Houthi forces fired missiles at an assembly area of Saudi-backed troops in Taiz province, Yemen.

Japan's finance minister Katayama said he spoke with JP Morgan CEO Dimon, who praised recent developments in Japan.

At the morning session close, China’s main futures contracts were mixed. Shanghai crude oil futures (SC) jumped over 9%. Container freight on the Europe route, ethylene glycol (EG) and methanol rose more than 5%; fuel oil gained over 4%; low-sulfur fuel oil (LU) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) climbed above 3%; benzene was up about 3%. On the downside, palladium fell nearly 6%; Shanghai silver and platinum dropped over 4%; lithium carbonate and Shanghai gold slipped more than 3%; 20# rubber, Shanghai tin and cotton fell over 2%.