A wave of selling in financial markets swept across the globe Friday, with nervous investors forced to again confront the specter of recession.

New signs of slowing global growth rocked investments of all sorts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to its lowest level of the year, the dollar surged and short-term Treasury yields jumped.

Investors, mulling stubbornly high inflation and unnerved by Russia’s attempts to escalate the war in Ukraine, have fled for the exits this week, driving a concurrent selloff in stocks and bonds alike. Bond yields remained near their highest levels in more than a decade as prices tumbled. …

Central banks around the world, including policy makers in Norway, Switzerland and South Africa, have lifted borrowing costs. The global commitment to policy tightening has further eroded hopes among investors for a soft landing, or only a modest hit to growth instead of a full-blown recession.

“All central banks are singing from the same hymn sheet: They’re trying to get on top of inflation no matter what,” said Antoine Bouvet, a senior rates strategist at ING. “The Fed set the tone very clearly…they will continue regardless of the economic pain inflicted on the economy.”