U.S. Futures and Asian Shares Plunge amid Worries over Rate Hikes and Ukraine-Russia Tensions

Following a turbulent Wall Street session, U.S. futures and Asian shares plummeted on Tuesday amid rising concerns over interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and increasing geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan sank to a monthly low of 1.2%, while Japan’s Nikkei dipped by 2% to its lowest since August. Korea’s KOSPI dropped by 1.67% while Hong Kong fell by 1.64%.
According to Carlos Casanova, a Senior Economist at UBP, Asian markets have suffered of late due to oil crisis, mounting inflation, and rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia. However, he also said, “valuations are becoming more attractive and earnings growth are still robust for some sectors. So I think we will see a tug of war in the market for this week."
U.S. futures also declined with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures tumbling by 0.95% and 1.2% respectively.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is also set to commence their two-day meeting later on Tuesday where investors anticipate an unexpected, additional rate hike to be disclosed.