In Asian Equity Markets stocks fell on Friday as a slew of hawkish central bank signals brewed concerns over a potential recession, with Japan’s Nikkei lagging its peers as weak manufacturing activity data battered major industrial stocks. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index sank nearly 2 percent on Friday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1 percent as firms with U.S. listings rose on a more favorable regulatory outlook. The Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes lost about 0.4 percent each. South Korea’s KOSPI, the Taiwan Weighted index, and Australia’s ASX 200 index shed 0.8 percent to 1.6 percent.

In Currency Markets the safe-haven dollar fell on Friday, giving back some of the previous session’s strong gains, as traders continued to digest the implications of continued monetary tightening at the world’s biggest central banks. The dollar index edged 0.12 percent lower to 104.38 in Asia. The euro added 0.14 percent to $1.06455, rebounding slightly from Thursday’s 0.49 percent retreat. Sterling gained 0.3 percent to $1.22175. The Australian dollar was 0.24 percent higher at $0.6716. The New Zealand dollar rebounded 0.38 percent to $0.6365.

In US Equity Markets stock indexes closed sharply lower on Thursday, with each of the major averages suffering their biggest daily percentage decrease in weeks, as fears intensified that the Federal Reserve’s battle against inflation using aggressive interest rate hikes could lead to a recession. The Dow fell 2.25 percent, to 33,202.22; the S&P 500 lost 2.49 percent, to 3,895.75; and the Nasdaq Composite lost 3.23 percent, to 10,810.53. Netflix Inc lost 8.63 percent after a media report that the company would let its advertisers take their money back after missing viewership targets.

In Commodities Markets oil prices slid about 2 percent on Thursday as traders worried about the fuel demand outlook due to a stronger dollar and further interest rate hikes by global central banks. After rising for three straight days, Brent futures fell 1.8 percent, to settle at $81.21 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 1.5 percent, to settle at $76.11. Spot gold fell 1.2 percent to $1,785.36 per ounce. Elsewhere, silver fell 2.1 percent to $23.39 per ounce, platinum lost 1.6 percent to $1,012.50 and palladium was down 1.8 percent to $1,882.75.

In European Equity Markets stocks posted their worst daily performance in six months on Thursday, after the European Central Bank delivered its fourth straight interest rate hike and said it expected to keep raising rates further, echoing hawkish commentary from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Shares in the euro zone fell 3.1 percent to their lowest level in a month, while the broader STOXX 600 index posted its worst daily performance since May. The UK’s blue-chip FTSE 100 was down 0.9 percent, while the mid-caps index shed 0.8 percent. Banks shed 2.6 percent.

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury yields, which move inversely to prices, fell on Thursday on the back of weak economic data and despite spiking bond yields in Europe, where the European Central Bank raised interest rates and signaled more aggressive hikes. Benchmark U.S. Treasury 10-year yields went down about 5 basis points (bps) on Thursday, to 3.45 percent, and 30-year bond yields declined over four bps to 3.494 percent.  Two-year yields – which tend to closely reflect monetary policy expectations – were roughly unchanged at 4.246 percent.