 "Brexit fears spook stocks, yields in red")
Safe-haven German Bund yields fell below zero on Tuesday for the first time and global equity markets slid for a fourth day in a row on intensifying worries about a potential British exit from the European Union.
Polls and bookmakers' odds showed an increasing likelihood that Britons would vote to exit the European Union in the June 23 referendum. Britain's largest tabloid newspaper, the Sun, also said it was backing a "Leave" vote.
"The market is really afraid of the uncertainty of what the outcome will actually be," said Tony Bedikian, head of global markets at Citizens Bank in Boston, referring to Brexit.
The 10-year Bund yield fell as low as minus 0.032 per cent, which effectively means investors are paying to lend money to the German government for a full decade.
US Treasury yields fell to four-month lows on Brexit fears as investors pared lingering expectations the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates in coming months. A two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee was set to begin Tuesday.
A Brexit would increase the risk to global growth, further weigh on the euro while strengthening the dollar, which would tighten financial conditions and likely prompt the Fed to reconsider rate hikes, said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab & Co Inc in Boston.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 84.01 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 17,648.47. The S&P 500 slid 8.68 points, or 0.42 percent, to 2,070.38 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 19.30 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 4,829.14.
Oil prices fell for a fourth straight day, swept lower by investor skittishness over Brexit. The referendum overshadowed signs of a return to health for crude markets after the International Energy Agency said the oil market is essentially balanced after two years of surpluses. Brent crude oil futures fell 69 cents to $49.66 a barrel, while US crude futures lost 52 cents to $48.36 a barrel.
"Even as both Opec and the International Energy Agency talk about a tighter oil market, fear of the fallout from a UK exit from the euro zone is throwing global markets into a tizzy," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
IEA said on Tuesday the oil market is essentially balanced after two years of surpluses. On Monday, Opec forecast that the oil market would be more balanced in the second half of 2016 as outages in Nigeria and Canada help to speed erosion of a supply glut.
Volatility in the pound spiked to its highest in at least 20 years, rising beyond heights seen when US investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed in late 2008.
The dollar has risen about 1.5 per cent from its June lows against a basket of currencies, spurred by Brexit fears.
The yen surged to its strongest against the euro in more than three years.
The euro was down 0.95 per cent against the yen at 118.84, while the dollar slid 0.21 per cent to 106.01 yen. The dollar trimmed losses against the yen slightly after a strong US retail sales report for May, though the data did little to increase the odds of a Fed rate hike in the summer.
Polls and bookmakers' odds showed an increasing likelihood that Britons would vote to exit the European Union in the June 23 referendum. Britain's largest tabloid newspaper, the Sun, also said it was backing a "Leave" vote.
"The market is really afraid of the uncertainty of what the outcome will actually be," said Tony Bedikian, head of global markets at Citizens Bank in Boston, referring to Brexit.
The 10-year Bund yield fell as low as minus 0.032 per cent, which effectively means investors are paying to lend money to the German government for a full decade.
US Treasury yields fell to four-month lows on Brexit fears as investors pared lingering expectations the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates in coming months. A two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee was set to begin Tuesday.
A Brexit would increase the risk to global growth, further weigh on the euro while strengthening the dollar, which would tighten financial conditions and likely prompt the Fed to reconsider rate hikes, said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab & Co Inc in Boston.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 84.01 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 17,648.47. The S&P 500 slid 8.68 points, or 0.42 percent, to 2,070.38 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 19.30 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 4,829.14.
Oil prices fell for a fourth straight day, swept lower by investor skittishness over Brexit. The referendum overshadowed signs of a return to health for crude markets after the International Energy Agency said the oil market is essentially balanced after two years of surpluses. Brent crude oil futures fell 69 cents to $49.66 a barrel, while US crude futures lost 52 cents to $48.36 a barrel.
"Even as both Opec and the International Energy Agency talk about a tighter oil market, fear of the fallout from a UK exit from the euro zone is throwing global markets into a tizzy," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
IEA said on Tuesday the oil market is essentially balanced after two years of surpluses. On Monday, Opec forecast that the oil market would be more balanced in the second half of 2016 as outages in Nigeria and Canada help to speed erosion of a supply glut.
Volatility in the pound spiked to its highest in at least 20 years, rising beyond heights seen when US investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed in late 2008.
The dollar has risen about 1.5 per cent from its June lows against a basket of currencies, spurred by Brexit fears.
The yen surged to its strongest against the euro in more than three years.
The euro was down 0.95 per cent against the yen at 118.84, while the dollar slid 0.21 per cent to 106.01 yen. The dollar trimmed losses against the yen slightly after a strong US retail sales report for May, though the data did little to increase the odds of a Fed rate hike in the summer.