- Major European indices erased early gains and finished today's session lower, with DAX 30 down over 1.20%, dragged by growth and inflation concerns stemming from a fresh coronavirus outbreak in China, hawkish approach of key central banks and the Ukraine war;
- Wall Street indices resumed downward move after Monday bounce. The selloff is the most pronounced among the tech shares and consumer discretionary. Tesla and General Electric’s shares both tumbled over 11.0%. Alphabet and Microsoft will post their quarterly results after the closing bell;
- Energy commodities rose sharply after Russia announced it will halt gas deliveries to Poland tomorrow as it is not willing to comply with a Russian request to pay for gas in rubles. Currently, 55% of Poland's gas imports come from Russia via the Yamal pipeline, but Poland has already taken several steps to cut its reliance on the Kremlin. Poland's Minister in Charge of Energy Security Naimski said Gazprom supplies can be replaced by flows from other directions. Gas from Russia is not flowing via Yamal to Germany. Brent jumped to $105 per barrel, while WTI trades above $102.00;
- Precious metals trade mixed. Gold tries to defend key support at $1,900 an ounce, while silver falls to $23.40 amid a stronger dollar. The dollar index broke above the 102 mark for the first time since March 2020 and strengthened significantly against GBP;
- Cryptocurrencies also took a hit amid global risk aversion. Currently Bitcoin fell to $38300 while Ethereum trades around $2850;
Today's session on global markets brought a continuation of dynamic declines caused by concerns regarding the Fed's hawkish macroeconomic policy, intensified restrictions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in China, and the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine. Investors worldwide continue to ditch riskier assets and move their funds to safe havens, including the US dollar. Energy commodities also made strong gains today, reacting to reports from China, Ukraine and Poland, which will be cut off from Russian gas from tomorrow.
OIL.WTI price rose over 4.0% on Tuesday and erased all yesterday's losses. Buyers managed to break above the psychological $100.00 level and upper limit of the descending channel. Next target for bulls is located at $ 103.62 and coincides with 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the upward wave launched in December 2021. Source: xStation5
