Trump Crypto Firm CEO: Treasury Buybacks Boost Crypto Liquidity — Market Talk

1248 ET - The head of President Trump's co-owned cryptocurrency firm, World Liberty Financial, says the Treasury Department's recent actions to stabilize long-term bond yields are a boon for liquidity in the crypto space. "You've seen liquidity and confidence come back to the space in the past week or two," CEO Zach Witkoff tells CNBC in an interview. Witkoff acknowledges that stablecoins, like WLF's USD1, are "very much connected" to Treasury rates, since they're part of how stablecoin companies make money, but adds that WLF is trying to make its business less interest-rate sensitive. ([email protected])1223 ET — The U.A.E. debt capital market is likely to grow moderately in the second half of 2026 and into 2027, supported by government diversification plans, cross-sector financing needs and regulatory reforms, Fitch Ratings says. Total U.S. dollar debt issuance reached $24 billion in the first half, up 40% from the second half of 2025. "U.A.E. issuers have generally maintained market access so far in 2026 despite regional volatilities," says Bashar Al Natoor, Fitch's global head of Islamic finance. The debt market stood at about $320 billion outstanding at end-June, with sukuk accounting for 21%. ([email protected])1219 ET — Abu Dhabi's residential property market is expanding sharply, with sales reaching AED86.1 billion in the first half of 2026, up 163.7% from a year earlier, Christie's International Real Estate says. Total real estate transaction value reaches AED117 billion, or around $31.86 billion, rising 112% on year and already equaling about 82% of the full-year 2025 total. The market is being supported by an influx of global capital and continued development of major residential and commercial projects, Christie's says. The strength reflects Abu Dhabi's own underlying fundamentals rather than simply an extension of Dubai's property cycle, the brokerage says. ([email protected])1213 ET — Qatar's residential property market shows renewed momentum in the second quarter, with transaction volumes rising 23.6% from the previous quarter and 15.8% on year to 755 deals, real-estate consultancy ValuStrat says. The median transaction value increases to QAR3 million, around $823,000, up 8.2% on year, while ready-property mortgage transactions reach QAR16 billion across 335 deals. The growth in purchases and mortgage activity indicates that underlying buyer confidence remains resilient, says Anum Hasan, head of research for Qatar at ValuStrat. Residential capital values remained broadly stable, with the ValuStrat Price Index edging only slightly down to 97.8 points in the second quarter from 98.0 in the first. ([email protected])1202 ET - A U.S. Treasury auction of short-term debt shows signs of strong demand. The Treasury's weekly auction sells $99.3 billion in six-week bills, with a high rate of 3.650%. That compared to a market yield of 3.714% at the time, according to Tradeweb, indicating a sign of strong demand. Last week's six-week bill auction cleared at a 3.645% yield. The bid-to-cover ratio, a measure of investor demand, was 2.71, down from 2.97 in last week's auction. ([email protected])1147 ET - Smart glasses and similar devices that come with cameras and microphones should be regulated more strictly to safeguard everyone's privacy, Norway's minister of digitalization and public governance, Karianne Tung, says in a government statement. The government must take action to ensure smart glasses can't be misused to monitor others in public spaces, she says. Banning certain functions such as facial recognition in public areas might be a step in the right direction, she notes. Tung says she plans to set up an expert group to advise the ministry on how to regulate smart glasses. ([email protected])1039 ET - U.S. and eurozone technology sector new debt supply has risen sharply in recent months, causing tech sector credit spreads to widen more notably than in other sectors, Societe Generale's Juan Valencia says in a note. Large technology companies are expected to issue more debt for the remainder of 2026, which could put further pressure on the sector's credit spreads, Valencia says. Nonetheless, the broader U.S. and eurozone credit market is expected to remain resilient given strong corporate profitability and a prudent approach to spending by businesses, he says. ([email protected])1038 ET - U.K. fiscal risks and the prospect of the Bank of England avoiding interest rate rises could weigh on sterling later in the year, Rabobank's Jane Foley says in a note. "Against the backdrop of a high U.K. national debt and jitters on international bond markets, the October 28 budget won't be an easy one for [U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey]," she says. The market still sees some risk of the BOE raising rates so steady policy, in line with Rabobank's view, could also undermine sterling, she says. The euro trades flat at 0.8557 pounds and Rabobank expects it to reach 0.8700 in three months. ([email protected])1021 ET - The uncertainty around trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada could weigh on Canadian economic growth in 2026. UBS economists say that while the share of exports affected is relatively small "the impact on the outlook for Canadian growth could be larger than just the direct hit from weaker exports." Spiraling trade tensions could "once again bring uncertainty for businesses and consumers," they add, just when business sentiment and consumer spending were beginning to improve in Canada. As a result of the resurfaced uncertainty, UBS downgrades Canada GDP growth to 0.9% on an annual average basis, from 1.0% previously, which could be larger from "potential upstream/downstream supplier effects, price elasticity of demand, and potential investment response." ([email protected])0923 ET - Let there be no doubt that an intensified trade conflict between the US and Canada will cause significantly more damage for America's northern neighbor, says Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at global-payments firm Corpay. "Businesses will close and jobs will be lost if the conflict drags on," he says. Canada is set to unveil retaliatory tariffs targeting US goods, but Schamotta say they won't help because they are taxes on domestic consumption that "do little to shift trade balances." Yet, based on pricing in the options market, Schamotta says traders are willing to pay more for hedges against weakness in USD than CAD. That, he adds, indicates markets still expect a deal between the US and Canada. ([email protected]; @paulvieira)0912 ET - The dollar should benefit if Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh sounds credible in his Jackson Hole symposium speech Friday, Bank of America analysts say in a note. Warsh has avoided forward guidance but he might take a different approach at Jackson Hole by outlining the Fed's response under two different scenarios--one of disinflation and the other of persistently stubborn elevated inflation, they say. In short, Warsh should signal he is prepared to raise rates if inflation doesn't continue to moderate, helping the dollar to further unwind losses after the Treasury's decision to buy back more long-term debt. A more muddled message that leans on possible disinflationary benefits of AI or avoids the topic altogether could weaken the dollar, they say. The DXY dollar index falls 0.1% to 98.913. ([email protected])0908 ET - Yields on developed market government bonds fall as oil prices retreat following U.S. announcement of new economic sanctions on Iran. "Traders appear more focused on the potential impact on demand and the absence of a fresh physical supply shock than on the sanctions themselves," Capital.com's Daniela Hathorn says in a note. That is helping ease some of the inflation pressure that had been feeding into the recent bond selloff which took a number of major long-dated government-bond yields to multiyear highs, she says. Ten-year gilt yields fall around 5 basis points to a 12-day low of 5.004%, while the German 10-year Bund yield drops to a one-week low of 3.214%, Tradeweb data show. The 10-year Treasury yield falls 4.8 basis points to 4.656%. ([email protected])