Oil extended gains as Iran rejected talks with the US and a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz remained elusive.
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Global stocks traded near a record high as Asian shares tracked Wall Street higher after soft US jobs data eased expectations for a Federal Reserve interest-rate hike. Oil extended gains as Iran rejected talks with the US and a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz remained elusive.The MSCI All Country World Index, the broadest gauge of global equities, rose 0.1 per cent, its seventh advance in the past eight sessions. MSCI’s Asian gauge gained 0.4 per cent, tracking a Wall Street rally on Friday that sent the S&P 500 Index to an all-time high. Futures contracts indicated modest gains for US gauges, while Europe was set for a flat start to the week.Elsewhere, Brent crude rose 0.5 per cent to around $84 a barrel, extending a rally of more than 5 per cent over the previous three sessions. As oil advanced, Treasuries gave back some of Friday’s gains, pushing the 10-year yield up one basis point to 4.66 per cent. The dollar strengthened against most of its Group-of-10 peers.Monday’s gains followed weeks of volatility as investors questioned whether elevated valuations and billions of dollars in AI spending would generate adequate returns. Focus now shifts to US consumer price data due this week after Friday’s jobs report eased concerns the Federal Reserve may need to raise interest rates soon.“The jobs data helped ease concerns about a rise in interest rates,” said Kohei Onishi, a senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley. “That’s prompting investors to rebuild positions in technology stocks.”Employers unexpectedly cut jobs in July and hiring in the prior two months was revised lower, suggesting the labor market is weaker than previously thought. Traders trimmed the likelihood of a rate hike at the Fed’s September meeting to a roughly 43 per cent chance, down from 64 per cent a week ago, according to swaps data compiled by Bloomberg. Treasuries surrendered some of their gains caused by the jobs data. On Friday, two-year yields, the most sensitive to Fed policy expectations, dropped as much as nine basis points after the jobs report before ending about five basis points lower at 4.19 per cent. That marked their biggest weekly decline since May.The yield on the two-year note rose one basis point to 4.20 per cent on Monday. In other corners of the market, gold traded steady at about $4,340 an ounce after a 7.3 per cent advance last week. It was the best weekly gain for the metal since January.Attention in Asia was also on the yen, which traded weaker at around 158.30 per dollar. The yen has underperformed all its Group-of-10 peers this month as the boost from recent intervention fades, putting traders on alert for further official action. The Japanese currency strengthened sharply on Friday after labor data was released.What Bloomberg Strategists Say“Oil is firmer on Monday after another weekend of stalled progress on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, yet traders are skeptical prices will rise for an extended period. Net long oil positioning showed only a tepid rebound in July, but that’s already being trimmed across crude contracts.” Back to geopolitics, President Donald Trump on Sunday signaled patience, in an interview with Axios, saying the US could wait for Tehran’s economic suffering to soften its stance. The comments followed weeks of Trump threatening massive airstrikes on Iran only to pull back, saying he wanted to give negotiations a chance.Investors can’t be too bearish given Trump is likely to back away from his threats again, particularly as his approval ratings have fallen to fresh lows, My Bui, an economist at AMP Ltd., wrote in a note to clients. “So for now, it remains business as usual, with shares still supported by solid fundamentals, strong economic growth and rising productivity,” she added.Some of the main moves in markets:
