It was a mixed day in the U.S., with the major indices closing slightly lower: the Nasdaq fell 0.6%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.3%, and the Dow Jones declined 0.3%, while Europe (Stoxx 600) rose 0.2% and Asia closed mixed, with the Kospi up 0.7% and the CSI 300 down 0.8% (the Nikkei was flat). In the fixed-income market, we saw a bull...

The session was dominated by the verbal escalation between Trump and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump demanded compensation for victims of improvised explosive device attacks and extended the claim to include damage in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza, dampening expectations of a quick agreement to reopen the waterway...

The week wraps up with the U.S. nonfarm payroll report taking center stage, showing that payrolls fell by 23,000 in July compared to the 80,000 the market had expected, following a combined downward revision of 103,000 jobs in May and June. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, though this was due to a lower labor force participation rate, and the...

This escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Iran led to a nearly 9% plunge in crude oil prices, with WTI closing at $81.94 and Brent at $87.81, triggering a bull flattening of global interest rates, with long-term yields falling more than short-term yields, compressing the yield curve’s slope, with declines of up to 4 bps in Europe and 3 bps at the long end of the...