3 Huge Stories Shook Asia Last Night

The jobs report is coming out at 8:30 AM ET.

But already, it's been a wild ride in Asia.

There were three big stories:

• Chinese bird flu: The Hong Kong market tanked nearly 3%, as the number of bird flu deaths in China rose. Authorities have killed more than 20,000 birds, and shut down one of Shanghai's big poultry markets. Airline stocks got hammered particularly badly.
• North Korea: The rhetoric just keeps getting more intense, and that is proving to be a drag on markets.
• Bank of Japan easing: Japanese stocks initially exploded out of the gate (up by 4.5% at one point) after the Bank of Japan moved much easier on policy. But thanks to Korea and bird flu stuff, the rally faded significantly, with stocks ending up less than 2%. Also it was a gigantic day in the Japanese Government Bond markets, with an initial drop to 0.33% on the 10-year, followed by a spike to 0.58%. At one point the market was halted.

On top of all this, markets in Europe got rocked by a huge futures trade originating out of Germany.

So, fun day!