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Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Wednesday, December 5:
1. U.S. Markets Closed
U.S. financial markets are closed in honor of former President George H.W. Bush's funeral. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq will be shut in observance of a national day of mourning for the U.S.'s 41st president, who died Friday at the age of 94.
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The last time the market closed to mark the death of a president was on Jan. 2, 2007, in the wake of President Gerald Ford’s death.
Bond markets will also be closed.
Meanwhile, CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) will halt trading of interest-rate and futures and options products for the day, though electronic trading and trading in energy and metals futures will have a regular session, including those for oil and gold.
Other global markets will operate on a normal schedule.
Currency markets are also operating as usual, though volumes will be lighter than normal.
2. Global Stocks Slump
World stocks were dragged lower, following a sharp overnight selloff on Wall Street, as worries about a potential economic slowdown and the state of the U.S.-China trade war kept buyers on the sidelines.
European markets were under pressure, with all sectors and major bourses in negative territory in mid-morning trade.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was down almost 1% by 5:30AM ET (10:30 GMT), hitting its lowest level since Nov. 23. Among national indices, Germany's DAX, France's CAC 40, and Britain's FTSE 100 were all down 0.8% or more.
Earlier, Asian stocks slid across the board, with China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.6% and Japan's Nikkei sliding 0.5%.
The moves come after Wall Street tumbled on Tuesday, with the Dow closing down nearly 800 points, while the S&P 500 dropped more than 3%. The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, plunged 3.8% to close in correction territory.
Read more: How To Profit From Tuesday’s Collapse: Jani Ziedins
3. Oil Prices Fall
In commodities, oil prices fell amid signs of swelling U.S. inventories and as traders continued to weigh prospects of a coordinated production cut among major global oil producers ahead of this week's OPEC meeting.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures slumped 27 cents, or roughly 0.5%, to $52.98 a barrel.
International Brent crude oil futures declined 32 cents, or about 0.5%, to $61.76 per barrel.
Prices were pressured by a weekly report from the American Petroleum Institute that said U.S. crude inventories rose by 5.4 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 30.
Official U.S. government oil inventory data is due Thursday, a day later than usual due to today's national day of mourning.