Market Pulse

In the past 12 hours, the market calm that Treasury Secretary Bessent’s debt-buyback plan was intended to restore has short-circuited: US bond yields are surging again, while equities slipped, with the Dow down 400 points. That thrusts rate expectations back to the fore. Bank of England Governor Bailey cautioned investors not to count on UK rate hikes, while China’s central bank pledged timely policy-tool adjustments, keeping currency markets alert for divergence. In commodities, Russia’s central bank — historically one of the world’s top gold buyers — has become a steady seller, a notable structural shift for the gold market. Separately, Bank of Montreal is reorganizing its international capital markets unit. In crypto, the policy backdrop is swiftly evolving. Bitcoin pushed above $70K as President Trump voiced optimism on the CLARITY Act and discussed a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve during a White House meeting with crypto and finance CEOs. Yet the regulatory path is multi-track: the SEC has its own proposed crypto-asset rulemaking, while the CFTC has placed Coinbase and Kalshi CEOs on a new rulebook committee and signaled it will write rules even if CLARITY stalls. Meanwhile, XRP climbed to fifth in crypto rankings after a rally of over 20%, and a FASB proposal to treat stablecoins as cash-equivalents could ease institutional adoption.