{"text":[[{"start":11.65,"text":"US stocks and Treasuries dropped on Monday after an escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran triggered fresh bets on higher inflation and interest rates. "}],[{"start":21.4,"text":"The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 1.6 per cent on Monday, while the S&P 500 fell 0.8 per cent. "}],[{"start":29.15,"text":"The declines followed a surge in oil prices after the US carried out a fifth round of strikes on Iran late on Sunday, sparking retaliation from Tehran and casting doubt over last month’s agreement between the adversaries to extend a ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz."}],[{"start":46.7,"text":"Donald Trump threatened late on Monday to launch a new salvo of strikes later in the day and on Tuesday. He had also threatened earlier to reinstate a naval blockade on Iran and impose a 20 per cent fee on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. "}],[{"start":62.1,"text":"Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, climbed to its highest level in a month to settle at $83.30 on Monday. "}],[{"start":70.9,"text":"Government bonds weakened as the rise in oil prices reignited concerns that inflation could force the Federal Reserve to lift interest rates."}],[{"start":79.5,"text":"The two-year Treasury yield, which tracks Fed rate expectations, rose to its highest level in over a year, 4.28 per cent. Traders in the futures market pulled forward interest rate raise expectations, with the first quarter-point increase now expected as soon as October, and a second expected by April. "}],[{"start":99.05,"text":"Last week a single increase was expected by December. "}],[{"start":103.25,"text":"“A week or so ago, the disagreements and conflict [between the US and Iran] was assumed by markets to not be a ground-shift back to war, but a temporary upset. It doesn’t seem like that’s the case today,” said Lou Brien, a strategist at DRW Trading. "}],[{"start":120.7,"text":"“It’s no longer clear that the US and Iran have the same ends in mind,” said Brien. "}],[{"start":126.15,"text":"Hostilities have escalated over control of the Strait of Hormuz in the past week, putting a ceasefire agreement between the two sides on the verge of collapse and risking a return to full-scale war."}],[{"start":138.1,"text":"“The recent oil price rally, driven by tanker attacks and renewed US-Iran strikes, demonstrates how critical Hormuz flows remain for prices in the short term,” Goldman Sachs analysts noted."}],[{"start":150.04999999999998,"text":"On Wall Street, semiconductor stocks, which have been volatile in recent weeks following a blistering rally at the start of the year, led the declines. Memory company Sandisk fell 12.6 per cent and Western Digital dropped 4.7 per cent. Chipmaker Micron fell 4.4 per cent."}],[{"start":169.64999999999998,"text":"South Korea’s tech-heavy Kospi, which entered a technical bear market last week, once again led declines in Asia with a 9 per cent drop, prompting a trading halt."}],[{"start":179.2,"text":"Memory chipmakers were the biggest fallers in Asian markets. SK Hynix shares slumped 15.4 per cent in Seoul, a record one-day drop, shortly after the chipmaker listed shares on the Nasdaq exchange in the US last week. "}],[{"start":195.25,"text":"Japanese chipmaker Kioxia was down 12.9 per cent and Samsung Electronics retreated 10.1 per cent. "}],[{"start":203.1,"text":"“It’s global risk off,” said Jason Lui, head of Asia-Pacific equity and derivative strategy at BNP Paribas."}],[{"start":211.04999999999998,"text":"The drop in chip stocks came despite Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, reporting on Monday that revenue in the first half of 2026 jumped 36 per cent compared with the same period in 2025, meeting analysts’ lofty expectations."}],[{"start":236.85,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1783988128_2435.mp3"}