US indices plunged yesterday with the tech sector lagging the most. Stocks remain under pressure amid continued pick-up in yields. US 10-year yield is nearing 3%

S&P 500 dropped 1.48%, Dow Jones moved 1.05% lower while Nasdaq slumped 2.07%. Russell 2000 also dropped more than 2%

Downbeat moods were observed during the Asian session as well. Nikkei and S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.5%, Kospi moved 0.8% lower and indices from China traded mixed

DAX futures point to a lower opening of the European cash session

According to Reuters, Russia rejected Ukraine’s proposal for Easter ceasefire

Shanghai authorities said that lockdown will be phased out gradually at community level once 0 cases is reached (within a community)

Nomura expects Fed to deliver a 50 basis point rate hike in May followed by 75 basis point rate hikes in June and July

BoC Governor Macklem said that monetary policy is not on autopilot and BoC will be flexible

Japanese manufacturing PMI index dropped from 54.1 to 53.4 pts in April. Services index jumped from 49.4 to 50.5

Australian manufacturing PMI index increased from 57.7 to 57.9 pts in April. Services index jumped from 55.6 to 56.6 pts

Energy commodities trade lower on Friday morning. Brent drops 1.7% while WTI trades 1.4% lower

Precious metals trade mixed – gold trades flat, silver drops while palladium and platinum gain

EUR and JPY are the best performing major currencies while AUD and NZD lag the most

Russell 2000 (US2000) was one of the worst performing major Wall Street indices yesterday. A strong drop has dashed hopes for an imminent breakout from the current 1,930-2,100 pts trading range. Deepening of the declines towards the lower limit of the range looks like a base case scenario for now.