Oil prices rise as bond sell-off hits global markets
International crude oil prices climbed further on Tuesday morning amid uncertainty over US-Iran talks, as hopes of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway crucial to oil shipments, faded.
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Hopes that Middle East tensions would ease were dashed at the weekend when Donald Trump rejected Iran’s offer of a seven-day truce.
Mediators are working with the US and Iran on a deal to end the fighting and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, officials told the Associated Press. The disruption to shipping through the waterway has affected global trade and added to inflation.
Iran has proposed reopening the strait if the US lifts its blockade of Iranian ports and eases sanctions, among other conditions. Washington says any deal must also address Iran’s nuclear programme. Officials said the two sides disagree over the timing of concessions and who should act first.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, gained nearly 2% and traded above $107 a barrel early Tuesday, well above its price of roughly $72 a barrel in late February before the Iran war.
US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.8% to more than $94 a barrel.
High oil prices have renewed inflation concerns and expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again next month. Government bond prices have fallen as a result, pushing yields to multi-year highs.
The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield rose above 5.27% on Monday, its highest level in 19 years, following a rise of nearly half a percentage point through September. Yields rise when bond prices fall, and this month’s sell-off is the heaviest in two years.
The US two-year yield has risen even further, climbing by more than 0.57 percentage points this month to nearly 5%. In Europe, Germany’s benchmark 10-year bond yield reached 3.62%, its highest level since June 2009.
Government bond yields help set borrowing costs across the economy, from mortgages to company loans. As yields rise, governments, businesses and households face higher costs, while stocks can become less attractive to investors.
In Japan, a 40-year government bond auction drew its strongest demand since 2020 as relatively high yields attracted investors, according to Bloomberg.
Stock markets also struggled after all three main Wall Street indexes fell on Monday.
In Europe, Tuesday’s open showed a mixed reaction.
The Euro Stoxx 50 was flat in early trading while the broader pan-European Stoxx 600 traded 0.2% higher.
The UK’s FTSE 100, Italy’s FTSE MIB, Spain’s IBEX 35 and the Netherlands’ AEX all traded between 0.1% and 0.2% higher than their Monday close.
However, France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX 30 both dropped about 0.5%.
Over in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.3%, South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.9% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.6%. Hong Kong-traded shares of Shein fell 11.7% after the online retailer reported a 67% fall in quarterly adjusted net profit from a year earlier.
The Shanghai Composite was little changed following a report from China’s official Xinhua News Agency late Monday that its State Council had discussed ways to make economic policies more effective.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down more than 0.1% by early morning in Europe.
Australia’s central bank raised its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.6% on Tuesday, a 15-year high, as rising oil prices fuelled inflation. The Reserve Bank said higher fuel costs were pushing up prices across the economy, while growth and inflation had been stronger than expected.
The US dollar edged up to 157.42 Japanese yen from 157.39 yen. The euro fell to $1.1362 from $1.1371.
Gold remained near $4,160 after steep losses on Monday, as expectations of further rate rises weighed on the metal, which pays no interest.
Investors are also awaiting key US inflation and jobs data this week that could influence the Fed’s next decision. Markets are pricing in another rate rise at the end of October.
Additional sources • AP
‘Like a Bond villain’s lair’: I climbed the Dolomites to the world’s most spectacular mountain hut | Dolomites holidays
‘I think my boots are falling apart!” shouts Nigel just as we hit the pinnacles, a whole range of them jutting up and out from the mountainside, all thrillingly tall, spiky and knobbled. Through them we painstakingly step, fingers aching in gloves, heads sweating in helmets – squashing up narrow chimneys, squeezing through mighty boulders and inching along slender ledges on a twisting path that’s only just discernible through swathes of sharp white scree.
I know how Nigel’s boots are feeling: the going is far harder than I was expecting. This is only the first day of our annual trip to the Dolomites, a vast range of breathtaking sawtooth peaks in northern Italy, but my head’s already full of the thought I have every year as we start out: “If only you’d got fitter.”
