(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a

columnist for Reuters.)

By Mike Dolan

Aug 11 (Reuters) -

What matters in U.S. and global markets today

By Mike Dolan, Editor-at-Large, Finance and Markets

With U.S. Treasuries on tenterhooks ahead of tomorrow's big

inflation report, the renewed tightening of energy markets is

adding to the tension, with Brent crude trading at nearly $90 a

barrel on Tuesday after rising 5% yesterday.

Hopes that the Strait of Hormuz might reopen have been knocked

by the U.S. and Iran's entrenched positions on the terms of any

prospective deal.

I'll get into that and more below.

But first, check out my latest column on Trump's latest

challenge to Federal Reserve independence - and why it's coming

at a nervy time for the bond market.

And listen to the latest episode of the Morning Bid daily

podcast, where we discuss Nvidia's $500 billion AI financing

push and more.

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LONG BOND BOTHER

Tehran's demands that Washington lift sanctions, pay reparations

and allow it some control of Hormuz were countered by the White

House's insistence on Monday that Tehran pay compensation of its

own and free up all shipping lanes.

Oil markets are bracing for a protracted standoff, adding to

persistent inflation worries, nudging bond yields higher and

reining in stocks, despite the bumper second-quarter earnings

season. At 5.28%, the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond came

within a whisker of its highest in almost 20 years.

Adding to Treasury angst in a significant week for bond sales,

the Japanese yen weakened past the 159-per-dollar level on

Monday and into Tuesday, with Tokyo markets closed today for a

holiday. Currency markets are seemingly testing the resolve of

U.S. and Japanese authorities to keep propping up the unit after

recent historic joint intervention.

Gnawing at the currency are doubts about the Bank of Japan's

willingness to tighten monetary policy significantly to back up

the yen-buying. And there are background concerns in the U.S.

bond market that a long Japanese campaign of dollar sales could

see some liquidation of their giant Treasury holdings.

Elsewhere, U.S. earnings on the slate for Tuesday include AI

cloud computing company CoreWeave, which will give another

glimpse of the scale of data center demand amid the AI boom.

Meantime, Nvidia said on Monday it was working with six major

Wall Street firms to raise some half a trillion dollars' worth

of financing pools to support the AI infrastructure push.

And Intel raised $20 billion from an upsized share offering on

Tuesday, with its shares falling 4% on Monday after it announced

the sale.

Chart of the day

Japan's yen weakened again this week, testing the resolve of

Japanese and U.S. authorities to keep supporting the currency

after the recent historic intervention.

The yen-buying salvo, which amounted to almost $100 billion

of dollar sales, squeezed speculative short positions in the yen

after they had built up to almost two-year extremes.

Whether speculators feel emboldened to rebuild those short

positions is now a big question. Wariness of more intervention

abounds, even though Japan's markets were closed for a holiday

on Tuesday.

Today's events to watch

* U.S. existing home sales (10 a.m. EDT), 3-year note

auction (1 p.m. EDT)

* U.S. corporate earnings: CoreWeave

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Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect

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