• US indices resumed a drop yesterday with all major Wall Street benchmarks finishing trading significantly lower. S&P 500 dropped 1.65%, Dow Jones moved 1.02% lower and Nasdaq slumped 3.18%. Russell 2000 moved 2.48% lower.
• Indices from Asia-Pacific followed the US lead and also moved lower. Nikkei and S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.7%, Kospi moved 1.5% lower and indices from China traded 0.5-2.4% lower.
• DAX futures point to a lower opening of the European cash session.
• Fed’s Bullard said that 75 basis point rate hike is not his base case scenario for the next FOMC meeting.
• Vice Governor Chen from People’s Bank of China said that central bank will increase financial support to the real economy.
• Cryptocurrencies continue to collapse – Bitcoin trades 7% lower and drops below $27,000 mark while Ethereum trades over 12% lower on the day and approached $1,800 area.
• Precious metals are giving back part of recent gains as US dollar regains ground following yesterday’s higher-than-expected CPI reading.
• Oil halted advance and began to slide. Brent and WTI trade 1.3% lower each with WTI pulling back below $105 per barrel.
• USD and JPY are the best performing major currencies while AUD and NZD lag the most.

Small-cap Russell 2000 (US2000) has been dropping hard along with other Wall Street indices in recent days. US2000 broke below the short-term trading range and reached a textbook range of a downside breakout at 1,720 pts. The index is trading a 18-month low. Source: xStation5