CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The conflict in the Middle East that shows no signs of abatement dampened market sentiment across regions and asset classes. The simultaneous surge in crude oil prices has stoked fears of mounting inflation as well as worries about global economic growth.
Wall Street Futures are trading with heavy losses. Benchmarks in Europe too are trading with massive losses, weighed down also by the spike in inflation in February. Earlier, Asian markets had finished trading deep in the red.
The dollar's strength lifted the dollar index further. Bond yields continued to harden across regions and tenors. Ebbing rate cut expectations from the Federal Reserve also swayed sentiment.
The surge in crude oil prices continued unabated. Gold is trading close to 2 percent lower as fears of inflation dampened sentiment. Cryptocurrencies are however trading firmly in the green.
Here is a snapshot of the major world markets at this hour.
Stock Indexes:
DJIA (US30) at 48,256.30, down 1.33% S&P 500 (US500) at 6,789.30, down 1.34% Germany's DAX at 23,827.72, down 3.42% U.K.'s FTSE 100 at 10,506.16, down 2.54% France's CAC 40 at 8,165.43, down 2.73% Euro Stoxx 50 at 5,803.45, down 3.15% Japan's Nikkei 225 at 56,279.05, down 3.06% Australia's S&P ASX 200 at 9,077.30, down 1.34% China's Shanghai Composite at 4,122.68, down 1.43% Hong Kong's Hang Seng at 25,768.08, down 1.12%
Currencies:
EUR/USD at 1.1608, down 0.70% GBP/USD at 1.3317, down 0.69% USD/JPY at 157.71, up 0.15% AUD/USD at 0.7033, down 0.80% USD/CAD at 1.3694, up 0.12% Dollar Index at 99.16, up 0.79%
Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:
U.S. at 4.095%, up 1.09% Germany at 2.7839%, up 2.80% France at 3.402%, up 3.25% U.K. at 4.5230%, up 3.41% Japan at 2.139%, up 3.58%
Commodities:
Brent Oil Futures (May) at $83.19, up 7.01%. Crude Oil WTI Futures (Apr) at $76.09, up 6.82%. Gold Futures (Apr) at $5,206.74, down 1.97%. Silver Futures (May) at $82.87, down 6.74%.
Cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin at $67,491.75, up 1.89% Ethereum at $1,973.72, up 1.59% BNB at $628.70, up 1.08% XRP at $1.35, up 0.56% Solana at $84.84, up 1.04%
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