{"id":87904,"date":"2026-07-08T17:00:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T07:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/?p=87904"},"modified":"2026-07-08T17:00:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T07:00:46","slug":"wednesday-8th-july-2026-markets-cautious-as-middle-east-tensions-rise-ahead-of-fed-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wednesday-8th-july-2026-markets-cautious-as-middle-east-tensions-rise-ahead-of-fed-minutes\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday 8th July 2026: Markets Cautious as Middle East Tensions Rise Ahead of Fed Minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3><br \/>Global Markets:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>&nbsp;Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 0.12%, Shanghai Composite up 0.52% Hang Seng up 2.54% ASX down 0.69%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Commodities : Gold at $4,139.51 (-0.46%) Silver at $61.030 (-0.51%), Brent Oil at $76.10 (2.62%), WTI Oil at $72.30 (2.63%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rates : US 10-year yield at 4.556, UK 10-year yield at 4.8519, Germany 10-year yield at 2.9875<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3>News &amp; Data:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>(USD) Trade Balance 4.2B&nbsp; to 2.8B&nbsp; expected<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(CAD) Trade Balance -77.6B&nbsp; to -78.3B&nbsp; expected<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3>Markets Update:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>U.S. stock futures traded near flat on Tuesday as investors assessed escalating tensions in the Middle East, rising oil prices, and awaited the Federal Reserve\u2019s latest policy meeting minutes. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 29 points, while S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures each edged down about 0.1%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The U.S. launched a series of strikes against Iran after attacks on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. In response, the Treasury Department revoked Iran\u2019s license to sell oil internationally. The developments pushed energy prices higher, with West Texas Intermediate crude rising 2.1% to $71.87 per barrel and Brent crude gaining 1.9% to $75.53.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asian markets were mostly lower on Wednesday. Japan\u2019s Nikkei 225 and Topix fell 0.55% and 0.7%, while South Korea\u2019s Kospi and Kosdaq declined 0.72% and 1.94%, respectively. Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng rose 1.2%, while China\u2019s CSI 300 slipped 0.47%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Tuesday\u2019s U.S. session, investors rotated out of artificial intelligence-related stocks as higher oil prices weighed on sentiment. The Dow fell more than 100 points after reaching a record intraday high, while the S&amp;P 500 lost 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Markets now await the Federal Reserve\u2019s June meeting minutes for clues on future interest rate decisions and policymakers\u2019 outlook on inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Upcoming Events:<br \/><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>02:30 PM GMT &#8211; USD Crude Oil Inventories<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>06:00 PM GMT &#8211; USD FOMC Meeting Minutes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global Markets: News &amp; Data: Markets Update: U.S. stock futures traded [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":84958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[196,215,339],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87904"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87905,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87904\/revisions\/87905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}