U.S. stock index futures decline, Japanese and Korean stock markets fall

On March 3rd, driven by the escalation of the Middle East situation and expectations of soaring energy costs, global markets’ risk aversion rapidly increased. U.S. stock index futures declined: Nasdaq futures fell 1% intraday, Dow futures dropped 0.8%, and S&P 500 futures declined 0.83%. The Nikkei 225 index closed down 3.00%, currently at 56,292.02 points; the Korea KOSPI index plunged as much as 6.00 intraday, currently at 5,897.15 points.