All three major US stock indexes opened Thursday’s session deep in the red, with the S&P 500 heading for its worst first half since 1962 amid persistent concerns over the implications of soaring inflation and tighter monetary policy on the growth momentum. All three major averages are also on track to post sharp monthly, and quarterly losses, with technology stocks hit especially hard. Runaway price growth, aggressive rate hikes, and recession risks drove much of the selloff in equity markets in the first half, with Covid lockdowns in China and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine escalating volatility further. Meanwhile, the core PCE Price Index inflation, the preferred gauge of inflation by the Fed, eased to a six-month low of 4.7 percent in May 2022, indicating that price increases could be slowing. Inflation data followed worse-than-expected GDP figures and dire consumer confidence data earlier this week.

Bitcoin tumbled below the $19,000 mark, closing in on its lowest level since December 2020, as investors continued to ditch riskier assets amid lingering concerns about a global recession triggered by an aggressive tightening from central banks to rein on record inflation. The price crash over the last few months, which has wiped off billions of dollars of value from the cryptocurrency market, sent shockwaves throughout crucial companies in the industry. Earlier this month, Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange by volume, CoinFlex, and crypto lender Celsius temporarily suspended bitcoin withdrawals. Meanwhile, crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital defaulted on a more than $670 million loan from Voyager Digital.

US natural gas futures tumbled below the $6/MMBtu mark, a level not seen since March, as investors reacted to fresh EIA data showing a larger-than-expected storage build. The latest EIA report showed utilities added 82 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas to storage last week, well above analysts' expectations of 74 bcf and a five-year average increase of 73 bcf. Prices are now roughly 40% below their June peak of $9.7/MMBtu as the closure of Freeport's export plant in Texas made more fuel available domestically. The recent explosion at one of the biggest US liquefied natural gas export terminals in Texas is keeping an additional two bcf a day of natural gas in the US market despite soaring international demand, easing pressure from domestic prices. Freeport LNG said it doesn't expect the terminal to return to entire operations until late 2022, with partial production resuming perhaps in three months.

European stocks sank on the last trading day of June, and are on track for their worst quarter since early 2020. The Dax was down nearly 3%, to levels not seen in four months, pushing Q2 losses to over 11% while the Stoxx 600 dropped almost 2%, also down more than 11% on the quarter. Concerns mount that tight monetary policy will push the economies into recession, at a time inflation remains elevated and central banks around the world advocate rapid interest rate hikes while the war in Ukraine is far from over. The auto sector was among the worst performers, falling nearly 5% to hit levels not seen since November of 2020. Meanwhile, shares of German energy company Uniper plunges nearly 16% after the company withdrew its financial outlook for 2022 on Gazprom gas supply restrictions.

The Canadian economy likely contracted 0.2% month-over-month in May of 2022, with declines expected for mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction, and in manufacturing and construction. Regarding April, the Canadian GDP rose by 0.3% month-over-month, following a 0.7% expansion in March and surpassing preliminary estimates of a 0.2% rise. Growth was seen in 13 of the 20 industries during the month, with higher output for the goods producing industries (0.9%), while output for service providers was slightly higher (0.1%). A sharp expansion was seen for mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (3.3%) amid an upturn in all sectors. Output was also higher for accommodation and food services (4.6%) with activity in the subsector surpassing its pre-Covid levels. On the other hand, the real estate sector contracted 0.8%, extending last month’s decline.

Oil prices declined nearly 4% on Thursday, with WTI crude futures trading around $105 a barrel and down nearly 5% for the June month, the first monthly decline since November. Investors weigh fears of an economic slowdown driven by central banks’ aggressive action to combat surging inflation and signs of weakening US gasoline demand, with near-record prices likely suppressing consumption. On the other hand, tight supply continues to pressure the oil market, amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and outages from Libya to Ecuador. Meanwhile, OPEC+ stick to earlier approved oil output increases in July and August and refrained from any policy discussions for September, Reuters reported.