(Updates to U.S. market open)
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Wall Street stocks rebound, led by Alphabet
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Fiscal worries send super-long bond yields higher
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Moves a warning to governments, says Deutsche Bank CEO
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Japanese state borrowing costs hit record highs
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Gold races above $3,500 amid safe-haven scarcity
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Sterling, yen pressured by debt market woes
By Lawrence Delevingne and Naomi Rovnick
Sept 3 (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks recovered on
Wednesday after Alphabet gained on a favorable antitrust ruling
and investors awaited labor market data that could influence the
central bank's upcoming interest-rate decision.
Alphabet jumped around 8% in early trading, while
Apple ( AAPL ) also gained about 2% as the ruling allowed Google
to continue lucrative payments to the iPhone maker. Broadly, the
Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed, the S&P
500 rose 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite
added 0.73%.
At the same time, a sell-off in global long-dated bonds sent
Japan's government borrowing costs to record highs on Wednesday,
as mounting concerns over government debt sustainability and
long-term inflation also rattled investors in Europe.
Spot gold hit an all-time high of $3,557 as the rush
out of long-term government debt, traditionally considered
low-risk, sparked a hunt for alternative safe-haven assets.
The 30-year Japanese government bond yield hit an
unprecedented 3.28% on Wednesday, following a sell-off in
similarly dated British gilts, U.S. Treasuries
and Canadian bonds in the prior session.
"The economic reforms needed to really cover increasing debt
are lacking, and the capital market sees that," Deutsche Bank
chief executive Christian Sewing said about the long-dated debt
sell-off in comments at a conference on Wednesday morning.
The trend may continue, he added, "if we see a further
increase in political instability, if we don't see any
reforms".
British finance minister Rachel Reeves is expected to raise
taxes in her autumn budget to remain in line with her fiscal
targets, while in France Prime Minister Francois Bayrou looks
set to lose a confidence vote as opposition parties balk at his
spending cuts.
In Japan, government departments have just presented record
budget requests and senior aides to Prime Minister Shigeru
Ishiba, including Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama, have
offered to resign following their party's defeat in July's upper
house election.
On Wednesday, British 30-year gilt yields rose 6 basis
points to a fresh post-1998 high of 5.752%, before recovering to
last trade at 5.65%.
Germany's 30-year yield stood at 3.37%,
remaining close to its highest level in 14 years.
The global trend would likely feed on itself, some analysts
said, because higher yields in Japan meant Japanese savers who
had for decades looked to overseas assets for income now had
fewer reasons to buy non-domestic government debt.
"Global bond markets no longer benefit from the Japanese
hunt for yield," L&G Asia head of investment strategy Ben
Bennett said. "It's a perfect storm for long-dated bonds and a
headache for governments."
RIPPLE EFFECTS
The gap between 2-year and 30-year U.S. government bond yields
stands at about 130 bps, around its highest since
December 2021, while the comparable measure in Britain
is the highest since 2017.
The 30-year U.S. Treasury yield briefly rose above 5% during
Asia trade and last stood at 4.971% and, with yields at this
level, investors are starting to watch for spillovers into other
asset classes.
"The 5% level is going to be impactful to equities," said
Josh Chastant, portfolio manager, public markets at GuideStone
Funds. "And you are starting to see some of that pressure."
Britain's pound briefly fell to a four-week low of $1.343
, before recovering a little. Japan's yen was
a touch softer at 148.64 per dollar after sliding 0.8% in the
previous session.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback
against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,
fell 0.1%.
European stock markets remained unscathed as traders pinned
their hopes on an anticipated U.S. rate cut later this month,
with Europe's STOXX index up 0.46%.
But Japan's broad Topix share index closed almost
1.1% lower and MSCI's broad index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan dropped 0.4%.
TARIFF TREMORS
European purchasing managers' indexes on Wednesday, viewed
as barometers of overall economic conditions, showed expansion
in Germany had slowed and France remained in contractionary
territory as businesses dealt with U.S. President Donald Trump's
unpredictable tariff policies.
Trump on Tuesday said his administration would ask the
Supreme Court for an expedited ruling on tariffs that an appeals
court found illegal last week. The court allowed for the tariffs
to stay in place until October 14.
U.S. manufacturing also contracted for a sixth straight
month in August as factories grappled with the impact of import
tariffs, data showed on Tuesday, helping to drive Brent crude
oil 1.4% lower to $68.16 a barrel on Wednesday.
Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls data will be preceded by data
on job openings and private payrolls, offering an update on the
labor market that has become the focus of policy debate at the
Fed.