In Asian Equity Markets traded mixed on Thursday. In China, the Shanghai composite fell 0.48% and the Shenzhen composite was down 0.74%. Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.52% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index inched up 0.1%.  Australia’s ASX 200 rose 0.61% as most sectors traded up. The heavily weighted financial subindex rose 0.69% as major banking stocks gained. The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.27% while the Topix index added 0.1%. South Korea remained shut for a public holiday.

In Currency Markets the yen edged up versus the dollar on Thursday as sentiment soured over U.S.-Mexico talks on tariffs and immigration, fuelling broader concerns about global trade hostilities and raising appetite for safe-haven currencies. The dollar was down 0.15% at 108.300 yen, handing back a bulk of the gains made overnight. The European Central Bank makes its monetary policy decision later on Thursday. ECB President Mario Draghi is expected to maintain guidance about the possibility of more stimulus. The euro was 0.1% higher at $1.1230 after retreating 0.3% on Wednesday.

In Commodities Markets oil prices on Thursday hovered around their lowest levels since January as markets remain under pressure from rising U.S. supply and stalling demand amid an economic slowdown. Front-month Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $60.50. That was 13 cents, or 0.2%, below last session’s close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $51.62 per barrel, 6 cents, or 0.1%, below their last settlement. U.S. crude oil production rose to a record 124.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in the week to May 3.

In US Equity Markets indices rose on Wednesday as investors bet on a Federal Reserve interest rate cut after weak private sector jobs data and hopes grew that the United States and Mexico would reach an agreement to avoid U.S. tariffs on Mexican goods. The S&P 500 gained 0.82%, to 2,826.15 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.64%, to 7,575.48. The energy sector slipped 1.1%, making it the only S&P sector in the red. Campbell Soup Co, the biggest percentage gainer on the S&P 500, rose 10% after the canned soup maker raised its full-year profit forecast.

In Bond Markets short-dated U.S. Treasury yields fell on Wednesday, with two-year yields hitting their lowest since December 2017 in the wake of a report that showed private domestic jobs growth decelerated in May to its weakest in over nine years. Yields on two-year Treasury notes , which are sensitive to views on Federal Reserve policy, were 3.20 basis points lower at 1.841% after hitting 1.773%, the lowest since December 2017. Ten-year Treasury yields were down 0.30 basis points at 2.118%, hovering near their lowest since September 2017.