Bond Investors Hedge Inflation Risks as Middle East Conflict Lifts US Mortgage Rates

Investors in the world’s biggest government bond markets are moving to protect themselves from a new inflation shock as the war involving Iran raises the risk of higher energy prices and broader price pressures. The concern is rippling through the roughly $50 trillion market for G7 sovereign debt, which is widely treated as a global safe haven, and is also showing up in U.S. borrowing costs, including mortgage rates that have climbed to their highest level since August, according to Bloomberg reporting.