Finance

Crude oil benchmarks experienced mild relief after political assurances indicated that no immediate military strikes would target Iran before the upcoming midterm elections. Despite the brief dip, both Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate futures remained elevated as persistent tension in the Strait of Hormuz continues to support a heavy geopolitical risk premium.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield hovered around 5.24%, remaining close to multi-decade peaks established earlier in the week. Simultaneously, consumer surveys highlighted worsening inflation forecasts over the coming year, bolstering market expectations for a potential Federal Reserve interest rate hike in December.

Bitcoin managed a slight recovery to trade near the $82,500 threshold, benefiting from a broad stabilization in investor risk sentiment. Despite this intraday turnaround, the wider digital asset market registered notable weekly losses, leaving major tokens down multi-percentage points over the seven-day period.