But it should be worth all the scrapes, bumps, scares and sweat. Somewhere up ahead, hopefully not too far, is Rifugio Passo Santner, or Santnerpass Hut, a spectacular mountain refuge that, as everyone who sits near my desk at work knows, has been obsessing me ever since I first saw a picture of it eight months ago.
Allowing you to stay deep in the mountains for days on end, the high-altitude Dolomites huts we overnight at all have their charms, from hearty food to giddying views to a generous way with the grappa. But in terms of appearance, they tend to fall into two not particularly pulse-quickening camps: stone block or cuckoo clock. Although you’re almost always overjoyed to see them, none could ever pass for a Bond villain’s lair, however much grappa you’ve had.
Yet that is exactly what Santnerpass Hut resembles. Perched on top of a sheer cliff, this elongated triangle encased in a gleaming wrapper of galvanised steel looks like a giant Toblerone still in its foil – an eyepopping hit of modernity, originality and innovation in a place where tradition usually dictates more of the same.
After one final push, the five of us scramble up on to the summit and there it is just ahead, side on and glowing silver in the late afternoon sun, like a star that has touched down on Earth to enjoy the stunning views of the surrounding peaks with the rest of us, up at the bracing height of 2,734m.
“Welcome!” says the bartender as we enter. “You made it. Well done!” With the customary relief – if not actual jubilation – that follows a tough climb finally ending, we ease off our backpacks, gloves and boots then look around, slowly realising that Santnerpass Hut isn’t just a treat for the eyes from the outside.
Inside, what you first notice is the unbroken parade of huge windows wrapping around the refuge’s front and flanks. This doesn’t just turn every spot of the roomy ground floor into a light-filled observation point. It also means the hut achieves passive heating since it’s effectively one big solar collector. So there’s no need for log-devouring stoves. That’s quite an achievement at ground level; at more than 2km up, with no road access, it’s verging on miraculous.
Then there’s the wood. It’s blond and everywhere. Guests are basically cocooned within a spellbinding timber tapestry that casts everything in a warm yellow glow, quite a novelty to anyone used to the dingy two-watt corridors and bedrooms of most refuges.
The flooring is larch, the restaurant furnishings maple and the load-bearing A-frame spruce, its hefty angular joists exposed on the sundeck, where we soon find ourselves sinking well-earned ice-cold drinks and marvelling at this beacon of sustainable architecture.
There are other things to marvel at. Off in the distance, piercing up through an immense blanket of cloud, the lofty peaks of the Latemar group are catching the last rays of the sun, turning pink, orange and purple in a ravishing Dolomites phenomenon known as the enrosadira, triggered by calcium and magnesium in the rock. “This place is incredible,” says Donnie, sipping an Aperol spritz. “I’ve never been anywhere like it in my life.”
Santnerpass Hut was built in 1956 but in the last decade or so was taken over, closed and rebuilt, finally opening its generous glass doors in 2023. Designed by alpine specialists Senoner Tammerle Architects, the new refuge is not just meant to please the eye: the shape lets it shed thick snow and deflect howling winds.
There are more surprises when we take our pre-dinner showers. Not only does the wood here give way to zesty yellow laminated panels that wouldn’t look out of place in a chic nightclub, the showerheads also actually stay pointing at your body for the full three minutes of hot water a token gets you.
Dinner, however, may have been the biggest surprise of all. It was completely vegetarian – a shock for all of us and a treat for veggies Sam and Nigel. No goulash, no ragu, no pork chops. Instead, out of the kitchen came herb-sprinkled lentils with asparagus, radish and onion, pea and mint soup, then beetroot dumplings on a rich bean, tomato and yellow pepper broth, washed down with superb local wine in actual wine glasses and finished off with creme brulee.
“A delicious and nutritious meal,” said Sam, running his spoon round his plate. “What an eye-opener. A win-win for hiker and planet.”
Curfew was at 10pm but the restaurant was clearing out anyway. This may have been due to the fact that, in high spirits after our action-packed day, we had taken the hut’s guitar off the wall and treated everyone to that Proclaimers Alpine classic Sunshine on Leith, managing to get a singalong going with the very up-for-it, very international audience.
