Investing.com-- Asian stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, tracking an overnight rout on Wall Street amid persistent concerns over geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and higher-for-longer U.S. interest rates.
Still, the mood remained largely risk-off, especially as stronger-than-expected U.S. retail sales data spurred increased fears of sticky inflation and higher-for-longer interest rates. Wall Street indexes fell sharply on Monday, while U.S. stock index futures also fell slightly in Asian trade.at 5.3%- more than expectations for growth of 4.8%, while also picking up from the 4.8% seen in the prior quarter.
Broader Asian stocks fell sharply as sentiment remained dour. Markets were awaiting an Israeli response to a large-scale strike by Iran over the weekend- which could trigger a broader war in the Middle East.Fears of higher-for-longer U.S. interest rates were by far the biggest pain point for Asian markets.This trend saw traders aggressively price out bets that the Fed will begin cutting interest rates in June, presenting prolonged rate pressure on stock markets in the coming months.