In Asian Equity Markets Japan’s Nikkei share average fell over 5 percent to hit a near four-month low on Tuesday morning after Wall Street posted its worst decline in four years on fears about rising U.S. bond yields and potentially rising inflation. All of the Topix’s 33 sub-sectors were in the red, with insurance and exporter stocks, such as machinery and electric component makers, among the worst hit. Insurer T&D Holdings stumbled 7 percent and Dai-ichi Life Holdings fell 7.4 percent. Furukawa Electric declined 6.2 percent, Yokogawa Electric fell 6.3 percent and Sumitomo Electric Industries fell 6.2 percent. Bellwether companies also lost ground. Toyota Motor Corp shed 3.7 percent, Honda Motor Co fell 4.4 percent, Sony Corp slipped 4.2 percent and Nintendo Co was down 5.2 percent.

In Currency Markets the US dollar stood tall on Tuesday as a rout in global equities prompted anxious investors to cut exposure to riskier assets and seek shelter in the relative safety of the greenback. The U.S. currency held firm against most of its counterparts with the exception of the yen, which is the perennial safe-haven bet during times of risk aversion. Against the yen, the greenback fell 0.3 percent to 108.73 yen. The euro was steady at $1.2370 after shedding 0.7 percent overnight to pull further away from a three-year high of $1.2538 set late in January. The Australian dollar touched a three-week low of $0.7855 and was last down 0.1 percent at $0.7870. The Aussie had advanced to over a 2-1/2-year top at $0.8136 on Jan. 26. The pound touched a two-week low of $1.3937 on Tuesday after falling more than 1 percent overnight.

In Commodities Markets oil prices fell by more than 1 percent on Tuesday, extending falls from the previous session as global financial markets fell in the wake of one of the biggest intra-day falls ever registered on Wall Street. Brent crude futures were at $66.91 per barrel, down 71 cents, or 1.1 percent, from the previous close. That was more than $4 below their high-point for 2018, hit last month. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $63.46 a barrel, down 69 cents, or 1.1 percent, from their last settlement and more than $3 off their 2018 high. Gold prices rose 0.5 percent on Tuesday as a rout in global equities prompted investors to seek shelter in safe havens such as gold, although expectations of more U.S. rate hikes this year weighed on the market.

In US Equity Markets indexes fell in highly volatile trading on Monday, with both the S&P 500 and Dow Industrials indices falling more than 4.0 percent, as the Dow notched its biggest intra-day decline in history with a nearly 1,600-point fall and Wall Street erased its gains for the year. On Monday, the financial, healthcare and industrial sectors fell the most, but declines were spread broadly as all major 11 S&P sectors dropped at least 1.7 percent. All 30 of the blue-chip Dow industrial components finished negative. The CBOE Volatility index, the closely followed measure of expected near-term stock market volatility, jumped 20 points to 30.71, its highest level since August 2015. The S&P 500 lost 4.10 percent, to 2,648.94 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.78 percent, to 6,967.53.

In Bond Markets Japanese government bond prices rose on Tuesday as Tokyo stocks plunged and sent investors scurrying for safety in debt. The five-year JGB yield was half a basis point lower at minus 0.090 percent. The benchmark 10-year yield declined half a basis point to 0.075 percent after touching 0.065 percent, its lowest since Jan. 11. The 10-year JGB yield has been capped firmly under 0.1 percent under the BOJ’s yield curve control scheme. The 10-year Treasury yield, in contrast, yielded a hefty 2.692 percent on Tuesday even after coming off a four-year peak of 2.885 percent marked on Monday.

Today’s inflection points

• 14:30 GMT+1 USD Trade balance
• 14:50 GMT+1 USD Fed’s Bullard (non-voter, dovish) speaks