A strong reading of United States (US) retail sales data caused equities to fall from 2-month highs as hopes of the Federal Reserve (Fed) being less aggressive with its monetary tightening policy were dashed.
It is understood that retail sales data saw a 1.3% jump in October compared to market expectations of 1%, and this rekindled views that the economy was able to absorb the impact of aggressive rate hikes by the Fed.
That coupled with US retail giant Target Corp's low sales outlook for the holiday (Christmas) season added to investor jitters.
As a result, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.12% while the S&P 500 lost 0.83% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.54%.
Although the dollar is still seen to be moving flat, Convera analyst Joe Manimbo said the greenback stabilized slightly due to the geopolitical crisis and signs of a strengthening US economy in the form of retail sales.
Treasury yields saw the benchmark 10-year note decline 10.4 basis points at 3.695% while the 2-year yield was at 4.35%.
Reflecting the situation in Europe, the STOXX 600 index fell 1%, snapping its 4-day profit rally with MSCI's gauge of global shares down 0.82%, below its previous 2-month high.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.28%, Topix gained 0.2% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.21%.
Meanwhile, the latest update on the explosion in Poland was clarified when President Andrzej Duda confirmed that the missile was not Russian but shrapnel fired by Ukraine.
