Market Brief, North America

Good morning. The dollar is climbing, supported by high oil prices and Treasury yields near their highest levels since 2007. Crude benchmarks are giving back some of their gains as Saudi Arabia ramps up flows through its repaired East-West pipeline, but Brent is still trading around $105 a barrel as talks to end the war with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz show no signs of progress. Benchmark ten-year Treasury yields are holding around 5.21% after briefly touching 5.27% in yesterday’s session. Widening rate differentials are dominating currency markets, lifting the dollar against all its major counterparts and wrong-footing...

Good morning. The dollar is sitting near a two-month high after Treasury yields posted their biggest single-day jump since the market convulsions that followed last year’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff announcements. With the exception of the Swiss franc, every major currency is down almost 1% against the greenback this week. Investors were wrongfooted yesterday when S&P Global’s purchasing-managers’ index showed US business activity growing at its fastest pace in five years in September. According to the typically-humdrum second-tier release, output across the manufacturing and services sectors hit its highest levels since July 2021. The manufacturing index jumped to 57, its best...