REUTERS/Alexander Demianchuk
It's a sea of red on Thursday, with stock and bond markets around the world taking big losses amid mounting investor uncertainty.US stocks saw weakness across the board after the release of economic data that was weaker than expected. Private payrolls rose less than expected while job creation in May was revised downward. In addition, initial jobless claims unexpectedly jumped, adding to an increasingly murky US economic picture.
The S&P 500 dropped 0.5% at 11:05 a.m. Eastern, while the Dow lost 0.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index declined 0.8%, once again highlighting its recent propensity for greater price swings.
US Treasuries also got in on the selling action as yields climbed more than six basis points to 2.39%, bringing their increase to 25 basis points over the past eight days.
The selling activity spilled over from Europe, where the Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 0.7%. Meanwhile, the main equity benchmarks in the United Kingdom, France and Germany all lost more than 0.4%.
European government bonds also experienced weakness amid weak demand for French debt, and as the yield on the region's benchmark debt climbed to its highest level in 17 months.
Bonds worldwide are coming under pressure as central banks across the globe adopt more hawkish stances after offering loose monetary policy conditions for the better part of the past 10 years.