In Asian Equity Markets stocks were mixed on Monday amid talk of yet more sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, while bonds continued to spell the risk of a hard landing for the U.S. economy as short-term yields hit three-year highs. A holiday on China made for sluggish trading, and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.3 percent. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.1 percent. South Korea’s KOSPI was up 0.23 percent. In Australia, the ASX 200 gained 0.44 percent, with monthly retail sales data released earlier in the day. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.85 percent.

In Currency Markets the dollar made a firm start to the week as Treasury yields rose with expectations of rapid-fire U.S. interest rate hikes, while talk of Europe banning Russian gas kept a lid on the euro. The euro has been weighed down by worries about economic damage from war in Ukraine and was parked at $1.1047, not too far from last month’s almost two-year trough of $1.0806. The yen has been squeezed back below 122 per dollar and last traded at 122.59. The Australian dollar was last broadly steady at $0.7510 and the kiwi rose slightly to $0.6935.

In US Equity Markets the S&P 500 rose modestly to kick off the second quarter on Friday, as the monthly jobs report indicated a strong labor market and is likely to keep the Federal Reserve on track to maintain its hawkish policy stance. The Dow rose 0.4 percent, to 34,818.27, the S&P 500 gained 0.34 percent, to 4,545.86 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.29 percent, to 14,261.50. The defensive real estate, utilities and consumer staples were the best performing sectors on the day, with each rising more than 1 percent.

In Commodities Markets oil settled lower on Friday as members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed to join in the largest-ever U.S. oil reserves release. Brent crude futures were down 0.3 percent, at $104.39 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 1 percent, at $99.27. Spot gold fell 0.8 percent to $1,921.48 per ounce. Platinum fell 0.2 percent to $981.53, while palladium gained 0.4 percent to $2,271.46. Elsewhere, silver fell 0.5 percent to $24.65 per ounce, down 3.4 percent for the week.

In European Equity Markets stocks rose on Friday as a rally in commodity-linked and bank stocks helped outweigh worries about economic growth and inflation, with Europe remaining on alert for a disruption to gas imports from Russia. Worries about the fallout from the war, compounded by likely central bank tightening to control rising inflation, saw the pan-European STOXX 600 index mark its first quarterly loss in two years last quarter. The index on Friday rose 0.5 percent higher. Banks gained 1.2 percent on the day with Spanish lender Santander firming 2.6 percent after reiterating its 2022 profitability target.

In Bond Markets a closely watched part of the yield curve reinverted on Friday as a strong jobs report for March supported the view that the Federal Reserve will need to aggressively hike rates to stem soaring inflation and a tight labor market. Two-year yields rose as high as 2.469 percent, the highest since March 2019, before falling back to 2.432 percent. Benchmark 10-year yields reached 2.456 percent, before falling back to 2.377 percent. Three-year notes currently offer the highest yields across the Treasury curve at 2.62 percent.