New attacks in the Persian Gulf are driving up oil prices and yields

New mutual attacks in the Persian Gulf have pushed oil prices further higher. While the US military attacked several Iranian positions, Tehran responded with new missile attacks on various US bases in the region.

The latest escalation after a phase of relative calm is raising concerns about a new wave of inflation on global stock markets. North Sea Brent crude oil continued to climb to almost $96 per barrel overnight.

This sent the stock markets in Asia plummeting. In South Korea, the Kospi index slipped by 3.8 percent. The Japanese Nikkei index is currently losing a good 2.8 percent.

"The threat of further disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has sparked fresh inflation fears, causing a sell-off in equities across most major markets and a slump in global bond markets," Westpac analysts wrote.

The New York stock exchanges were already under pressure. The Dow Jones lost 0.8 percent, while technology stocks on the Nasdaq lost 1.0 percent. Inflation concerns have also accelerated losses in the bond market. The yield on ten-year US government bonds reached 4.81 percent, its highest level in almost three years.

In Germany, too, nervousness on the bond market had recently increased and yesterday pushed the ten-year yield to a new 15-year high of 3.36 percent. The high returns are in turn putting pressure on the stock markets. They are increasingly making bonds an attractive investment alternative.