- Pressure remains on global stock markets
- Conflict intensifies in eastern Ukraine
- Iran nuclear deal is taking shape according to Reuters
European indices erased early gains and finished today’s session lower, with DAX down more than 1% as ongoing concerns regarding potential military conflict between Russia-Ukraine weighed on market sentiment. News that Russian Separatist in Donetsk in East Ukraine plan to evacuate around 700K people to Russia lowered the odds the conflict could be resolved diplomatically. Also, Russian media said a car exploded near a government building in Donetsk. On the other hand, the US Secretary of State agreed to a meeting with Russia's foreign minister next week, so maybe at least until then military actions will not take place. Also president Biden will hold a call with transatlantic leaders later and to speak later today after session close.
Rising geopolitical tensions and hawkish rhetoric from Fed members also put pressure on Wall Street indices. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard repeated his call for Fed's strong action and Fed Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said she supports hiking rates faster if needed. Fed's Williams expects it will be appropriate to raise rates in March.
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Create account Try a demo Download mobile app Download mobile appMixed moods prevail today in commodity markets amid stronger dollar and lower treasury yields. US 10-year Treasury dropped to 1.92%, while gold pulled back slightly below $1900 level. Meanwhile silver rose 1.0% and is approaching major resistance at $24.00. WTI price swings between gains and losses around $90.00 level. Reuters reported that a deal to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is taking shape, with a draft accord outlining a sequence of steps that would eventually lead to granting waivers on oil sanctions, and bring about 1 million barrels a day of oil back to the market. Nevertheless, oil traders remain at the mercy of a volatile and tense standoff in Ukraine. Major cryptocurrencies took a hit today. Bitcoin fell more than 2.5% and briefly broke below $40 000 while Ethereum is testing $2800 level.
GBPUSD pair 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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