In Asian Equity Markets traded mixed Wednesday morning. Mainland Chinese stocks fell in early trade, with the Shanghai composite declining 0.23% and the Shenzhen component down 0.38%. Elsewhere, the Nikkei 225 in Japan traded largely flat while the Topix rose fractionally. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.46%. With both countries remaining locked in a diplomatic spat, Japan will officially remove South Korea from a list of preferred trading partners on Wednesday. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 traded slightly higher.

In Currency Markets pressure was back on the dollar on Wednesday, as nagging fears the Sino-U.S. trade war will drag on and severely hurt economic growth led to yet another slide in U.S. bond yields. The dollar was a shade weaker at 105.680 yen after shedding 0.35 percent overnight, but still up from an eight-month low of 104.460 hit on Monday. The euro was flat at $1.1091 after inching down 0.1% on Tuesday when it had managed to recoup some of the intra-day losses on hopes that a snap election in Italy could be avoided.

In Commodities Markets oil prices rose on Wednesday, with U.S. crude gaining 1% after an inventory report showed U.S. stockpiles fell more than expected, helping ease worries about economic growth due to the Sino-U.S. trade war. Brent crude was up by 37 cents, or 0.6%, at $59.88 a barrel. West Texas intermediate crude was up 55 cents, or 1.0%, at $55.48 a barrel. U.S. crude stockpiles fell sharply last week as imports dropped, falling by 11.1 million barrels, compared with expectations for a 2 million barrel draw, data from industry group, the American Petroleum Institute (API), showed.

In US Equity Markets indices fell on Tuesday, weighed down by financial stocks as a deepening of the Treasury yield curve inversion raised U.S. recession worries and uncertainty over any progress in trade negotiations between the United States and China took a toll. The S&P 500 lost 0.33%, to 2,868.85, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.34%, to 7,826.95. Shares of J. M. Smucker Co fell 8.18% after the packaged food maker cut its full-year earnings forecast and missed estimates for quarterly profit and sales.

In Bond Markets the U.S. yield curve inversion deepened on Tuesday to levels not seen since 2007, rekindling fears of a looming recession that spurred a sell-off on Wall Street and stoked even more safe-haven demand for government bonds. The intense interest in Treasuries supported demand for $40 billion worth of two-year government debt for sale, part of this week’s $113 billion fixed-rate Treasury supply. The yields on two-year notes were 1.531%, down 2.00 basis points. On Monday, they declined to 1.449%, the lowest since September 2017.