World shares decline as bond market pressure persists, and Iran’s rial sinks against the dollar

BANGKOK (AP) — World shares were mostly lower and oil prices slipped on Monday at the outset of a week capped by an annual meeting of top U.S. economic officials at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Iran’s currency hit a record low as the U.S. prepared to announce new sanctions to try to break the impasse with Iran, adding pressure when its economy is already battered by earlier sanctions and a U.S. naval blockade.

The rial dropped to 2.02 million to the U.S. dollar on informal currency markets. Iran’s official Central Bank rate stood at around 1.5 million rial to the dollar, but the informal rate is what most Iranians pay.

In early European trading, Germany’s DAX edged 0.1% lower to 26,110.79, while the CAC 40 in Paris also gave up 0.1%, to 8,474.35. Britain’s FTSE 100 inched up 0.1% to 10,831.33.

The future for the S&P 500 was down 0.2%, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.7% to 65,528.09, while South Korea’s Kospi lost 3.1% to 6,696.96.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong declined 1.9% to 25,517.33 and the Shanghai Composite index gave up 0.6% to 3,882.01.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5% to 9,103.10, bucking the regional trend.

Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1%.

Investors will get an important inflation update on Wednesday when the U.S. releases its report on personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, for July. It is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation. Much like the consumer price index, it has shown that the rate of U.S. consumer inflation remains stubbornly above 3%.

The Fed has been struggling to get inflation back to its target rate of 2%. Inflation has crept higher after the U.S. imposed a wide range of tariffs globally. It has climbed further as the Iran war slowed global oil shipments from the Strait of Hormuz.

Last week, rising bond yields forced the U.S. Treasury Department into an unusual intervention and raised the specter of higher borrowing costs weighing on consumer spending, the lifeblood of the economy. It also sparked concerns that investors balk at financing a seemingly endless flow of government borrowing.

The bond markets got only temporary relief from Bessent’s announcement that the government would double its buybacks of longer-term bonds. That was meant to bring down the 10-year Treasury yield and lower mortgages. The 10-year yield rose back to 4.73% Friday, matching its highest point in more than a year. It was at 4.71% early Monday.

The 30-year Treasury yield, which the Fed is also targeting with its bond repurchases, also rose and is near its highest level since 2007.

Higher yields can slow the economy and undercut prices for all kinds of investments.

The bond market has remained jumpy, and investors will be watching for signals from Federal Reserve Gov. Kevin Warsh regarding rates and other policies in a key speech at the annual gathering of U.S. economic leaders in Jackson Hole later this week.

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% for just its second gain in the six days since setting its all-time high last week. The Dow industrials jumped 1% and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.4%.

Most U.S. companies have reported bigger profits for the spring than analysts expected, helping push stocks to records since share prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term.

Uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again has roiled markets, causing oil prices to rise and pushing up Treasury yields due to worries over inflation.

The outlook remained murky early Monday. The new head of Iran’s top security body warned Sunday that Tehran will see any country’s support for new U.S. economic measures against the Islamic Republic as an “act of war,” while Iran’s president defended a memorandum of understanding with the United States as the best way out of the stalled conflict.

Early Monday, the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil was 1.1% lower at $93.32. U.S. benchmark crude fell 1.8% to $85.52 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar bought 159.27 Japanese yen, up from 158.94 yen late Friday. The euro fell to $1.1662 from $1.1678.