LONDON—Better-than-expected earnings from a raft of U.S. and European companies helped steady global stock markets on Wednesday, cutting through gloom caused by rising interest rates and the threat of an energy crunch due to Russian gas supply cuts.
Ten-year U.S. Treasury bond yields—the reference rate for global cost of capital—held near three-month lows touched on Tuesday, while several bond market recession gauges continued to flash warnings that growth in the world’s largest economy is slowing, if not going into reverse.
Bond gains were capped, however, by the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that is expected to deliver another big, 75 basis-point (bp) interest rate hike, and healthy second-quarter company earnings, despite cost pressures and labor shortages….