Equity markets turned choppy heading into the weekend, while oil prices cooled as investors weighed efforts by the US and Israel to ease concerns over the Iran war. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index traded in a tight range after a 2.6% slide on Thursday — when strikes on energy assets in the Middle East stoked fears of a prolonged economic impact from the conflict. S&P 500 futures were steady after the underlying benchmark recovered from a 1% drop to finish the last session down 0.3%. Brent crude declined from its highest closing level since July 2022 to trade around $107 per barrel. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the nation will no longer target energy infrastructure, and added that the war will end a lot faster than people think as Iran is no longer able to enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump told reporters he’s “not putting troops anywhere” after being asked about the possibility of deploying ground troops. Traders are parsing every geopolitical headline as the conflict has upended the energy supply chain. Prices of gasoline and jet fuel have surged while cooking gas shortages have triggered fistfights in India. The International Energy Agency has called the war the biggest supply disruption in the history of the oil market. Trading in Asia was thin on account of holidays in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Japanese markets were also shut, meaning there was no cash trading in Treasuries during Asian hours. A slump in shares of heavyweight Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. also weighed on the MSCI Asia gauge. The Chinese tech giant’s stock lost as much as 6.4% in Hong Kong after it reported sales that missed estimates, dragged by sluggish growth in its core e-commerce business. Meanwhile, shares of AIA Group Ltd. jumped nearly 5% after its results and the announcement of a buyback plan. The MSCI Asia benchmark was up 0.3% for this week, after falling in each of the previous two weeks. Elsewhere in markets, a gauge of the dollar rose 0.2% on Friday after slipping 0.7% in the last session. India’s rupee weakened past 93 per dollar to a fresh record low. The risk of a global inflation shock has also complicated the policy outlook for global central banks. Investors in bond markets around the world are rushing to bet on higher interest rates amid the jump in energy prices.
Australia’s benchmark bond yields climbed to the highest level in almost 15 years on Friday, while New Zealand’s two-year yields hit the highest in about a year. On Thursday, UK’s two-year rate jumped 31 basis points to 4.40% after the Bank of England said it “stands ready” to act to prevent inflation from accelerating. The US Treasury 10-year yield fell two basis points to 4.25%. However, the policy-sensitive two-year yield rose two basis points to 3.79%. As the war reduces prospects for a US interest-rate cut in the near term, gold is heading for the biggest weekly loss in six years. The precious metal — widely viewed as a haven — has dropped every week since the US and Israel attacked Iran last month. Kyle Rodda, senior market analyst at Capital.com, says “right now there seems to be, still, a degree of complacency that things will be resolved swiftly enough.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted the US is looking to remove sanctions that it has long imposed on Iranian oil in an effort to lower surging energy prices. The White House doesn’t plan to ban the export of oil and gas, an official said Thursday. Meanwhile, Kuwait on Friday shut down several units at the Al Ahmadi Refinery after multiple drone attacks caused a fire, according to state-run Kuna. US After Hours FDX +8.9%, PL +16.4%, SCHL +9.4% higher on earnings; CORT +3% on insider buy.
Nikkei Closed Hang Seng -1.13% CSI -0.26% Shanghai -1.09% Shenzen -0.96%
Eur$ 1.1558 CNH 6.8978 CNY 6.8959 JPY 158.38 GBP 1.3405 CHF 0.7894 RUB 86.0507 TRY 44.3085 WTI$ 93.94 -1.68% Gold 4,707 +1.99% BTC 70,600 +0.16% ETH 2,140 -0.27%
S&P -0.07% Nasdaq -0.19% EuroStoxx +0.34% FTSE +0.14% Dax +0.43% SMI +0.13%
Macro :
- Meloni: ‘Confident’ EU Will Approve Italy Energy Measures
- EU to Propose ‘ETS Booster’ With €30B Budget: Von Der Leyen
- Goldman Clients Eye S&P 500 at 6,200 as Level to ‘Blindly Buy’
- QatarEnergy Sees $20b/Year Lost Rev From Ras Laffan Attack
- Poland May Release Fuel Reserves If Necessary: Deputy Minister
- Trump, Takaichi Unveil $40 Billion US Nuclear Power Project
Keep an eye on :
Keep an eye on :
- AMZN US ; Blue Origin Files With FCC for Data Center Satellite Network
- BABA US : Alibaba Sinks as Delivery War, Weak Consumer Weigh: Street Wrap
- AUTO NO : Amazon Acquires Robotics Startup, Boosting Efforts to Streamline Deliveries
- BAS GY : BASF Active as Strategist Pitches Short: EMEA Options Snapshot
- EN FP : Colas to Pay €30M Fine as Part of French Corruption Settlement
- ENEL IM : Enel Sees 2026 EPS EU0.72-EU0.74, EST. EU0.72
- FDX US : FedEx Shares Gain After Boosting Full-Year Profit Outlook
- GEMI US : Winklevosses Say Job Cuts at Gemini Exchange Reach 30%
- ELG GY : German Semiconductor Group Elmos Explores a Sale: Reuters
- FPE GY : Fuchs Sees 2026 Ebit About EU450M, Est. EU456.6M
- GN DC : GN CEO Peter Karlstromer Buys Shares in Company for DKK2.79m
- GS US : Goldman M&A Head Says Buyers Are Keeping ‘Eyes on the Sunset’
- GOOGL US : Google Begins Testing Gemini Mac App to Match ChatGPT and Claude
- IDR SM : Indra Chairman Seeks to End Government Fight, Shelves Deal
- IDR SM : Indra Chairman Seeks to End Government Fight, Shelves Deal
- INW IM : INWIT Sees 2026 Rev. EU1.05B-EU1.09B, Cites Tenant Conflicts
- META US : Brazil Regulator Orders Meta to Halt New AI Chatbot Pricing
- MKC US : Unilever Is Said in Talks to Merge Food Business With McCormick --+3%
- NXST US : Nexstar Media Group, Closes Acquisition of TEGNA
- NOVOB DC : Novo’s High-Dose Wegovy Gets US Approval in Needed Boost
- NBG6 GY : Bank of Family That Lent to Popes and Emperors May Be for Sale
- SMIN LN : Smiths Group 1H Group Operating Profit GBP159M
- SpaceX IPO : NASA Plans Bigger SpaceX Moon-Mission Role in Blow to Boeing
- SPI LN : Bridgepoint Prepares £1b Offer for Spire Healthcare: Sky
- SYZ CN : Activist OneMove Raises Stake in Sylogist to Over 10%
- TGNA US : FCC Approves Sale of Some Stations to Nexstar From Tegna
- TSLA US : Tesla in Talks to Buy $2.9b of Chinese Solar Equipment: Reuters
- TSLA US : What to Know About Tesla's Terafab Project and the Company's AI Future
- ULVR LN : Unilever Is Said in Talks to Merge Food Business With McCormick
- UPS US : *UPS FOLLOWS FEDEX SHARES HIGHER, UP 1.3%