(The opinions expressed here are those of the authors.)

By Anna Szymanski

August 7 (Reuters) - Every Friday, Reuters Open Interest

(ROI) distills the financial week into five key charts,

spotlighting the major trends, surprises and overlooked moves

that defined the past five days.

1. JOINT YENTERVENTION

JAMIE MCGEEVER, ROI Markets Columnist: The U.S. Treasury's

foray into the foreign exchange market last Friday to buy

Japanese yen wasn't its first FX intervention and won't be its

last.

But it was one of its most unusual, not least because of the

choreography leading up to the move, including U.S. Treasury

Secretary Scott Bessent's yen purchase "to-do" list. Curiously,

the Treasury used euros rather than dollars to fund those

purchases. That could indicate Washington is reluctant to sell

even small quantities of dollar-denominated assets with

long-dated Treasury yields already at 19-year highs. Concerns

about the bond market could also explain the use of the Fed's

"FIMA" repo facility, which relieved pressure on Tokyo to sell

Treasuries.

The whole episode is a reminder that investors shouldn't get

complacent about the latent risk that has long faced the U.S.

bond market: a major creditor, such as Japan, could be forced to

liquidate a significant portion of its enormous holdings of U.S.

government debt, rapidly driving up borrowing costs.

Is this likely to happen? No, but markets currently face ​a

perfect storm: weakness in the yen, stress in Japanese

government bonds (JGBs) and parts of the Treasury curve, and

credibility issues at both the Federal Reserve and Bank of

Japan. So caution is advised.

2. HOT MARGINS

RON BOUSSO, ROI Energy Columnist: The Iran war and its knock-on

effects have removed roughly 5 million barrels per day of global

refining capacity versus pre-war levels, giving refiners

substantial pricing power and driving the margins for gasoline,

diesel and jet fuel to record highs.

That has helped boost oil majors' second-quarter earnings,

but the gains are unlikely to endure because they reflect lost

capacity rather than stronger underlying demand.

3. OVERSTIMULATED

MIKE DOLAN, ROI Finance & Markets Columnist: While the headline

inflation-adjusted U.S. GDP figure may be underwhelming, nominal

U.S. GDP clocked annualised growth of almost 8% in the second

quarter. This rate has been exceeded only twice in the past

three years and is almost twice the 25-year average.

This is another sign that the U.S. economy is building a

powerful head of steam and risks overheating. The pressure to

tighten policy is mounting, and if it doesn't come from the Fed,

it may well come from the bond market.

4. A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME?

GAVIN MAGUIRE, ROI Energy Transition Columnist: Several

countries around the world have sharply increased imports of

Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) this year while simultaneously

reducing gasoline imports.

We all know correlation doesn't equal causation, and the

Iran war's negative impact on fuel imports is obviously playing

a role here. But when the same pattern appears across multiple

regions and income levels, it starts to look less like

coincidence and more like an early signal of structural change.

The provocative possibility is that China's EV export surge is

beginning to reshape global gasoline trade flows.

5. SPACEX SPLURGE

ANNA SZYMANSKI, ROI Editor-in-Charge: SpaceX on Tuesday

reported second-quarter revenue of $7.8 billion, beating

analysts' expectations, but the stock price slid on Wednesday as

investors focused on the massive rise in capex related to the

company's artificial intelligence build-out. Total spending

reached $18.4 billion in the quarter, including a staggering

$15.8 billion on AI.

The shares could eventually come under further pressure

following the expiry of the first lockup period for insider

holdings on Thursday, a development that could also put retail

investors' iron stomach to the test.

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

the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is

committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.