Risk-off sentiment continues to prevail in today’s Asia session, despite US President Trump’s assurance to provide naval escorts for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil flow chokepoint, and the US International Development Finance Corporation’s offer to provide insurance guarantees for energy transportation vessels.
Here are the intraday performances of key asset classes at the time of writing:
S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures down around 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively
Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 3.8%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index down 2.6%
China’s CSI 300 down 1%
West Texas crude oil up 1.5% to around $76 per barrel
Gold (XAU/USD) up 1.4% to around $5,160 per oz
US Dollar Index up 0.1%
Japanese yen almost unchanged at 157.55 per dollar
Swiss franc almost unchanged at 0.7820 per dollar
Bitcoin (BTC/USD) down 0.2% to around 68,215
The ultimate aim is to mitigate a significant oil supply shock that can trigger an upward spiral in WTI crude to $100/barrel, in turn, creating a liquidity squeeze in the global markets (a less dovish Fed or worse still a hawkish Fed) that can see “undiscriminating” selling of all asset classes that rally significantly in the past year such as precious metals (gold and silver), Asia Pacific equities (e.g., South Korea’s KOSPI 200 that recorded a whopping year-to-date gain of 48% as of 27 February 2026).
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