Financial markets were deeply skewed by sharp moves in the final 24 hours of trade as Israel launched a strike against Iran, targeting assets and personnel linked its nuclear program. Crude oil prices spiked higher, stocks fell, and haven-seeking capital flows buoyed Treasury bonds and gold. Curiously, the US dollar struggled to assert its typical liquidity haven role in times of geopolitical volatility. It finished the week down 1.8% against the euro and 1.6% weaker against the Japanese yen. That’s after US CPI and PPI inflation data produced benign results, stoking Fed interest rate cut speculation. Against this ... (full story)