Brent crude climbed 1.6% to $99.48 a barrel, keeping Asian trading cautious as Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.2% while South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.4%.
Middle East fighting has tightened global oil flows and revived inflation fears just before Friday’s U.S. consumer-price report, which economists expect to ease only slightly to 3.3% from 3.4%.
U.S. markets had already weakened Tuesday after the holiday break, with the S&P 500 down 0.6% and the 10-year Treasury yield edging up to 4.79%, near its highest since 2023.
Next week’s Fed and Bank of Japan meetings now loom larger, with investors weighing whether sticky inflation and higher energy costs will delay U.S. easing and push Japan toward another rate increase.
With Middle East tensions threatening critical shipping lanes, could a sudden supply shock push crude oil past $100 and derail global market stability?
Will the massive capital spending on AI infrastructure force the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates elevated longer than Wall Street anticipates?
As Treasury yields inch toward 5%, are richly valued tech stocks on the verge of a major correction despite the ongoing AI boom?