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August 11, 2026 - 07:51
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(Bloomberg) — Government bonds in Asia Pacific followed Treasuries lower as a rally in oil prices revived inflation concerns ahead of key US consumer price data later this week.Bonds dropped in Australia and New Zealand after US 10-year yields rose six basis points on Monday to 4.71%. Treasury futures also fell, with no cash Treasury trading during Asian hours Tuesday due to a public holiday in Japan. A Bloomberg gauge of the dollar held its gains from the previous session.Brent rose 0.3% — a fifth consecutive day of gains — to $88 a barrel after US President Donald Trump made sweeping new demands on Iran, clouding the outlook for a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.Elsewhere, gold eased to about $4,370 an ounce after climbing above $4,400 earlier in the session. Technical buying was triggered after the metal broke above its 100-day moving average on Monday.Oil’s rally over the past week has revived worries over price pressures after Friday’s softer-than-expected US jobs data tempered expectations for an immediate Federal Reserve interest-rate hike. Attention now turns to Wednesday’s US consumer price index report, which may offer fresh signals on the path for interest rates.“Asian markets are struggling for direction as investors settle into a wait-and-see phase ahead of the next macro signal,” said Hebe Chen, a senior market analyst at Vantage Global Prime. “Beneath the surface, however, the backdrop is already shifting. Oil and gold are climbing together again — a pairing that has rarely moved in the same direction in recent months, and a sign that investors may be starting to trade from a new playbook.”Trump lashed out against Iran’s demands for compensation as part of talks to wind down the conflict, dimming hopes of a quick agreement that would reopen the strait.The president had signaled on Sunday he was prepared to let economic pressure on Iran build, rather than launch fresh strikes.What Bloomberg Strategists Say…Investors are riding on the huge Nvidia-Wall Street funding package as a catalyst to breathe fresh life into the narrative that AI build out matters more than anything for the path of stocks. It helps that bonds and currencies are having a quiet session, impacted by the holiday for Japanese markets.— Mark Cranfield, MLive. For full analysis, click here.In other corners of the market, sentiment toward the technology sector remained buoyant, with South Korea’s Kospi Index climbing 1%. Samsung Electronics Co. was a standout with its shares gaining about 4%.The broader MSCI’s gauge of Asian equities edged up 0.1% after fluctuating between gains and losses.“Investors are also fairly cautious ahead of the US CPI print tomorrow, which should give us a little more clarity on the Fed rate path,” said Mohit Mirpuri, a partner at SGMC Capital Pte in Singapore.Futures contracts for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index rose 0.3%, while European shares were set for a flat start.The yen was also in focus in Asia after the currency weakened 1% Monday, erasing about half of its recent intervention-led rally. The move is psychologically significant for traders, who remain on alert for further official support. The yen was little changed Tuesday at around 159.25 per dollar.Meanwhile, the Australian dollar slipped after the central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged, wagering that higher unemployment and a weakening property market will weigh on economic activity sufficiently to cool inflation.Attention will now shift to the US consumer price index. The headline gauge probably rose 0.1% in July following a 0.4% decline in the prior month, based on the median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists ahead of Wednesday’s Bureau of Labor Statistics release.Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said it’s possible that a number of rate hikes may be needed to bring inflation down to the target.“I would say in general, one 25-basis-point move probably doesn’t do a whole lot for the economy,” Hammack said Monday in an interview with Yahoo Finance. “So it’s probably some number,” but “I don’t want to prejudge what that number is going to be.”Corporate News:Intel Corp. is seeking to increase the amount it’s raising in a share sale to about $20 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, a third more than it was targeting when it announced the deal Monday morning. US investment giants including Apollo Global Management Inc., Blackstone Inc., BlackRock Inc. and Brookfield Asset Management are partnering with Nvidia Corp. to invest $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Gautam Adani won dismissal of US securities fraud charges, ending a blockbuster case that threatened the expansion of the Indian billionaire’s giant conglomerate. Anthropic PBC has struck a $9.1 billion deal with Riot Platforms Inc., a Bitcoin mining company that recently began selling AI data center capacity, people familiar with the matter said. Some of the main moves in markets:StocksS&P 500 futures were little changed as of 6:47 a.m. London time Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2% The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.1% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.8% The Shanghai Composite fell 0.3% Euro Stoxx 50 futures were little changed CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1542 The Japanese yen was little changed at 159.17 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.7455 per dollar The British pound was little changed at $1.3512 CryptocurrenciesBitcoin fell 0.2% to $63,982.86 Ether fell 0.2% to $1,874.8 BondsJapan’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 2.815% Australia’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 5.01% CommoditiesSpot gold fell 0.4% to $4,373.94 an ounce West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.3% to $82.35 a barrel This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.–With assistance from Winnie Hsu and Faseeh Mangi.©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
