Market Brief, North America

The almighty greenback is making a lacklustre attempt at climbing off the mat after suffering the worst selloff in a year during Friday’s session, with rising geopolitical tensions doing little to reverse its losses. On a trade-weighted basis, the dollar is up incrementally this morning, but has fallen roughly 3 percent this month, pacing declines in Treasury yields even after Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon generated a mild safe haven bid over the weekend. Oil prices are modestly higher, equity futures are seeing cautious inflows, and the pound, euro, and yen are turning in mixed performances amid holiday-thinned...

Global risk appetite is improving, but trading liquidity remains thin ahead of this morning’s speech from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole economic symposium. The dollar is retreating, the pound and euro are inching higher, Treasury yields are flat, and equity futures are pointing to gains at the North American open. Odds on a half-point rate cut at the central bank’s September meeting have fallen sharply from the early-August peak, but markets nonetheless expect Powell to deliver a distinctly dovish outlook, setting the stage for at least one outsized move in the autumn months by emphasising downside...