Oil plunges, eurozone industrial production falls

Stock markets managed to stabilise somewhat on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 gaining 0.2 percent.

Oil plunged though, Brent crude falling 4.2 percent and West Texas Intermediate falling 4.6 percent to extend their bear markets.

The US 10-year Treasury yield fell 7 basis points to 2.21 percent.

However, in Europe, Greece's 10-year bond yield jumped 31 basis points to 7.01 percent on Tuesday after euro-area finance ministers clashed with the nation’s leaders over their desire to sever a bailout program.

Moving in the opposite direction, Germany's 10-year bund yield fell six basis points, touching 0.837 percent, the lowest level since Bloomberg started collecting the data in 1989.

Helping to push bond yields down on Tuesday were weak eurozone economic data.

Eurozone industrial production fell 1.8 percent in August as capital goods output fell 4.8 percent.

In Germany, the Economy Ministry reduced its 2014 economic-growth forecast to 1.2 percent from 1.8 percent and its 2015 prediction to 1.3 percent from 2 percent while the ZEW Center for European Economic Research said its index of investor and analyst expectations fell to minus 3.6 in October from 6.9 in September, the 10th monthly decline and the first negative reading since November 2012.

Elsewhere in Europe, UK inflation slowed to 1.2 percent in September from 1.5 percent in August while house prices rose 11.7 percent in August from a year ago, the same as in July.