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When traditional assets increasingly share the same global drivers, diversification may depend on finding genuinely different sources of return.

Global equities slipped for a second week as investors questioned whether debt-funded artificial intelligence (AI) spending can earn adequate returns. US Treasury yields fell back below 5%, while French government bond spreads reached their widest levels since the eurozone crisis. Hyperscaler earnings and a string of major policy meetings make this a decisive week, though most central banks are expected to leave their interest rates unchanged.

Oil prices are usually quoted as the future price of crude oil, with Brent and WTI being the main benchmarks. However, the economy relies on refined products such as diesel, petrol and jet fuel rather than on crude oil itself, and the cost of turning the one into the other is the refining margin, or ‘crack spread’. Adding this spread to Brent gives a proxy for what the end consumer actually pays, and on that basis the average price is currently around USD 140–180 per barrel.

Global equities fell as a sharp AI-led sell-off hit technology stocks, while surging oil prices and hotter US inflation reignited rate-hike debate ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) meeting. Treasuries acted as a haven and the USD held firm, with the EUR weighed down by French spreads widening.

The seventh edition of Building Bridges, Switzerland’s largest sustainable finance conference, brought together 2,600 participants in Geneva from 6–8 October – an increase of 25% compared with last year – with thousands more joining online. A sponsor since the conference’s inaugural edition in 2019, UBP continues to support its mission of fostering constructive dialogue on sustainable finance and strengthening collaboration between the financial sector and the wider economy.