Just been watching the Asian markets get absolutely hammered today and it's pretty clear what's driving the selloff - that escalating Middle East situation is spooking everyone. After the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, Tehran hit back hard with attacks on regional targets, and now we're looking at potential disruptions to global energy flows.

The real kicker is the Strait of Hormuz situation. Shipping basically got halted, which sent tanker costs through the roof and quadrupled some rates. Oil's now sitting above $83 a barrel for Brent crude, and that's creating this domino effect across Asian markets. You're seeing it everywhere - Shanghai Composite down 1 percent to 4,082, with oil and shipping stocks getting crushed on the closure concerns. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 2 percent to 25,249, though the mixed Chinese PMI data didn't help matters either.

Japan really took it on the chin today. The Nikkei fell hard, down 3.6 percent to 54,245, with chip stocks leading the losses - Tokyo Electron, Advantest, SoftBank all down 4-7 percent. The broader Topix Index dropped 3.7 percent to 3,633. But here's the thing that caught my attention - Seoul's market just had its worst day since the global financial crisis. The Kospi absolutely collapsed, down 12.1 percent to 5,093, and they even had to trigger a circuit breaker at one point. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix got decimated on export competitiveness concerns with oil prices this high. The won also hit a 17-year low.

What's interesting is where money's flowing. Gold is up over 1 percent in Asian trading, recovering from yesterday's losses. The dollar's also extending gains for the third straight day as geopolitical tensions keep mounting and rate cut expectations keep getting dialed back. It's the classic risk-off playbook - energy crisis fears pushing people toward safe havens.

Australia's market closed at a three-week low despite solid GDP data showing 2.6 percent annual growth. The S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.9 percent to 8,901, dragged down by gold miners, financials and airline stocks. New Zealand's NZX-50 also slipped 0.7 percent to 13,531.

Overnight, U.S. markets felt the same pressure. The Dow closed down 0.8 percent at a one-month low after getting hit hard in intraday trading. Nasdaq shed 1 percent and the S&P 500 gave up 0.9 percent. Trump came out saying the U.S. would ensure the free flow of energy no matter what, but investors are clearly still worried about where this goes next. If this regional conflict keeps escalating, we could be looking at serious disruptions to global trade and renewed inflation pressures. Definitely keeping an eye on how energy markets respond over the next few sessions.