Market Update
The weekend news on the Ukraine situation was sadly one of further escalation of hostilities. The most notable was Russian banks being removed from SWIFT and the EU banning dealings with the Russian central bank.
Markets are also on edge, after a veiled threat from Putin for a nuclear option. On the back of the SWIFT episode and the nuclear threat, the Russian Ruble currency has crashed by 30% on the market open.
With the situation deteriorating European indices are likely to move sharply lower on the open. Especially given the nuclear threat and some European nations pledging weaponry support to the Ukraine.
Markets are hoping that a delegation coming to Ukraine for negotiations could provide some relief. This could lessen the losses on the European open, although it could still be brutal for European indices, especially Baltic ones.
Major currencies saw big gaps lower, with the EUR, GBP, AUD, NZD, and CAD all making big gaps on the price charts as the market digested the bearish events over the weekend.
Oil is rocketing higher, and Crude is trading $4.50 higher on the day and is quickly closing in on $97.00. Brent oil is trading above $100.00, and is also near the highs of last week, near $103.00.
When US Sunday evening futures trade commenced US equity index futures were slammed lower, with the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Industrial Average the biggest loser in the US.
Gold moved higher on the open and is trading back above $1,900. The yellow metal needs to break past the $1,974 level to make a new weekly high, so at $1,910, gold is still relatively far away from the highs of last week.
Bitcoin and crypto more generally is lower also. Altcoins seem to be suffering more losses. The cryptocurrency market is expecting an executive order from the Biden administration this week.
