Asian stock markets are trading sharply lower on Tuesday, despite a lack of cues from Wall Street overnight due to a holiday, as rising geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine triggered a sell-off in global equities. Investors watched the latest developments in Ukraine as last-ditch diplomatic efforts continued to prevent what Western powers warn could be the imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine.Asian stocks ended mostly lower on Monday.
The news of a summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin fueled some hopes for a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict. U.S. officials said that the proposed summit would happen only if Russia did not attack Ukraine.
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May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.