Foreign inflows into major Asian local-currency bond markets fell to a four-month low in July as an oil-price shock from the Middle East conflict prompted investor caution, regulators and bond-market associations said. Net foreign purchases of local bonds in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand totaled $2.03 billion in July, the smallest monthly net buy since March. IIF data showed emerging-market debt still drew $26.7 billion in July on high yields, improving fundamentals and di

Wall Street Journal reports global diesel supplies are tightening, with disruptions to Russian and Middle East flows increasing competition for US diesel as winter approaches. OPIS (Dow Jones price service) shows the European diesel benchmark rose to $167/bbl late last week from about $87/bbl a year earlier; the Northwest Europe diesel crack was roughly $90/bbl on Friday versus an average near $24/bbl last year. Unusually rich refining margins are pushing US refiners to export more product: US distillate exports jumped to a record c.1.9 mln b/d in the first week of August, cutting domestic buffers. US distillate inventories are at the lowest seasonal level in about 30 years. BofA says the market is entering peak seasonal demand with very limited room for error.

US housing starts slowed in July, falling 12.4% to a 1.24 mln annualized pace versus a 1.35 mln survey expectation. Single-family starts dropped 9.9% to 808k, the lowest since November 2022. Multifamily starts fell nearly 17% after a prior surge. The pullback highlights difficulty for the US housing market to regain momentum amid rising mortgage rates since the Iran war outbreak and elevated home prices. Residential investment made a small positive contribution to Q2 GDP — the first in 2024 — but gains were modest. Outlook for starts remains unclear.