Asian markets are lower as banking fears reignited on Wall St, sending all three major indexes down for a fourth day.
A round of economic data points Thursday morning mostly came in worse than Wall Street expectations.
Jobless claims totaled 242,000 for the week ended April 29, higher than the 236,000 estimate from Dow Jones. Worker productivity in the first quarter declined 2.7% against the estimate for a 1.9% drop, while unit labor costs, an inflation gauge, accelerated 6.3% in Q1, higher than the 5.5% expectation.
Finally, the trade deficit declined to $64.2 billion, but that was higher than the $63.1 billion estimate.The European Central Bank on Thursday raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point, in line with market expectations, noting that inflation is still too high and underlying pressures persist.
A day after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a similar hike, the ECB took its key borrowing rates up to a respective 3.75%, 4% and 3.25%, near a 15-year high. The Fed's move brought its fund rate to a target range of 5%-5.25%.
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