In Asian Equity Markets stocks wobbled on Thursday as mounting worries about the risks of a global recession amid aggressive rate hikes by the Fed kept broad investor sentiment fragile. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan reversed earlier gains to be mostly flat. Stocks in South Korea were off, while Japan’s Nikkei was broadly unchanged. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.6 percent, following the news that Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a top-level meeting on Wednesday that approved a plan for the healthy development of China’s large payment firms and fintech sector.

In Currency Markets the U.S. dollar remained under pressure on Thursday as it looked set to extend declines against major peers to a fourth day, hurt by Treasury yields wallowing near two-week lows amid rising concerns of a recession. The dollar index fell 0.07 percent to 104.14, bringing its decline since Friday to 0.44 percent. The dollar slid 0.56 percent to 135.47 yen, retreating from a 24-year high of 136.71 reached on Wednesday. The Aussie fell 0.47 percent to $0.68915. The euro was little changed at $1.0564, while sterling fell 0.1 percent to $1.2253.

In US Equity Markets main indexes ended with slim losses on Wednesday after choppy trading as energy shares weighed and investors digested Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments on the central bank’s aim to bring down inflation. The Dow fell 0.15 percent, to 30,483.13, the S&P 500 lost 0.13 percent, to 3,759.89 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.15 percent, to 11,053.08. The energy sector, which has been a strong performer this year, fell 4.2 percent as oil prices slid. Declines in Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Conocophillips were the biggest individual drags on the S&P 500.

In Commodities Markets oil prices fell around 3 percent on Wednesday as investors worried that rate hikes by the Federal Reserve could push the U.S. economy into recession, dampening demand for fuel. Brent crude futures fell 2.5 percent, to settle at $111.74 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 3 percent, to settle at $106.19 a barrel. Spot gold rose 0.4 percent to $1,840.39 per ounce and U.S. gold futures settled at $1,838.4. Silver fell 0.9 percent to $21.46 per ounce, platinum was also down 0.9 percent at $928.97, while palladium declined 0.4 percent to $1,869.43.

In European Equity Markets stocks bounced off session lows on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank is “strongly committed” to bringing down inflation. the pan-European STOXX 600 closed down 0.7 percent, after having fallen 1.8 percent to its lowest since January 2021. Germany’s DAX fell 1.1 percent as BASF slid 5.8 percent after the German chemical group’s CEO said the company is likely to face a considerable downturn early in the second half of the year. UK’s blue-chip FTSE 100 fell 0.9 percent.

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury yields fell to almost two-week lows on Wednesday as fears grew that the Federal Reserve will cause a recession by aggressively tightening monetary policy as it tackles soaring inflation. Two-year Treasury yields fell to 3.056 percent. They have fallen from 3.456 percent on June 14, which was the highest since November 2007. Benchmark 10-year yields were at 3.156 percent, after reaching 3.498 percent on June 14, the highest since April 2011. The closely watched yield curve between two-year and 10-year notes was at 9 basis points, after inverting early last week.