Asia Markets Fall as Wall Street Marks Four-Day Losing Streak on Banking Woes

This is CNBC Live Blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Asia-Pacific markets declined as

Wall Street is awash with banking concerns

The three major U.S. indices have now been in a losing streak of four days. Shares of regional banks were sold, and the

SPDR S&P Regional Bank ETF (KRE)

Some banks are experiencing volatile trading.

Australia is the

S&P/ASX 200

Early trade saw a 0.23% drop. The Reserve Bank of Australia is set to release its monetary policy statement, detailing the central bank’s deliberations after it unexpectedly increased interest rates by 25 base points to 3.85%.

Futures for Hong Kong

Hang Seng index

The open was 19,904, which is a decrease from its previous close of 19,948.73.

China's Caixin service purchasing managers index will be released later today. This comes a day after Caixin's manufacturing PMI entered contraction territory. Japan and South Korea have a closed market on Friday due to a holiday.

Overnight, in the U.S.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

The 0.96% decline in the

S&P 500

The slid by 0.72%

Nasdaq Composite

The Dow Jones fell by 0.49%. On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average turned negative for the current year. It has fallen 0.06%.

This report was contributed by CNBC's Hakyung Mercado and Darla Mercado

Goldman Sachs recommends that investors be overweight on non-U.S. market

Goldman Sachs predicts that if markets do not enter a recession then interest rates will rise and put downward pressure on valuations. The bank advises investors in this situation to take positions on markets outside the U.S.

"We continue recommending an overweight of non-US markets that are cheap and have a similar growth rate. The dollar's gradual decline should boost returns for dollar-based investors, according to a note published on Thursday by several analysts.

The company said that it prefers businesses with stable margins and quality growth, "alongside some deep value" - Energy Resources and European Banks. The US and Asia strategists also have a preference to defensive and quality equities.

-- Hakyung Kim

The regional banking index, closely watched by all investors, is down on every stock.

Each stock is a

SPDR S&P Region Banking ETF

Traded lower on Thursday

Investors focused on the sector.

The fund overall lost more than 8 percent in Thursday's trading.

Western Alliance

You can also find out more about the following:

PacWest

Each of them lost more than half their respective share value during the session.

Home BancShares

The best performing stock,, is still down 0.7%.

Since 2023, the index as a whole has fallen by around 41%.

Alex Harring

Western Alliance shares drop by more than half in value after trading is halted due to volatility

Trading for

Western Alliance Bancorp

Shares was paused several times as the stock plummeted 58.2% on Thursday. This move follows regional banking peers

PacWest Bancorp

Stocks of the company fell 59% after news that it was exploring a possible sale. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF fell more than 9% on Thursday due to the uncertainty.

-- Hakyung Kim

Estimates of productivity, labor costs, and trade data are not accurate

The majority of the economic data released on Thursday morning was worse than Wall Street's expectations.

The number of jobless claims for the week ending April 29 was 242,000, higher than Dow Jones' estimate of 236,000. The first-quarter productivity of workers fell 2.7% compared to the expected 1.9% decline, and unit labor costs (an inflation gauge) increased 6.3%, higher than the estimated 5.5%.

The trade deficit decreased to $64.2 billion but was still higher than the estimate of $63.1 billion.

--Jeff Cox

ECB hikes rates a quarter point as expected

The European Central Bank raised interest rates on Thursday by a quarter of a percentage point in line with the market's expectations. It noted that inflation was still too high, and underlying pressures continued.

The ECB raised its borrowing rates to 3.75%, 4%, and 3.25% respectively, a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a comparable hike. This is near a high of 15 years. The Fed raised its target fund rate from 5% to 5.25%.

The headline inflation rate in the Eurozone is around 7%, which is well above the ECB target of 2%.

--Jeff Cox