Staff writersUpdated September 11, 2026 — 10:34am,first published September 11, 2026 — 5:23amThe Australian sharemarket has fallen sharply at the open with mining stocks plunging, while oil prices climbed to their highest mark since May overnight as the war with Iran keeps clogging the global flow of crude.The S&P/ASX 200 was down 91.1 points, or 1 per cent, in early trade to 8728.3, with seven of 11 industry sectors in negative territory, led by materials after a Reuters report said the White House has not yet ​made a decision on refined copper tariffs. It comes after the ASX shed 1 per cent on Thursday. The Australian dollar was lower at US71.56¢.Oil climbed to its highest mark since March. APAustralian bonds slid, tracking an overnight slump in Treasuries after escalating Middle East tensions drove up oil prices and fuelled concerns about inflation.The yield on Australia’s three-year notes surged as much as 18 basis points to 5.03 per cent, the highest since May 2011. The yield on 10-year debt jumped 13 basis points to 5.38 per cent. Both levels were the highest since May 2011.The pain continued for the miners, with losses across the board. BHP dove 4.4 per cent, Rio Tinto 2.9 per cent and Fortescue 2.8 per cent. Bullion was little changed near $US4315 ($6023) an ounce on Friday, after dropping 1.8 per cent in the previous session to the lowest since early August. Northern Star slumped 4 per cent and Evolution Mining 4.2 per cent.Financial stocks climbed, clawing back some of Thursday’s losses. Commonwealth Bank rose 0.3 per cent, National Australia Bank 1.6 per cent, Westpac 0.7 per cent and ANZ Bank 0.6 per cent.Energy stocks advanced as Brent oil rose over $US107 a barrel as deteriorating conditions in the Middle East stoked concerns over global supplies. Fighting has intensified over the past two weeks, including US strikes on Iranian oil tankers, ballistic missile attacks on Jordan, and Houthi assaults on Saudi energy facilities that have forced some operations to halt. A recent pickup in crude purchases by China has also tightened the oil market.“Further attacks on fuel tankers and rhetoric suggest the conflict could extend longer than analysts had modelled,” said Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Group. “Trader chatter remains sceptical of the rally but the reality is that both the expected timeline of the conflict and hopes for a significant normalisation in Gulf flows are being pushed out.”Local energy stocks rose on the jump in crude prices, with Woodside Energy up 1.4 per cent and Santos 1.6 per cent. The refiners also had strong gains, with Ampol up 1.3 per cent and Viva Energy 1.9 per cent.Technology stocks followed their Wall Street peers lower with WiseTech down 2.6 per cent, Xero 1.3 per cent, Technology One 1.4 per cent and NEXTDC 2.2 per cent.The Australian dollar was trading at US71.60¢.Overnight, rising crude prices worsened worries about inflation and cranked up pressure within the bond market, helping to send stocks lower again on Wall Street.The S&P 500 fell 0.6 per cent for a fourth-straight loss, its longest such streak since June, though it’s not far from its all-time high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 316 points, or 0.6 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.7 per cent.A report on Thursday said inflation at the US wholesale level accelerated to 5.4 per cent last month from 4.8 per cent in July, and retailers could eventually pass such increases in prices on to shoppers. A report is coming on Friday that will show how much inflation US consumers are feeling.The typical move to rein in high inflation is for the Federal Reserve to raise its main interest rate, the federal funds rate. Such a move then filters out through the rest of the bond market, makes it more expensive for US households and businesses to borrow money, slows the overall economy and undercuts prices for investments. That, hopefully, would remove some of inflation’s fuel.A report on Thursday suggested the US job market may remain solid, with fewer workers applying for unemployment benefits last week. That could give the Fed more confidence that the economy could withstand higher interest rates.Following Thursday’s reports, traders see a roughly 73 per cent chance the Fed will raise the federal funds rate at its meeting next week. That’s up from the 61 per cent probability seen the day before, according to data from CME Group. That’s also despite Trump’s consistent lobbying for interest rates to go lower rather than higher.The Fed’s counterpart in Europe, the European Central Bank, raised its own interest rates on Thursday in hopes of getting inflation in check. It cited “the conflict in the Middle East” and how it “continues to generate inflation pressures”.It all pushed the yield on the 10-year Treasury up to 4.95 per cent from 4.83 per cent late Wednesday, which is a significant move for the bond market.It’s up from just 3.97 per cent before the war with Iran began, and is back to where it was in the autumn of 2023. That was after the Fed cranked the federal funds rate higher to get super-high inflation coming out of the COVID pandemic under better control.Higher yields mean investors can make more money putting their money into bonds, which can in turn make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks and other investments that are riskier than bonds.Some investors see a 5 per cent yield on the 10-year Treasury as the next potential flashpoint. But strategists at Bank of America’s Research Investment Committee suggest 7 per cent may be the more important threshold, pointing to peaks for expensive stocks around that point in the past.In the meantime the rising 10-year Treasury yield is making mortgages more expensive and hurting the housing industry. One report on Thursday said the average long-term US mortgage rate hit its highest level in more than 14 months, while a second one said sales of previously occupied US homes fell in August to their slowest pace in more than a year.That helped sent stocks of home builders lower, including drops of 3.5 per cent for Lennar and 2.4 per cent for D.R. Horton.Elsewhere on Wall Street, Macy’s fell 4.7 per cent, even though the retailer reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. While raising its forecast for earnings this fiscal year, it warned that “there are macroeconomic and geopolitical factors that could influence” how much its customers feel comfortable spending.Macy’s said it received $US116 million in tariff refunds from the government – $US98 million during the quarter and another $US18 million after the quarter ended. Macy’s chief executive Tony Spring told the Associated Press on Thursday that it’s using some of the proceeds to lower prices on certain items like furniture and other big-ticket purchases.In sharemarkets abroad, indexes slipped across much of Europe.From our partners