US stocks slide, Asian shares dip as oil swings and Treasury yields hit 24-year highs

Left · 1Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday, a day after the Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed at record highs, as oil prices rose and then fell and US government bond yields climbed to 24-year highs. 1 Centre · 1Asian shares slipped on Thursday: Japan's Nikkei eased 0.9 per cent, South Korea fell 0.6 per cent and MSCI's broadest Asia-Pacific index outside Japan dipped 0.1 per cent, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were barely changed. 2 Left · 1Oil initially rose on Wednesday after a warning that Iran appeared to be stepping up attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, then closed lower after International Energy Agency (IEA) member states said they were ready to release more strategic reserves, prioritising diesel. 1

Left · 1UK Maritime Trade Operations said nine tankers had been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz this month, half of September's total for the waterway and the Gulf combined; India said 12 crew on a Panama-flagged tanker were injured by an unknown projectile on Tuesday. 1 Left · 1US Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated Washington's claim that it controls the strait and that oil flows are close to normal; Kpler reported Gulf flows excluding Iran recovered to more than 81 per cent of pre-war levels in September, though shipping firms face higher freight, insurance and security costs. 1 Left · 1G7 countries, with the IEA, agreed last Friday to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil because of the fallout from the US-Iran war. 1

Centre · 1By Thursday Brent futures were up 0.9 per cent at $101.14 a barrel and US crude up 0.8 per cent at $89.02, adding pressure on Treasuries, though a strong 10-year auction pulled yields off the 24-year peak of 5.326 per cent to 5.298 per cent. 2 Centre · 1CNA reported that the Wall Street Journal and other media said SpaceX, Broadcom and Oracle were seeking to raise money to buy AI chips, including $50 billion for Broadcom and $30 billion of investment-grade debt plus $10 billion of loans for SpaceX; SpaceX credit default insurance hit record highs. 2 Centre · 1Nigel Green of deVere Group warned of a loop in which Nvidia bankrolls its own customers, saying the AI build-out "started on cash" and is "increasingly running on credit"; Samsung Electronics projected a 783 per cent jump in third-quarter operating profit. 2

Centre · 1Federal Reserve minutes showed "most" members considered another rate hike likely by year end; markets price a 19 per cent chance of a move this month and 80 per cent for December, and Goldman Sachs expects a second hike in December. 2 Centre · 1Strains in French bonds spread to Italian and Greek debt; Bank of France head Emmanuel Moulin called the situation serious but said no European Central Bank help was needed, and the euro fell to near 17-month lows around $1.1198 while gold, at $4,105 an ounce, neared two-month lows. 2