- European indices finished session in mixed moods
- Wall Street moves lower, S&P 500 hits 4-week low
- Russia recognizes expanded borders of separatist republics
- Several countries impose sanctions on Russia
European indices finished today's session in mixed moods, with the DAX 30 falling for a fifth consecutive day to its lowest closing level since March 2021 as investors continue to follow developments in Ukraine. EU and UK impose first sanctions on Russia after Putin ordered troops into two Moscow-backed separatist regions of eastern Ukraine. Russia also recognized expanded borders of separatist republics which increases risk of high scale military conflict as a large number of Ukrainian troops are located in these regions. On the data front, Germany's Ifo Business Climate indicator jumped to 98.9 in February of 2022, the highest in five months, beating the market's forecast of 96.5.
Major Wall Street indices dropped sharply today, with the Dow falling for a fourth straight session below major support at 34,000 pts while the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 dropped 1.64% and 1.94% respectively due to intensifying geopolitical tensions in Europe. President Biden said he believes it is the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and announced the US is implementing sanctions on Russian financial firms, sovereign debt and individuals, and that it is working with Germany to halt Nord Stream 2. The US will deploy additional forces and equipment to strengthen Baltics. However the sanctions announced by Biden turned out to be less severe than expected, as a result of which the indices halted their declines. On the economic front, the IHS Markit US Manufacturing PMI rose to 57.5 in February from 55.5 in the previous month, beating analysts’ estimates of 56, preliminary estimates showed.
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Open account Try demo Download mobile app Download mobile appIncreased volatility can be observed on the commodity markets amid a slightly weaker dollar. The US 10-year Treasury remained elevated around 1.92%, while gold pulled back from $1915, however buyers managed to defend the $1900 level. Meanwhile silver rose over 1.0% and currently trades around at $24.20. WTI erased early gains and dropped below $92.00 level. Ongoing conflict at the Ukrainian border supports wheat prices which rose 4.5% as both sides are large producers of agricultural commodities. Altcoins took a hit early in the session however managed to erase most of the early losses. Bitcoin fell more than 3.0% and tested $36250 level, however bearish momentum faded away and currently the price is approaching resistance at $38000. Meanwhile Ethereum is testing support at $2600.
GBPUSD pair again failed to break above the long-term downward trendline and pulled back to the local support at 1.3600 which coincides with 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of the upward wave launched in March 2020. Should break lower occur, downward move may accelerate towards next support at 1.35 which is marked with previous price reactions and EMA 100 (purple line). Source: xStation5
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