In Asian Equity Markets stocks fell on Wednesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street as investors awaited an interest rate hike and more hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve. Hong Kong’s technology-heavy Hang Seng index continued to lag its peers, falling 1.5 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 1.3 percent. China’s bluechip Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 index fell nearly 1 percent, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.5 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 1.4 percent, with major miners leading losses.

In Currency Markets the dollar hovered near a two-decade peak against a basket of currencies on Wednesday, after yields on U.S. Treasuries leaped ahead of another aggressive rate hike expected from the Federal Reserve. The U.S. dollar index was up 0.1 percent to 110.27. Sterling last traded at $1.13705, languishing near a 37-year low of $1.1351, while the euro was 0.05 percent lower at $0.9964, extending by a smidge its 0.56 percent fall overnight. The Aussie hit a trough of $0.6666, its lowest since June 2020, while the kiwi fell to $0.5885, its lowest since April 2020.

In US Equity Markets stocks ended Tuesday lower as the eve of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting expected to bring another large interest rate hike brought further evidence of the impact on corporate America from the inflation that the U.S. central bank wants to tame. The Dow fell 1.01 percent, to 30,706.23, the S&P 500 lost 1.13 percent, to 3,855.93 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.95 percent, to 11,425.05. All of the 11 major S&P sectors declined, with economy-sensitive real estate and materials sectors the biggest fallers, falling 2.6 percent and 1.9 percent respectively.

In Commodities Markets oil prices fell on Tuesday, following other risk assets lower, as the dollar stayed strong and investors anticipated more central bank interest-rate hikes designed to quell inflation. Brent crude futures settled down 1.5 percent, to $90.62 a barrel, while U.S. WTI crude for October delivery ended at $84.45, down $1.28, on the day of its expiration. The more active November contract settled down $1.42 to $83.94 a barrel. Spot gold was down 0.7 percent at $1,664.19 an ounce. Spot silver fell 2.2 percent to $19.17 per ounce, platinum gained 0.1 percent to $918.55 and palladium lost 3.6 percent to $2,145.44.

In European Equity Markets stocks closed at 11-week lows on Tuesday, extending declines to a sixth straight session, as expectations of another large interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve kept risk-taking bets in check. The pan-European STOXX 600 which had risen as much as 1 percent earlier in the session, ended down 1.1 percent with nearly all major sectors in the red. Amid an energy crisis in Europe, German utilities RWE and Uniper got closer to striking long-term deals to buy liquefied natural gas from Qatar’s North Field Expansion project to help replace Russian gas, sources said.

In Bond Markets the yield on two-year U.S. Treasury notes, a rough gauge of interest rate expectations, rose to almost a 15-year high on Tuesday, a day before the Federal Reserve is likely to hike rates by another 75 basis points to curb rising inflation. Yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury shot up 11.1 basis points to 3.600 percent, having only topped 3.5 percent for the first time in 11 years on Monday. The two-year yield rose 4 basis points to 3.986 percent. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was up 10.7 basis points to 3.612 percent.