Overseas Trading: Global Stocks Slump as Commodities Tank

Stocks in Asia settled lower across the board today, pressured by a negative lead from Wall Street amid rising rate-hike fears. An ongoing commodities rout also weighed on Asia, with miners and energy stocks among the top laggards as crude, gold, and copper all suffered heavy losses. By the close, Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 2.2%, China's Shanghai Composite shed 1.4%, South Korea's Kospi lost 1%, and Japan's Nikkei fell 0.5%.

European stocks are also in the red at midday, following suit with the U.S. and Asia. Adding to the gloomy mood is a round of gross domestic product (GDP) data, which showed slowing growth in Germany and a smaller-than-forecast third-quarter expansion for the broader eurozone. At last look, the French CAC 40 is off 1.2%, London's FTSE 100 is 0.9% lower, and the German DAX has dipped 0.8%.