Good evening and welcome to Markets Desk, your close of day read on what moved markets today.
Oil is back above ninety dollars a barrel after reports emerged of two tankers struck in the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude both hit their highest levels in nearly two weeks on the news, with traders immediately pricing in supply disruption risk through one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints.
That energy shock fed directly into the bond market, where yields surged to multi-decade highs across major economies. Japanese and U.K. government bonds saw their yields climb to levels not seen in a generation, as the Hormuz incident revived fears that energy prices could reignite inflation just as central banks had hoped the fight was nearly won.
Not everyone is sounding the alarm on higher rates, though. Some economists are pushing back on the panic, arguing that elevated yields reflect genuine demand for capital and a fundamentally stronger economy — a sharp contrast to the near-zero rate environment that followed the financial crisis, which many now read as a symptom of dysfunction rather than stability.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
