EQUITIES
Shares in Asia-Pacific largely declined on Monday, with European stocks also are expected to open lower later, continuing a negative trend that set in among global markets last week.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 3.80% to lead losses among the region’s major markets, followed by Japan’s Nikkei 225 that fell 2.53%. Mainland Shanghai Composite hovered above the flatline, reacted to Chinese trade data that came in better-than-expected.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s KOSPI slipped 1.27% while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia declined 1.18%. The Singapore’s Straits Times index was down 0.30%.
OIL
Oil prices slipped on Monday, sparked by fears a global recession could dampen oil demand, with investors eying EU talks on a Russian oil embargo that is expected to tighten global supplies.
The Group of Seven (G7) nations committed on Sunday to banning or phasing out imports of Russian oil over time.
Brent crude dropped 2.03% to $110.92 a barrel, while U.S. WTI crude was at $108.89 a barrel, down 1.53%.
CURRENCIES
The dollar began the week on a strong footing, buttressed by sharply rising U.S. yields and by investors' tilt toward safety as lockdowns in China, war on the edge of Europe and fear about higher interest rates that sent a nervous jolt through markets. The dollar's gains were set against sliding stock markets and sent it ahead against other havens, commodity currencies and emerging market currencies alike.
The dollar began the week on a strong footing, as it scaled to 20-year highs on a basket of majors to 104.0300 on Monday.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields hit their highest since November 2018, at 3.137%.
Cryptocurrencies have been battered in the rush from risky assets. Bitcoin was nursing weekend losses and near its lowest levels of the year at $33,530, while ether, which fell 4% on Sunday, was at $2,448.
GOLD
Gold dropped on Monday, having struggled to gain any traction as a safe haven recently as an elevated dollar and rising U.S. Treasury yields pressured demand for greenback-priced bullion.
Spot gold was down 0.76% at $1,868.70 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures slipped 0.80% to $1,867.80.
Spot silver slipped 0.5% to $22.23 per ounce, platinum fell 1.6% to $948, and palladium dropped 0.4% to $2,038.58. Demand concerns dragged palladium down more than 8% on Friday to its lowest level since January.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Stocks and bonds slid at the start of the week as further tightening of COVID-19 restrictions in China raised pressure on its economy, while concerns over global growth persisted.
Shanghai authorities were tightening the city-wide COVID-19 lockdown they imposed more than a month ago, prolonging into late-May.
Share markets weakened globally amid growing fears that the global economy could tip into recession, as a series of rate hikes and hawkish communication by central banks came against a backdrop of plummeting Chinese and European activity. Investors awaited on the U.S. inflation data due on Wednesday. The CPI data could fuel even more aggressive bets, especially if the pace of headline price rises does not fall to 8.1% as expected.
