US and European stocks plunge across the board! US State Department: Evacuate!

(Original Title: “Black Tuesday”! Just now, all major markets in Europe and America plummeted! U.S. State Department: Evacuate!)

Global financial markets are experiencing “Black Tuesday.”

Following sharp declines in Asia-Pacific markets on Tuesday, major European indices also fell sharply during trading hours. Italy’s FTSE MIB and Spain’s IBEX 35 both dropped over 4%, while the Euro Stoxx 50 and Germany’s DAX 30 declined more than 3%. U.S. stock index futures also fell across the board, with Nasdaq 100 futures dropping over 2% at one point. Analysts point out that escalating conflicts in the Middle East have heightened global market anxiety. The VIX fear index surged 18%, reaching 25.15 points, a three-month high.

Regarding the Middle East situation, according to CCTV News, within just three hours early on the 3rd U.S. Eastern Time, the U.S. State Department issued six evacuation orders, calling for non-essential government personnel in Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE to evacuate. The Israeli Defense Forces announced on the 3rd that they detected a new round of missile launches from Iran toward Israel, and their missile defense systems are intercepting Iranian missiles.

Major European and American stock markets plunge across the board

As tensions in the Middle East continue to escalate, risk aversion in Europe and the U.S. remains high. On March 2, European markets experienced heavy selling, with major indices opening lower and continuing to decline. By 19:00 Beijing time, Italy’s FTSE MIB and Spain’s IBEX 35 both fell over 4%, Germany’s DAX nearly 4%, the Euro Stoxx 50 over 3%, and France’s CAC 40 and the UK FTSE 100 both declined nearly 3%. The STOXX 600 banking sector index dropped over 4%, its largest decline since April 9, 2025.

U.S. stock futures also continued downward, with Dow futures down 1.6%, S&P 500 futures down 1.71%, Nasdaq 100 futures down 2.24%, and Russell 2000 futures down 2.57%.

Large-cap tech stocks in the U.S. pre-market also declined sharply. By 19:00 Beijing time, Nvidia, Google, and Tesla were down over 3%, Amazon and Meta fell more than 2%, and Apple and Microsoft declined over 1%.

During Asian trading hours today, markets collectively declined. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell as much as 2.5%, marking the worst two-day decline since April. Notably, Japanese and Korean markets suffered particularly severe drops, with Korea’s Kospi index closing down 7.2%, its largest single-day decline since August 5, 2024. Hyundai Motor plunged nearly 12%, SK Hynix fell over 11%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 3.1%, the Topix index fell 3.2%, with Toyota and Sony down over 6%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed down 1.3%.

Analysts suggest that global financial markets are under renewed pressure amid high uncertainty. U.S. President Trump has vowed to go to “any lengths” regarding Iran, fueling a new wave of stock sell-offs. Energy prices continue to rise, and the geopolitical security situation in the Gulf region is evolving into a systemic risk affecting the global economy.

On March 2, Trump stated that the “big wave” of strikes against Iran has not yet begun, and that operations could last four to five weeks, with preparations for a longer duration.

On March 3, Trump posted on social media that U.S. ammunition reserves are “more abundant and higher quality than ever,” and that the U.S. possesses “almost unlimited supplies” of related weapons, “better than the top weapons of other countries.”

Michele Bullock, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, said that the central bank is “highly alert” to the potential impact of Middle East conflicts on inflation expectations and is prepared to take necessary policy actions if needed.

According to Bloomberg strategist Mark Cranfield, bonds in Australia, Japan, and South Korea are all declining, indicating a more severe overall situation in Asian fixed income markets compared to the overnight trend in U.S. Treasuries.

Despite short-term market volatility intensifying, Goldman Sachs Asia-Pacific Equity Strategist Timothy Moe told the media that the Middle East situation could serve as a “catalyst for the technical correction” that markets have long needed. From a strategic perspective, this also presents an opportunity to allocate to Asian assets, as the region’s fundamentals remain constructive.

Frank Monkam, head of cross-asset macro strategies and trading at Buffalo Bayou Commodities, commented: “The attack on Iran almost perfectly triggered the already fragile stock sell-off. The recent volatility is likely to continue in the short term. However, geopolitical conflicts usually only cause temporary declines rather than sustained bear markets. Therefore, I expect that once the Middle East situation is fully digested, stocks will eventually stabilize.”

Bond markets also collapsed

It is noteworthy that amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, traditional safe-haven logic in the bond markets is also breaking down. Concerns about inflation are once again dominating global fixed income markets, with government bonds broadly sold off from Sydney to Tokyo.

Bloomberg’s global bond index fell 0.8% on Monday, the largest single-day decline since May last year. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury surged 10 basis points on Monday. The 10-year Australian government bond yield jumped as much as 12 basis points to 4.75% on Tuesday. The Japanese 10-year government bond yield rose 6 basis points. Italian 10-year bonds widened in yield, rising 10 basis points to 3.46% on Tuesday.

Mohamed El-Erian, former CEO of PIMCO, warned that amid rising geopolitical risks, a new wave of “stagflation” is sweeping the global economy, with the ultimate impact depending on the duration and spread of the conflict. Several market participants warn that this situation could lead to a prolonged sell-off in global bonds.

Bloomberg strategist Mark Cranfield said that signals from the U.S. Treasury market overnight are negative, and that Asian fixed income markets could face an even worse day. Additionally, weak results in the Japanese 10-year bond auction could trigger broader bond sell-offs.

Monica Defend, head of the Amundi Investment Institute at Allianz, wrote in a report: “The Iran crisis reinforces the structural shifts we have been emphasizing—geopolitics is re-emerging as a cyclical macro driver. Energy volatility, inflation uncertainty, and regional divergence are becoming defining features of the markets again.”