Bonds & Stocks
Stocks fell around the globe, bonds rose and oil hit $90 a barrel on concern that the Israel war with Hamas will escalate into a wider conflict in the Middle East. The S&P 500 dropped for a fourth straight session. The gauge approached its 200-day moving average, a threshold seen by some chartists as a harbinger of more losses, if crossed. Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — the VIX — hovered near its highest since March. Treasury 10-year yields pushed away from the 5% mark. Gold rose. Bitcoin briefly topped $30,000.
Economy
Voters in seven swing states are feeling the pain of rising prices for household essentials, according to a Bloomberg News and Morning Consult poll that points to trouble for President Joe Biden’s effort to make the economy a centerpiece of his bid for a second term. Three in four swing-state respondents said that prices have increased in the past month, in line with consumer price data showing that inflation rose 0.4% in September from the previous month.
World
There are fresh concerns that Israel’s war with Hamas will spark a bigger conflict in the energy-producing Middle East, as leaders from around the region prepare to gather in Cairo for a summit. Israel’s military said it struck Hamas targets in Gaza overnight and responded to fire from Lebanon by hitting Hezbollah assets. The US said its military bases in Iraq and Syria are increasingly under attack. Stocks retreated and oil rose.