On Thursday, Treasury yields in the United States climbed to their highest point in nearly two decades, as traders priced in the likelihood of further Federal Reserve rate increases following a renewed rise in oil prices. Sovereign debt markets have also moved to multi-decade extremes, with escalating geopolitical pressures lifting crude oil prices past the $100-per-barrel threshold for the first time since May; the yield on Germany's 10-year Bund, a widely referenced benchmark for the European economy, reached 3.554 percent on Monday — its highest reading since mid-2009 — before easing marginally to 3.547 percent the next day. Houthi fighters deployed to the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a chokepoint that offers an alternative passage for oil shipments when the Strait of Hormuz becomes unavailable. A paramilitary group with alleged connections to Iran temporarily disabled Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, halting petroleum deliveries to the country's terminals along the Red Sea coast. The European Central Bank raised interest rates last week as part of its efforts to curb rising prices.