President Trump told aides he’s willing to end the U.S. military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, administration officials said, likely extending Tehran’s firm grip on the waterway and leaving a complex operation to reopen it for a later date.

In recent days, Trump and his aides assessed that a mission to pry open the chokepoint would push the conflict beyond his timeline of four to six weeks. He decided that the U.S. should achieve its main goals of hobbling Iran’s navy and its missile stocks and wind down current hostilities while pressuring Tehran diplomatically to resume the free flow of trade. If that fails, Washington would press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait, the officials said. (WSJ – Continue Reading)

This month’s surge in Asian bond yields has triggered an increase in debt buying across the region, as governments seek to limit the spillover from higher energy prices to local borrowing costs.

Governments and central banks from South Korea to India and Indonesia are plowing funds into their bond markets to try to cap yields that have already risen to multi-year highs. Yields have been climbing on concern local economies will suffer from higher oil costs as they are net energy importers. (BBG – Continue Reading)

Annual core inflation in Tokyo slowed to a nearly two-year low in March and stayed below the central bank's target for a second straight month, data showed on Tuesday, as the effect of fuel subsidies offset rising raw material costs from a weak yen.

Analysts expect the slowdown to be temporary as surging oil prices from the Middle East conflict, as well as higher import prices from the weak yen, increase inflationary pressure and prod the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates further. (RTRS – Continue Reading)