Confidence levels in corporate bond and equity markets have diverged to an extent not seen since the financial crisis as fixed income traders signal rougher times ahead. Investment-grade bond yields and equity volatility, measures of investor sentiment in their respective markets, have moved further apart than at any time since March 2008. Source Financial Times
- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Iran is responsible for the drone attacks on important facilities in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province that reportedly forced the kingdom to shut down half of its oil production on Saturday.
- Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the attacks, which created a huge fire at a processor essential to global energy supplies.
- “We call on all nations to publicly and unequivocally condemn Iran’s attacks,” Pompeo said. Source CNBC
Germany is confident that hitches threatening the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will be resolved to allow completion of the project on time this year. Source Bloomberg
Italy is unlikely to clash with the European Union over its draft budget for next year because the new government in Rome is more likely to play by EU fiscal rules than the previous one and Brussels does not want it to fail, officials said on Friday. Source Reuters
