News

Sudden sell-off shakes US bond market

U.S. Treasuries extended a sharp retreat on Tuesday as investors were having to sell bonds to cover losses in other assets and scrambled to unwind expectations for deep U.S. rate cuts, in the latest unsettling sign of possible stress in financial markets. Monday's range for the benchmark 10-year yield was one of the largest in the past two decades while expectations evaporated that the Federal Reserve would start cutting interest rates within weeks to offset the economic pain caused by huge U.S. import tariffs. Market participants said the scale of moves and uncertainty in Fed funds futures trade was unprecedented, as pricing for 130 basis points of U.S. rate cuts this year collapsed to 92 bps in a matter of hours.

How the oil price plunge complicates Saudi Arabia's economic agenda

DUBAI (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia, with its wealth linked inextricably to oil revenue, faces mounting pressure to raise debt or cut spending after a plunge in crude prices, complicating plans to fund an ambitious agenda to diversify its economy. Oil prices have tumbled to near four-year lows on fears a trade war will hit global growth and after a surprise decision by some OPEC+ oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, to boost their output plans. The price decline threatens to erase tens of billions of dollars of Saudi revenue, along with a planned drop in dividends from state-controlled energy giant Saudi Aramco.