Market Brief, North America

Markets are turning defensive ahead of the weekend as the war in the Middle East shows little sign of progress and investors grow more cautious on artificial-intelligence stocks. Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude look set to post their first weekly gains in three weeks after Hezbollah rejected a new ceasefire in Lebanon and Israel said it would maintain its troop presence in the country, undermining President Trump’s efforts to negotiate a face-saving exit from the conflict with Tehran. Equity futures are pointing to losses at the open after Broadcom, the semiconductor developer, beat quarterly earnings expectations but forecast disappointing...

Treasury yields and the dollar are retreating from yesterday’s highs after Hezbollah and Israel agreed to temporarily halt cross-border fighting, giving Iranian officials cause to return to the bargaining table. Oil prices had posted their sharpest one-day surge in a month after Tehran said it was abandoning talks amid an intensifying Israeli assault on Lebanon, reviving supply fears that had been dormant for weeks. Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate are down roughly 1.3% this morning, ten-year Treasury yields have eased back to 4.42%, and the trade-weighted dollar is edging lower as traders unwind the defensive positioning built up during...