ECONOMY
On Monday, Market worries about on growing worries about an impending U.S. recession, sending global yields plunging. Investors dumped shares and fled to the safety of bonds while the Japanese yen hovered near a six-week high as risk assets fell.
U.S. stocks futures turned negative in early Asian trading with E-minis for the S&P 500 skidding 0.47%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.6% to a one-week low.
On Friday, all three major U.S. stock indexes registered their biggest one-day percentage losses since Jan.3 with the Dow sliding 1.8%, the S&P 500 off 1.9% and the Nasdaq dropping 2.5%.
Fears of a more widespread global downturn, manufacturing output data from Germany showed a contraction for the third straight month. And in the United States, preliminary measures of manufacturing and services activity for March showed both sectors grew at a slower pace than in February, according to data from IHS Markit.
Much of the concerns around global growth is stemming from Europe and China which are battling separate tariff wars with the United States. Politics was also in focus in the United States and Britain.
The long-awaited Mueller report into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to help Trump defeat his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, marked a major milestone of his presidency as he prepares for his 2020 re-election battle.
On Sunday, Rupert Murdoch’s Sun newspaper said in a front page editorial British Prime Minister Theresa May must announce on Monday she will stand down as soon as her Brexit deal is approved.
CURRENCY
10-year treasury yields slipped below the three-month rate for the first time since 2007. Historically, an inverted yield curve - where long-term rates fall below short-term - has signaled an upcoming recession.
The British pound was a shade lower at $1.3189 after three straight days of wild gyrations. The currency slipped 0.7% last week.
The Japanese yen - a perceived safe haven - held near its highest since Feb. 11. It was last flat at 109.78 per dollar.
The Australian dollar, a liquid proxy for risk play, was down for its third straight session of losses at $0.7077.
As bonds rallied on Monday, yields on 10-year Japanese government bonds slumped to minus 8 basis points, the weakest since September 2016. Australian 10-year year yields plunged to a record low of 1.756.
COMMODITY
On Monday , Oil prices dropped as concerns of a sharp economic slowdown outweighed supply disruptions from OPEC's production cutbacks and U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela.
Brent crude oil futures were at $66.52 per barrel, down 0.8%, from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were at $58.42 per barrel, down 1.1%, from their last settlement.
Gold is flat at the start to the Asian session; the rebound of the dollar is keeping the yellow metal under pressure until geopolitical risk events trigger a rise in demand.
On Friday , Malaysian palm oil futures fell snapping a week-long uptrend, as investors booked profits and weakness in soybean oil prices also weighed.
U.S. corn futures rose to a 3-1/2-week high on Friday as China booked its largest purchase of the grain in more than 5 years and as flooding in the western U.S. Midwest raised concerns over spring planting.
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