SINGAPORE – World stocks fell on Wednesday as fresh U.S. airstrikes on Iran and Iranian retaliation pushed oil prices to five-week highs, stoking inflation fears and deepening a global bond selloff.
Brent crude futures were last up 0.6 percent at $95.18 a barrel after briefly touching $95, Reuters reported. South Korea’s KOSPI dropped almost 4 percent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.9 percent. Europe’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.3 percent. Wall Street futures pointed to another weak open after Monday’s one-month lows.
The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.8182 percent, its highest since November 2023. Traders assigned roughly a two-in-three chance of a 25-basis-point Federal Reserve hike at the Sept. 16 meeting, up from 37 percent a week earlier, per CME FedWatch. UBS strategist Kiran Ganesh said faster yield rises were starting to pressure equities after markets had shrugged them off.
The dollar index edged up near its highest since Aug. 17. Investors now watch Wednesday’s ADP payrolls, Friday’s jobs report, and Sept. 11 CPI, plus ECB and Bank of Japan meetings, for how hard major central banks will lean against energy-driven inflation.
Sources: Reuters; Reuters energy.
