Asian Equities Slipped as Soaring Commodity Costs Threatens Economic Outlook

Asian stocks slipped on Tuesday as traders assess concerns of soaring commodity costs will add up to inflation and constrain economic recovery .

The CSI300, KOSPI and TOPIX is down by 0.69%, 0.69% and 0.52% respectively.

In the U.S., lawmakers are exploring options to put bar on imports of Russian oil. Russia for its part threatened to cut natural gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. That underlines how the conflict and economic warfare against resource-rich Russia are dimming the outlook.

The WTI is trading at $120.50 par barrel while Brent is trading at $124.15 par barrel.

Tightening monetary policy to contain inflation presents further challenges. The gap between two-year and 10-year Treasury yields is the least since March 2020, a sign of dimming growth prospects.

“It’s all about slowing growth and rising inflation,” Alifia Doriwala, Rock Creek co-chief investment officer, said on Bloomberg Television. “With the sanctions on Russia intensifying, it’s hitting all sectors. Then you are going to have some central bank action amidst much uncertain economic growth.”

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it will remove Russian bonds from all of its widely-tracked indexes, further isolating the nation’s assets from global investors.