Santiment: Ethereum fees hit a six-month low, indicating the upcoming altcoin season

Spot platinum has just surpassed the $1,630.00/oz mark, now quoted at $1,629.70/oz, down 4.76% on the day; Nymex platinum futures’ main contract is currently quoted at $1,636.20/oz, down 4.28% on the day.

France and Germany have stated that the diesel inventories committed in last week’s G7 agreement will mainly come from reserves already pledged in March, raising doubts about how much additional supply will actually enter the market. Germany has confirmed no plans for new releases, while France may add about 2 million barrels beyond previous commitments, though no clear pledge has been made. The International Energy Agency will hold an emergency meeting today to discuss the coordination of releases.

(1) Larissa de Barros Fritz, Senior Rates Strategist at ABN AMRO, believes that concerns about wider contagion in Europe sparked by the heavy sell-off of French government bonds are exaggerated. In a report released on Wednesday, she wrote that unlike previous periods of severe sovereign debt stress in the eurozone, there are currently no signs of broader financial risk transmission. (2) The credit default swap (CDS) spread, which measures the cost of protecting against default on French and German sovereign debt, has only "slightly" increased. This level is well below those seen during previous crises and also much lower than the CDS spread for Italy during the surge in concerns over Italy potentially leaving the eurozone in 2018. (3) Fritz believes that while French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen might have conflicts with the EU regarding France's contributions to the EU budget, she still states that the risks of fragmentation within the eurozone and of debts being redenominated into other currencies are relatively low. (4) She also wrote that the France-Germany bond yield spread is not expected to reach the levels above 200 basis points witnessed during previous periods of stress in the Italian debt market.

A Reuters survey indicates that fixed income strategists expect U.S. Treasury yields to decline in the coming months. Despite the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield recording its largest quarterly increase since 1994, strategists continue to uphold a long-standing bearish yield outlook. However, after consistently misjudging yield trends over the past nine months, confidence in a downward move is waning. Some strategists believe that financial markets have overly priced in a series of Fed rate hikes, and actual increases may ultimately fall short of market expectations. Meanwhile, concerns over inflation triggered by the U.S. and Israel's conflict with Iran, as well as rising policy rates from major global central banks, have recently pushed government borrowing costs in several developed economies to multi-decade highs. Tech giants have been heavily borrowing to build AI infrastructure, and increased issuance of U.S. Treasury bonds has also added to yield pressures. According to a Reuters poll conducted with nearly 60 strategists from October 5 to 7, the median forecast sees the 10-year Treasury yield dropping to 5.00% by year-end, 4.90% in six months, and 4.75% in a year.