In Asian Equity Markets stocks were mixed on Friday morning, alongside U.S. equity futures. Strong earnings from Amazon.com Inc. helped to counter a rout in technology shares, while concerns about monetary tightening contributed to market volatility. Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged down 0.11 percent, while South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.74 percent. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.21 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 1.87 percent. Chinese markets remain closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.

In Currency Markets the euro was heading for its best week since March 2020 and was testing a near three-month high after Thursday’s hawkish shift from the European Central Bank stoked speculation about the pace and timing of rate hikes. Though the ECB kept rates on hold as widely expected, the euro climbed 0.26 percent, reaching as high as high as $1.468. Sterling was at $1.361 having risen to a two-week top of $1.3626 on Thursday after BoE raised rates by 25 basis points and nearly half of its policymakers wanted a bigger increase to contain rampant inflation. The yen was at 114.88 per dollar.

In US Equity Markets stocks snapped a four-session winning streak on Thursday, with all three benchmarks ending lower after Facebook-owner Meta Platforms’ dour forecast sent its stock plummeting and halted a nascent recovery built on upbeat earnings from other big tech. The Dow fell 1.45 percent, to 35,111.16, the S&P 500 lost 2.44 percent, to 4,477.44 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.74 percent, to 13,878.82. Big tech stocks such as Alphabet Inc and Microsoft Corp fell more than 3 percent, while Amazon.com Inc lost 7.8 percent, before it was scheduled to release results.

In Commodities Markets oil prices rose in late day trading Thursday, sending the U.S. crude benchmark through $90 a barrel for the first time since 2014 due to ongoing supply worries and as frigid weather cascades across the United States. Global benchmark Brent crude settled at $91.11 a barrel, up 1.8 percent, while West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.3 percent, higher to end at $90.27 a barrel. Spot gold was flat at $1,806.07 an ounce. In other metals, silver declined 0.9 percent to $22.42 an ounce, platinum fell 0.2 percent to $1,031.06 and palladium fell 1.9 percent to $2,325.62.

In European Equity Markets stocks fell on Thursday following signals that the ECB would likely hike rates this year, while weak results from Facebook owner Meta added to pressure on global technology stocks. The pan-European STOXX 600 lost 1.8 percent with tech stocks the worst performers, losing 3.5 percent. Swiss drugmaker Roche fell 2.4 percent after saying sales growth would slow this year as it braces for less demand for its COVID-19 medicines and diagnostics. Shell rose 1.4 percent as the company boosted its dividend and share repurchases after quarterly profits hit their highest in eight years.

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury yields jumped on Thursday after the Bank of England’s hawkish interest rate hike led investors to price for similar moves by the Federal Reserve as the central banks battle persistently high inflation. Benchmark 10-year note yield was last at 1.822 percent after earlier reaching 1.847 percent, the highest since Jan. 28. The two-year yield, which is highly sensitive to interest rate moves, rose to 1.188 percent. The yield curve between two-year and 10-year notes steepened one basis point to 63 basis points.