Stocks Fall, Oil Climbs as Mideast Unrest Deepens, Fed Decision Preview

Oil climbed and most stocks in Asia followed losses on Wall Street as concerns mounted that an escalation of tensions in the Middle East will trigger a more direct US involvement. West Texas Intermediate crude rose as much as 1.1% in early trading Wednesday after settling at the highest in almost five months the previous day. US equity futures slipped, as did Australia’s benchmark index and Hong Kong futures.

Staying with geopolitics, The White House's review of the Aukus pact — a security arrangement between the US, UK and Australia — is rattling one of Washington’s closest alliances, and playing right into China’s hands. It sends yet another signal that America First might just mean everyone else alone. First announced by former President Joe Biden in 2021, the multibillion-dollar deal commits Washington and London to help Canberra develop a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines over a 30-year period. It was designed to help counter Beijing’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. For more, we turn to Bloomberg Opinion columnist Karishma Vaswani.

Plus - Federal Reserve officials are widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, reiterating they want more clarity on the economic impact of a wide array of government policy changes before adjusting borrowing costs. Policymakers have warned President Donald Trump’s tariffs could boost inflation and unemployment, but so far, steady hiring and cooling inflation have allowed Fed officials to keep rates unchanged this year. We speak to Bill Campbell, Global Bond Portfolio Manager at DoubleLine.

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