Key momentsSign up for our daily business newsletter hereBond and currency markets wary
Political upheaval in Japan and France gripped currency and bond markets for a second day.
The yen sank to a two-month low of 150.44 against the dollar, while Japanese government bond prices dipped, pushing yields higher. Although there was appetite for an auction of 536.8 billion yen ($3.57 billion) of 30-year JGBs, allaying fears that investors might steer clear of long-dated debt given the fiscal uncertainty.
While the election of monetary dove Sanae Takaichi as leader of the ruling party in Japan propelled the Nikkei to yet another record high. It was also helped by news of US chip manufacturer AMD’s deal with OpenAI, which pushed the Nasdaq and S&P 500 to record highs.
The shock resignation of Sebastien Lecornu as French prime minister threw the nation deeper into political crisis and unnerved markets. French government bond futures fell slightly after bonds tumbled on Monday, while the euro came under pressure and eased 0.2 per cent against the dollar to $1.1696.
European stock futures pointed to a muted opening, with FTSE 100 futures down 0.07 per cent.
Elon Musk appoints ex-banker as xAI finance chief
Elon Musk has appointed former Morgan Stanley banker Anthony Armstrong as the new chief financial officer of his artificial intelligence group xAI, the Financial Times reports.
Armstrong , who the report says willrun the finance operations for both xAI and social media platform X, replaces Mike Liberatore who left the artificial intelligence startup in July after only a few months in the job. Last month, OpenAI hired Liberatore to be the artificial intelligence startup’s business finance officer, responsible for overseeing its AI infrastructure.