{"id":82905,"date":"2026-08-11T17:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/?p=82905"},"modified":"2026-08-11T17:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:07:09","slug":"general-market-analysis-11-08-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/general-market-analysis-11-08-26\/","title":{"rendered":"General Market Analysis \u2013 11\/08\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>US Markets Pull Back as Middle East Tensions Escalate \u2013 Nasdaq off 0.3%<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>US equity markets pulled back from recent record levels overnight as hopes of a de-escalation in the Middle East continued to fade. The Dow Jones fell 0.11% to 53,975, while the S&amp;P 500 slipped 0.06% to 7,753. The technology-heavy Nasdaq underperformed, declining 0.32% to 26,605 as investors continued to assess the potential economic impact of further disruption across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Geopolitical concerns once again dominated later in the day after President Trump said he expects Iran to compensate the families of people he says have been killed as a result of Iranian actions, in response to Iranian demands for compensation. The increasingly difficult negotiations have raised concerns that the Strait of Hormuz could remain closed to shipping for longer, keeping the focus firmly on global energy supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oil prices responded sharply to the latest developments, with Brent crude jumping 5.18% to US$87.88 a barrel and WTI climbing 5.35% to US$82.38. The sharp move higher in energy prices also revived concerns over inflation, pushing US Treasury yields higher. The 2-year Treasury yield rose 4.4 basis points to 4.239%, while the benchmark 10-year yield climbed 6.1 basis points to 4.707%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The stronger yield environment helped support the US Dollar, with the US Dollar Index rising 0.28% to 99.82. Gold also continued to benefit from the increased geopolitical uncertainty, gaining 1.09% to US$4,389.19 an ounce as traders continued to seek protection in traditional safe-haven assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Oil Markets Set to Lead Financial Products Again<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oil prices rallied over 5% higher yesterday as negotiations between the US and Iran, albeit via the media rather than at the negotiating table, seemed to take a big step further apart, with Iran and the US trading demands for compensation that neither are likely to concede to. This is likely to lead to the Strait of Hormuz being shut to international shipping for an extended period, which should keep upward pressure on oil prices and inflation expectations and provide another boost to safe-haven assets. Oil fell nearly 20% in the few weeks on peace hopes and the prospect of the Strait reopening and has now rallied around 10% back on recent developments, and any further increases in hostile rhetoric or military action could see the rest of the move correct in short order. Traders are not expecting prices to remain at these levels for long, with moves either way, given the seesawing we\u2019ve seen in updates and negotiations over the last few months, seemingly equally likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Geopolitics Set to Dominate Sentiment Again Today<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Geopolitical developments are again expected to dominate market sentiment today, with traders closely monitoring any updates regarding the Strait of Hormuz and the ongoing discussions between the US and Iran. However, there are a couple of key events on the calendar that will pull investor focus back on fundamentals, however briefly. The key event on the economic calendar today will come during the Asian session when the Reserve Bank of Australia announces its latest interest rate decision in the Sydney afternoon, where they are expected to keep rates on hold at 4.35%. The accompanying press conference an hour later will also be closely watched, with traders looking for any clues on the RBA&#8217;s outlook for interest rates and the Australian economy. There is little of note in the London session today, and the US session is relatively quiet, with just Existing Home Sales (exp 4.5mio) data the only notable economic release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US Markets Pull Back as Middle East Tensions Escalate \u2013 Nasdaq [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":82906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[463],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-market-analysis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82907,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82905\/revisions\/82907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}