- Stocks, US equities futures, and sovereign bonds all tumbled, as the likelihood of one of the Fed's most aggressive monetary tightening cycles in recent history fanned more market unrest.
- Japan and Hong Kong dragged down an Asian stock index to its lowest level in almost a month. The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and European contracts were all down. Wall Street was led lower by energy and technology stocks on Thursday.
- China's economy-sapping Covid lockdowns, as well as regulatory concerns, weighed on the country's stock exchanges. The latest measure was a statement from the securities authority urging institutional investors to buy more domestic shares, despite Beijing's pledge of market stability.
- Maturities are shorter, the likelihood of three straight half-point Fed interest-rate hikes would be the strongest tightening since 1982, prompted a further sell-off in treasuries. Increases in such increments are possible, according to Fed's Powell, who believes the idea of front-end loading hikes has merit.
- A segment of the treasury yield curve inverted once more. That could signal concerns about the Fed's anti-price effort, which has been fuelled in part by Russia's war in Ukraine, tipping the world's largest economy into a downturn. Australia's and New Zealand's bonds both fell in value.
