- European shares deeply in red
- Wall Street faces renewed pressure
- Talks between Ukraine and Russia showed little progress
- US CPI inflation highest since January 1982
European indices finished today's session sharply lower, trimming some of the yesterday gains as talks between the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine in Turkey turned out to be a disappointment. Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the leadership in Moscow “live in their own reality” after the Kremlin foreign minister earlier denied that Russian forces had targeted civilians by destroying a children’s hospital and maternity ward on Wednesday. DE30 lost 2.93% today, British UK100 fell 1.3% and French CAC40 finished 2.83% lower. The European Central Bank decided to keep interest rates unchanged and announced a possible early end of asset purchases. Initially investors treated this as a hawkish sign, however ECB president Lagarde managed to calm the markets a bit. Lagarde announced, the central bank gives itself time to properly analyze the impact of the conflict on the EU economic situation. Inflation in 2022 is expected to reach 5.1% (compared to previous forecasts of 3.2%). If inflation will not abate in the upcoming months, QE should be completed in Q3, although it is conditional and depends on further developments.
US indices also took a hit on Thursday, however the scale of declines is much smaller compared to indexes from the Old Continent. US100 fell 1.62% US500 is down 1.18%. US CPI inflation in February reached 7.9%, in line with analysts' predictions and is highest since January of 1982. The main factors contributing to the increase were shelter, food and transport. Interestingly, prices related to fuels and media for households fell. However, it can be expected that these figures will be revised upwards or increase in March. On the corporate front, Goldman Sachs (GS.US) will close its operations in Russia. Goldman is the first major Wall Street bank which took such steps following the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile Amazon.com (AMZN.US) stock rose nearly 5.0% after the company announced a 20-for-1 stock split and a $10 billion share buyback program.
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Create account Try a demo Download mobile app Download mobile appMixed moods prevail in the commodities markets amid a slightly stronger dollar. US 10-year Treasury yields returned to 2.00% while gold rose slightly but did not manage to break above psychological $2000 level. Silver erased early losses and is currently approaching resistance at $26.00. Downward pressure prevails on the oil market as investors try to assess yesterday's comments from the UAE and ongoing Russia's invasion of Ukraine. WTI oil cut early gains and currently trades around $106.00. Major cryptocurrencies moved lower during today's session, almost completely giving away yesterday profits. Bitcoin price dropped briefly below $39,000, while Ethereum trades around $2600 level.
OIL.WTI launched today's session higher, however buyers failed to break above key resistance at $116.00, which coincides with 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of the last upward wave. Next price pulled back to the local support zone around $105.80 which is marked with a lower limit of the 1:1 structure and previous price reactions. Should a break lower occur, downward correction may deepen. Source: xStation5
