James Gruber

government bond yields rose due to the escalating oil prices stoking those inflation concerns.

The U.S.

10-year Treasury yield climbed 6 points to 4.41%, while the U.S.

2-year Treasury yield was up 9 points to 3.93%.

To the European markets, the continent-wide FTSE Euro First 300 index ended down 0.6% and the UK FTSE 100 fell 1.2%.

Europe slid to a three-week low on Wednesday amid mixed corporate results and data pointing to the economic damage caused by the Iran war.

German inflation rose in April due to surging energy prices, while the Eurozone economic sentiment fell to a three-and-a-half-year low this month amid the Iran war.

GSK and AstraZeneca fell 5.4% and 1.5% respectively, despite posting strong first quarter earnings.

Their declines dragged the healthcare index down 1.7%.

UBS gained 3.2% after the Swiss bank posted better than expected first quarter net profit.

Adidas jumped 8.4% after the German sportswear group reported better than expected first quarter operating profit.

It's now time for the watch list.

In Australia, there's an update from Domino's Pizza today.

Meanwhile, private sector credit growth is also released.

In the US, first quarter earning season is in full swing.

As we speak, those results are coming in from Meta, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft.

For a full update on these, check out our morning report video later this morning.

Company results tomorrow morning our time include Apple, Eli Lilly, Mastercard, Caterpillar, Merck, Amgen, ConocoPhillips, SanDisk and Bristol-Meyer.

There are also advanced GDP figures for the March quarter for the US with 1.2% quarter on quarter expected.

In Europe, the ECB will hand out its decision on interest rates which are tipped to remain at 2.15%.