The refuge sleeps 4o in 16 rooms. Ours was a spacious affair with bunkbeds, a dainty dormer window and two large cubbyholes each, one for your bag, the other for your stuff – so much more useful than the usual pointless wardrobes and drawers that no one ever unpacks into, since you’ll be gone in a hurry at the crack of dawn.
We reached Santnerpass Hut via the König Laurin cable car, 22 miles (35km) from Bolzano, gateway to the Dolomites. After that, it’s a rising, fairly straight line to the refuge, a two-to-three-hour hike through loose scree, then boulders and pinnacles. But be warned: the last section is a via ferrata, meaning there’s a metal cable for you to clip your harness to, and grab hold of as you reach trickier, more treacherous passages. It’s not for beginners.
I’d heard, though, that there was another route and, keen to take it back down to the cable car, asked at reception. “Yes, there’s another way,” said Romina Huber, who co-owns and runs the hut with her husband (and chef) Michel Perathoner. “It’s not a via ferrata and it’s super beautiful.”
She wasn’t kidding. First it took us past the Vajolet towers, dramatic spires that lure climbers from all over the world. Then we swung right on to a winding path of fine white scree that rises sharply through meadows full of edelweiss, saxifrage, dwarf pine and boulders, leading to bulging cliffs and eventually the Coronelle Pass, an astonishing vantage point at 2,360m.
“Well, that was a walk and a half,” said Mac as we descended in the cable car 30 minutes later, exhausted after the final knee-popping trudge down from the pass on timber-pinned switchbacks. “My boots,” said Nigel, lifting his feet to let us see a rip in one and a sole flapping off the other, “have completely had it.”
Santnerpass Hut starts at €105pp per night, including breakfast and four-course vegetarian dinner
Hutiquette: the mountain hut code
Mountain huts may occasionally be rather luxurious these days, but their original function, still relevant, is survival. There are, as you might expect, several very sensible codes that make great use of words like “respect”, “other users”, and “environment”. My own code is no less worthy and comes from hard-won experience.
No complaining
Huts are not hotels. If there’s a problem, go sort it out. Certainly, never complain about snoring, even when you are convinced it is about to trigger an avalanche. I once did, only to be informed, rather too forcefully, that is was me doing the snoring, an outrageous lie that triggered grunts of approval from other grumpy insomniacs. Gel ear plugs work well.
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It’s sometimes hard to drop the urban habit of self-assertion to ensure survival. One night in a Corsican hut with a shared sleeping platform, an obnoxious Brit in a down bag shoved all the other sleepers into a pile at one end of the bench, claiming later that he was “dreaming of being pushed”. I pray never to run into him again.
Clean up after yourself
… and take your rubbish home. The British Mountain Bothy Code has a good reminder on this point. I’d go even further and say, try to leave absolutely no trace at all. Visiting one treasured wild swimming spot recently, I found the scorch mark of a campfire. Whoever it was had not left any rubbish, and there was nothing to mark their visit, except that dreaded black spot, as if Blind Pew had delivered a death sentence.
The hut is for everyone
I once cycled to a remote Icelandic hut and found it blissfully empty of people. Lighting the fire, I prepared my simple meal, and apart from wishing I had packed a beer, looked forward to a night of splendid isolation. Then a large group of locals arrived. I felt my heart sink. My solitary bliss was gone. They sat down, gave me a beer, and two hours later, after helping to eat their huge delicious feast, I felt like I’d joined a tribe. When a hut generates that kind of gang conviviality, it’s uplifting.
Look after others
In Scandinavia, this is a social habit that is deeply embedded. You turn up in a hut in winter and there are logs because the last visitors left them for you. You cut your finger and they all have the plaster that you forgot to bring. The Norwegian Mountain Code has a list of essential reminders.
Kevin Rushby
US 10-year Treasury yield breaches 5% as global bond sell-off deepens
Published on
Government bond markets remain under pressure as rising energy prices revive inflation concerns and increase expectations that major central banks will keep interest rates higher for longer.
