24 August 2026
Bessent buys bonds – Download Chart of the week
The Market Place – Download Market Data
- Higher energy prices and fiscal concerns kept long yields elevated, challenging equity valuations despite resilient activity and temporary support from Treasury buybacks.
- Improving services activity contrasted with sticky inflation, softer employment, weak retail spending and constrained public finances, leaving policymakers with difficult trade-offs.
- Better manufacturing momentum offered encouragement, but expensive energy, fiscal pressures and rising long-term yields continued to restrain the region’s investment outlook.
- China’s weak demand, Japan’s policy normalisation and volatile technology shares reinforced the value of selective regional exposure and broad global diversification.
