Shares, oil dip as US sanctions on Iran loom

By Iain Withers and Wayne Cole

LONDON/SYDNEY, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Global stocks slipped on Monday and oil prices eased as investors awaited details of threatened U.S. sanctions on Iran, while the Canadian dollar dipped as a trade war loomed with its southern neighbour.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is due to hold a press conference later on Monday to outline sanctions on Iran, which has shown no sign of relinquishing its control over the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Oil futures were down more than 1% ahead of the announcement as some oil traders took profits after big gains last week. [O/R]

The tech sector was on edge for Nvidia’s results on Wednesday; investors are aware how hard it will be for the chipmaker to meet stratospheric expectations.

“The big news this week will be Nvidia earnings… The tone of that might drive sentiment into the Nasdaq (market),” said Nutshell Asset Management CIO Mark Ellis.

Analysts are generally looking for quarterly revenue to almost double to around $92 billion, with full-year earnings guidance seen in a range of $103 billion to $105 billion.

WARSH SPEECH MAY DISAPPOINT

Market participants will also be hoping for some clarity on the outlook for U.S. interest rates when Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh speaks in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday, though his well-known aversion to forward guidance could lead to disappointment.

“There are several reasons to expect to be underwhelmed,” said Bruce Kasman, chief economist at JPMorgan, noting that past chairs have not wanted to front-run Fed decisions at the event.

“Warsh will rather likely focus on aspects of his ‘regime change’ agenda,” Kasman added. “As the Fed has already been moving toward shrinking the balance sheet, and the committee gave the balance sheet some attention in the July minutes, that might be the most likely topic for him to expound upon.”

Markets imply around a 40% chance that the Fed will raise interest rates when it meets on September 16 and are fully priced for a move by December.

The odds could change depending on what U.S. inflation figures show this week, with median forecasts for core inflation expected to hold at 3.3% in July. 

Warsh is sure to face questions about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s surprise announcement last week of at least a doubling in bond buybacks, aimed at restraining a rise in yields that was tightening financial conditions in the economy.

His efforts have had little success so far, with 30-year yields at 5.2518%, not far from the recent 19-year peak of 5.3371%.

U.S.-CANADIAN TRADE WAR

European stocks edged 0.1% lower in early trading, following declines across Asia including tech-heavy South Korean shares. On Wall Street, S&P 500 futures fell 0.2% and Nasdaq futures were down 0.7%.

The Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba slid around 9% after the Chinese e-commerce and cloud computing company launched a $10.2 billion share offer and investors worried about payback from its massive AI spending.

fell more than 8% after a record $79 billion shareholder-return plan disappointed investors who had expected a larger share of AI-fuelled cash windfalls. 

In currency markets, the dollar added 0.5% against its Canadian counterpart to 1.3837 after Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country would respond to U.S. tariffs with levies of its own as trade talks broke down.

Canada will impose tariffs on U.S. steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper and electronics, along with some products that the U.S. previously targeted in Canada.

The dollar index was up 0.2% to 98.983. The euro dipped 0.1% to $1.16655 after rising 0.9% last week, while the dollar gained 0.1% to 159.2 yen.

Gold firmed another 0.8% to $4,640 an ounce, having climbed about 15% for the month so far. [GOL/]

(Reporting by Iain Withers and Wayne Cole; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus, Jacqueline Wong and Alex Richardson)