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The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield briefly touched 5.011% on Monday, according to Dow Jones Market Data, before falling back below 5%. The level was the highest since October 2023.
The yield crossed the psychologically important 5% threshold as higher government borrowing, resilient economic growth and heavy corporate debt issuance linked to artificial intelligence investment compounded pressure on US bonds. Yields move inversely to bond prices.
Rising Treasury yields can feed through to mortgages, corporate loans and other forms of credit, potentially slowing economic growth. They can also make bonds more attractive relative to highly valued equities.
The latest rise followed the US Treasury’s previously announced expansion of its bond-buyback programme. Last week, it offered to purchase up to $6 billion of debt maturing in 10 to 20 years – three times the previous operation’s size.
The yield on the 30-year US Treasury bond, meanwhile, remained close to its highest level since 2007.
The sell-off has also spread across Europe. France’s 10-year government bond yield rose to 4.50% on Monday, while the equivalent Italian yield reached around 4.40%.
Germany’s benchmark 10-year Bund yield climbed as high as 3.538%, according to Dow Jones Market Data, its highest level in 15 years.
Energy prices are a major source of pressure. Brent crude rose to around $107 a barrel on Tuesday morning, while US West Texas Intermediate traded close to $103, as attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure and shipping in the Gulf intensified concerns about supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.
The European Central Bank raised its deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2.5% last week and warned that inflation could remain above its target for an extended period. Markets are pricing in at least one further ECB increase this year.
Attention now turns to three major central-bank decisions. The US Federal Reserve announces its decision on Wednesday, followed by the Bank of England on Thursday and the Bank of Japan on Friday.
A Reuters poll found that 85% of economists expected the Fed to raise rates by 25 basis points, while money markets placed the probability of an increase at around 93%.
The BoE is widely expected to leave rates unchanged. Economists surveyed by Reuters unanimously forecast no change, although some analysts have warned that a surprise increase cannot be ruled out. The BoJ is widely expected to raise borrowing costs.
Where the original Bond Girls are now
THEY’RE known for their sexy outfits and saucy scenes, but Bond Girls are just as iconic as 007 himself.
And we may not have long before a new bevvy of beauties turn heads, as the hunt for the next James Bond may now be over.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today show, 007 writer Steven Knight was asked whether he had written the film with the chosen actor in mind or based on what he already knew about the character.
He replied that it was “a bit of both”, seemingly confirming that an actor had been picked.
The next Bond will fill the shoes of Daniel Craig, who last played the secret agent in 2021’s No Time to Die.
Slow Horses actor Jack Lowden remains one of the frontrunners for the coveted role, while a host of other stars have been linked to the part since Craig’s departure.
As fans know, the world’s slickest spy is rarely seen without a glamorous Bond Girl – or three – in tow, but no news has yet been released on who could be in the running.
Many of the show’s most iconic moments centre around 007’s striking counterparts – and here, we look back at some of the original Bond Girls, and where they are now…
Ursula Andress – Dr. No – 1962
Ursula Andress launched the archetype of the Bond Girl as Honey Ryder in 1962’s Dr. No, alongside Sean Connery.
The image of her emerging from the ocean in a white bikini with a knife remains one of the franchise’s most defining moments.
Ursula went on to pose nude for Playboy before starring with Elvis Presley in 1963’s Fun in Acapulco, with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in 4 for Texas, and with Laurence Olivier and Harry Hamlin – the father of her son Dimitri – in 1981’s Clash of the Titans.
After starring in films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, she gradually retired from acting to focus on her art collection and private life.
Ursula, 90, said she felt “such pain” on hearing the news of Connery’s death in 2020 – saying they had “perfect chemistry” on screen.
The actress, who only married once – to American actor John Derek from 1957 until their divorce in 1966 – said: “He was a great man, today men like that just don’t exist, they are all too narcissistic, too taken with themselves.
”Today finding someone like Sean is very difficult. He was a great friend and a fabulous actor.”
