteenth holiday, offering little direction for MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1% but was set for a weekly drop of 1%. Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.2%.China's blue chips rose 0.3%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.5%, after the central bank held the benchmark lending rates steady as widely the currency markets, the dollar was on the back foot again, slipping 0.2% to 145.17 yen after data showed Japan's core inflation hit a two-year high in May, which kept pressure on the Bank of Japan to resume interest rate however, see little prospects of a rate hike from the BOJ until December this year, which is a little over 50% priced U.S. bond market, which was also closed on Thursday, started trading in Asian hours on a subdued note. Ten-year Treasury bond yield was flat at 4.389%, while two-year yields slipped 2 basis points to 3.925%.Overnight, the Swiss National Bank cut rates to zero and did not rule out going negative, while the Bank of England held policy steady but saw the need for further easing and Norway's central bank surprised everyone and cut rates for the first time since prices eased 0.2% to $3,363 an ounce, but were set for a weekly loss of 2%.
Al Etihad
10-03-2025
- Business
- Al Etihad
Stocks stumble, bond selloff abates as investors take stock of US trade policy
7 Mar 2025 10:27 SINGAPORE (REUTERS)Investors were met with some calm on Friday after a turbulent week besieged by U.S. trade policy confusion and a global rise in borrowing costs, as a steep selloff in bonds abated and currencies steadied, though stocks tracked Wall Street the Nasdaq confirmed it has been in a correction since peaking last December, as U.S. stocks face headwinds from a darkening growth outlook in the world's largest economy and uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff on Thursday suspended the 25% tariffs he imposed this week on most goods from Canada and Mexico until April 2 - the day he has threatened to impose a global regime of reciprocal tariffs on all U.S. trading fast-changing trade policy has sent markets into a tailspin, though currencies like the yen and the Swiss franc, as well as gold, have been among the few assets investors have flocked to as they seek out Japanese currency was perched near its strongest level in five months at 147.95 on Friday, on track for a 1.8% weekly gain, while the Swissie scaled a three-month top of 0.8822 per prices eased slightly, but at $2,904.62 an ounce, were still not far from a record high."The rapidly shifting sands of U.S. tariffs are turning into quicksand for businesses in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to drown in," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG."I'm not particularly confident at this point in time committing money to the market because there is just so much uncertainty out there. It's a horrible, horrible backdrop for investors to be operating in."A sharp selloff in European bond markets triggered by Germany's plans for a huge spending package showed some signs of tapering on Friday, with bund futures jumping more than 0.8% and French OAT futures up 0.7%. Bond yields move inversely to Japan, government bonds extended their selloff, though to a smaller degree than in the previous 10-year Japanese government bond (JGB) yield rose 1.5 basis points to 1.53%, its highest level since June 2009, while the 20-year yield added 2 bps to a more than 16-year high of 2.22%.The surge in European borrowing costs this week has in turn sent the euro on a tear, with the common currency headed for its largest weekly gain in nearly five years on Friday at more than 4%. It last traded 0.07% higher at $ European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday cut interest rates again but warned of "phenomenal uncertainty", including the risk that trade wars and more defence spending could fuel inflation, raising the prospect of a pause in its policy easing next month."The ECB finds itself in a challenging position between the threat of U.S. tariffs in the near-term that could warrant further policy rate cuts - and a move into stimulative territory - and the growing commitment to higher defence spending over the next several years," said Mark Wall, chief European economist at Deutsche Bank."This environment requires a deft hand on the monetary policy lever and the preservation of policy optionality."ASIA STOCKS UPBEATMSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan last traded 0.5% lower, though was on track for a weekly gain of more than 2.5%, which would mark its largest increase in nearly six rise was helped by a rally in its Chinese counterparts as investors continued to pile into artificial intelligence shares and welcomed new policy support from CSI300 blue-chip index fell 0.2%, but was set to rise 1.5% for the week, while the Shanghai Composite Index was similarly on track for a 1.85% weekly Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.3% and was headed for a more than 6% surge for the week."We expect significant fiscal easing this year, with increased priorities on consumption and high-tech manufacturing, but acknowledge this is different from a 'bazooka'," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a Japan's Nikkei slid 1.85%.Trade tensions aside, the focus for investors on Friday will also be on February's U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, which will provide further clues on the health of the world's largest are for 160,000 jobs to have been added last month, following January's 143,000 have ramped up bets of further Federal Reserve rate cuts this year following a slew of weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data and worries about the impact of Trump's tariffs, with Fed funds futures now showing just over 77 bps worth of easing priced in this has in turn sent the dollar on the decline, with the greenback set for a weekly drop of more than 3% against a basket of currencies. In commodities, Brent futures rose 0.27% to $69.65 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures ticked up 0.2% to $66.49 per barrel.
