European stocks are seen opening sharply lower on Monday, with rate hike worries and the latest earnings news likely to keep investors on edge.
Asian stock markets fell the most in two weeks on concerns around rates and recession.
The euro was broadly steady after France President Emmanuel Macron comfortably defeated far-right rival Marine Le Pen on Sunday.
Gold prices hit over two-week low as the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield neared 3 percent amid bets for an increasingly aggressive and hawkish U.S. Federal Reserve approach to interest-rate rises.
Closer home, ECB policymakers are keen to end their bond purchases and raise interest rates as soon as July but certainly no later than September, Reuters reported citing sources.
Oil extended losses to hover near two-week lows on demand concerns as Covid-related deaths climbed in Shanghai.
Other commodities such as copper and iron ore fell on growth concerns, while soybean oil jumped after an Indonesian ban on palm oil export.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and defense chief Lloyd Austin meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv as the Russia-Ukraine war entered day 60 with evident damage and destruction across Ukraine.
U.S. stocks slumped on Friday to reach their worst levels in over a month amid renewed concerns about risks from interest rate hikes.
The Dow plummeted 2.8 percent to post its biggest single-day loss since October 2020, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged 2.6 percent and the S&P 500 lost 2.8 percent.
European stocks also tumbled on Friday after hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve chief and worries that a spreading Covid-19 outbreak in China will weigh on global demand.
The pan European Stoxx 600 retreated 1.8 percent. The German DAX declined 2.5 percent, France’s CAC 40 index gave up 2 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 shed 1.4 percent.
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