Earlier this year, Italian authorities seized £17.3million worth of assets in Tuscany, including property, vineyards and olive groves, which had allegedly been bought with money embezzled from Ursula.
The former Bond Girl had filed a complaint in her native Switzerland alleging a “progressive and significant depletion of her assets” by individuals charged with managing her finances, Italy’s financial crimes police said in a statement.
Shirley Eaton – Goldfinger – 1964
Brit actress Shirley was hailed as the ultimate sex symbol after suffering the most famous Bond girl fate in the franchise, in 1964’s Goldfinger.
Her character, Jill Masterson, was murdered by being covered in gold paint from head to toe – causing “skin suffocation.”
The iconic scene sparked a rumour she had died in filming, and she even appeared on a 2003 TV show to dispel the myth.
In fact the golden girl, now 89, gave up her career to bring up two children, Grant and Jason, with husband Colin Rowe.
Jane Seymour – Live and Let Die – 1973
For a character named Solitaire, Jane Seymour’s Bond Girl spends little time alone after meeting 007 and ending up in his bed in Live and Let Die.
A voodoo medium whose psychic powers depend on her virginity, she is seduced by Roger Moore’s Bond and loses her unique gift in the process.
The British star, who recently turned 75, went on to star in East of Eden, the TV series Dr Quinn Medicine Woman and The War with Grandpa, with Robert de Niro.
Outside of acting, she has built a massive lifestyle brand, written self-help books, and launched significant charitable foundations.
Jane has been married four times, and was left “beyond bankrupt” by property deals involving second husband David Flynn.
In 2018, the mum-of-four became the oldest woman to pose for Playboy, at the age of 67.
The spread came 45 years after appearing in the magazine the year she did Bond, and she said she now feels sexier than ever.
Britt Ekland – The Man with the Golden Gun – 1974
Swedish Britt Ekland brought charisma and comedic timing to her role as MI6 operative Mary Goodnight in 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun opposite Roger Moore.
Needless to say her duties as Bond’s PA went beyond taking notes and keeping his diary – and a ‘good night’ was had by all.
Beyond 007, she was a regular fixture of 1970s pop culture, famous for her high-profile romances and busy film career.
She divorced comedian Peter Sellers, father to daughter Victoria in 1968, after a four-year marriage.
She went on to have a son with record producer Lou Adler and a high profile romance with Rod Stewart, which ended in 1977 after two years.
At 42, she married Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom, who was 23 at the time. They divorced in 1992.
Following Bond, she went on to star in the comedy Royal Flash and the 1989 movie Scandal, as well as a host of TV Miniseries, including Valley of the Dolls.
In 2010, she took part in I’m A Celebrity…, falling out with fainting campmate Gillian McKeith, and also appeared in The Real Marigold Hotel.
Britt, now 83, has also spoken candidly in recent years about “destroying her looks” with lip fillers in her 50s.
Barbara Bach – The Spy Who Loved Me – 1977
Barbara Bach broke the mold of the traditional damsel in distress by playing the formidable Soviet agent Anya Amasova in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me.
Despite attempting to murder Bond on their first meeting, inevitably, the pair end up as lovers, and the film ends with them floating off to sea in an escape pod after defeating evil Russian Karl Stromberg at his secret sea base.
In real life, she did float off into the sunset with another British icon – The Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr – after divorcing her first husband, who was an Italian count.
As well as starring in a handful of films, Barbara co-founded charity, the Lotus Foundation, alongside her husband, who she wed in 1981.
Since stepping out of the spotlight, Barbara, who is now 80, earned a degree in psychology and devoted her life to humanitarian work.
Grace Jones – A View to a Kill – 1985
Singer Grace Jones turned the Bond universe on its head as the fierce, muscular, fashion-forward villain May Day in 1985’s A View to a Kill.
In the Roger Moore film, she played the memorable henchwoman to villain Zorin.
Jamaica-born Grace was already a household name when she took the role in 1985.
She went on to release her iconic album Slave To The Rhythm the year after.
