Open May 29

In Asian Equity Markets indices declined in Wednesday morning trade following overnight losses on Wall Street. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.35% in early trade as shares of convenience store chain FamilyMart declined more than 3%. The Topix also declined 1.36%. Over in South Korea, the Kospi declined 0.74%, with shares of Samsung Electronics falling more than 2%. The ASX 200 in Australia also shed 0.81% as almost all the sectors traded lower.



In Currency Markets the U.S. dollar managed to hold on to most of its overnight gains on Wednesday after investors scooped up safe-haven assets, including U.S. Treasuries, on lingering fears of a further escalation in the Sino-U.S. trade dispute. The euro edged up 0.1% to $1.1167, bouncing slightly after shedding nearly 0.3% during the previous session. The common currency remained not far off a near two-year low of $1.11055 brushed on Thursday. The Australian dollar inched up to $0.6929, about 0.9% off a recent trough of $0.6865.



In Commodities Markets crude futures gained almost 1% on Tuesday after flooding throughout the Midwest constrained crude flow from the main U.S. storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures settled at $59.14 a barrel, up 51 cents, or 0.9%, from its close on Friday before the long Memorial Day holiday weekend. Meanwhile, Brent crude futures settled flat at $70.11 a barrel, after repeatedly veering above and below the $70-mark. Brent futures last week registered a decline of 4.5% and WTI slid by 6.4% for its biggest weekly loss since December.



In US Equity Markets stocks closed lower on Tuesday, with initial gains giving way to declines as the likelihood of a prolonged trade war between the United States and China once again kept risk appetite in check. The S&P 500 lost 0.85%, to 2,802.15 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.39%, to 7,607.35. FedEx Corp fell 0.93% after Huawei Technologies Co Ltd said it is reviewing its relationship with the U.S. package delivery company after FedEx diverted two parcels destined for Huawei addresses in Asia to the United States.



In Bond Markets concerns about the U.S.-China trade war and Italy's budget policy sent benchmark U.S. Treasury yields to their lowest levels since September 2017 on Tuesday and helped fuel demand for Treasury Department debt auctions. The safe haven bid for U.S. debt helped the Treasury sell $81 billion in two-year and five-year notes to strong demand, even with two-year yields near their lowest levels since February 2018 and five-year yields at the lowest since December 2017.