Finance

Global oil benchmarks dropped dramatically, with West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude futures falling roughly 6% to 7% in a single day. The sharp decline was fueled by optimism surrounding potential peace negotiations between Washington and Tehran, raising expectations that military escalations in the Middle East could be averted. Major oil producers also saw their stock valuations contract following the energy price slump.

U.S. government bond yields moved lower, with 10-year and 30-year maturities leading the decline to touch multi-month lows. The drop was largely influenced by the concurrent plunge in oil prices, which alleviated market worries over sticky inflation pressures. Investors have also modestly scaled back their expectations for aggressive future interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

The broader cryptocurrency market remained on its back foot as Bitcoin hovered around the $78,000 threshold while Ethereum struggled to clear near-term resistance levels. Heavy institutional outflows from spot ETFs have persistently plagued the space, compounded by billions of dollars in client asset redemptions on prominent exchanges following recent cybersecurity breaches. Traders are maintaining a cautious approach ahead of key domestic political catalysts.