Grace, now 78, dated former bodyguard Dolph Lundgren and launched his acting career by getting him a role in the Bond film.
She has had one brief marriage – to Atila Altaunbay – and has a son by graphic designer Jean Paul Goude.
Not one to settle into retirement, she has maintained a legendary career as a music star and continues to tour and perform at music festivals.
Michelle Yeoh – Tomorrow Never Dies – 1997
With her martial arts skills and speed in a motorbike chase, Michelle Yeoh’s character Wai Lin certainly kept Pierce Brosnan on his toes in Tomorrow Never Dies.
Performing her own dangerous stunts, she redefined what an action heroine could be in a modern blockbuster.
Her Bond turn opened doors to global stardom, leading to acclaimed roles in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Crazy Rich Asians, Avatar, and recently, Wicked.
In 2023, she made history by winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Michelle, 64, lives with former rally driver Jean Todt.
Halle Berry – Die Another Day – 2002
Starring as Jinx Johnson, opposite Pierce Brosnan’s suave spy, Halle spent a good deal of her time in a bikini and upped her fan base in the process.
But she wasn’t just a pretty face in 2002’s Die Another Day.
Jinx was a trained assassin sent to kill a North Korean agent, and bedded Bond to get the information she needed to carry out her deadly task.
Before starring in Bond, she already had a Best Actress Oscar win under her belt, for Monster’s Ball in 2001.
She went on to play Storm in the X-Men movies, and appear in Moonfall and The Mothership.
Over the two decades since, she has built an expansive career as a Hollywood A-lister, action star, film producer, and director.
In her personal life, Halle, 60, has been married three times and is now engaged to singer Van Hunt.
In 2012, Halle went through a bitter custody battle with former partner Gabriel Aubry over their daughter, Nala, born in 2008.
She also has a son with third husband Olivier Martinez, although they separated in 2015, after two years of marriage.
In 2000, Halle pleaded no contest to charges of leaving the scene of a car accident in Hollywood, and was sentenced to three years’ probation, fined $13,500 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.
Earlier this year, the Oscar winner says she is having “the most amazing sex” with Van after her three divorces and is now with the “love of her life”.
James Bond writer confirms new 007 HAS been cast
A TOP screenwriter working on the new James Bond film has let slip that the role may already have been cast and the audition process completed.
The identity of the next 007 remains shrouded in mystery, but Steven Knight appeared to suggest a decision had been made.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today show, the Peaky Blinders creator was asked whether he had written the film with the chosen actor in mind or based on what he already knew about the character.
He replied that it was “a bit of both”, seemingly confirming that an actor had been picked.
Steven added: “It does make life a little bit easier if you know who that person is, but also you have to write the character, not the actor.”
He went on to discuss the honour of writing for such an iconic franchise.
Steven said: “The thing with Bond is that it’s its own universe and its own franchise, so there are certain rules.
“Obviously, you have to move it along, but I love where it sits.
“I love that it’s British and it’s not DC or Marvel. The only thing I can say is I feel like I’m doing my duty for King and country.
“It’s something that, if you’re a British writer, you have to do.”
The next Bond will fill the shoes of Daniel Craig, who last played the secret agent in 2021’s No Time to Die.
Slow Horses actor Jack Lowden remains one of the frontrunners for the coveted role, while a host of other stars have been linked to the part since Craig’s departure.
Jack’s co-star Gary Oldman also appeared to fuel speculation during a recent TV appearance on Canada’s The Morning Show.
Discussing rumours that Lowden was on the shortlist, he told the host: “We’re going to find out pretty soon, aren’t we? Because they have picked him.”
The Oscar winner then doubled down, saying: “They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet.”
Hyperscalers, Nvidia reshape the long-duration bond supply (NVDA:NASDAQ)
Robert Way
Hyperscalers and Nvidia (NVDA) had become a much larger source of long-duration debt issuance relative to the U.S. Treasury in 2026, according to a chart posted by Global Macro.
The chart showed hyperscaler and Nvidia debt issuance, including special-purpose vehicles, had risen