🔼 Indices jump as Russia express willingness for talks with Ukraine
Global equity markets have been in a recovery mode since Thursday evening when the United States announced a package of sanctions on Russia that was less severe than feared. European stock market indices were recovering throughout the session today and got another lift in the early afternoon on positive headlines coming from the Russian state media, RIA. According to the RIA report, Putin is willing to send a delegation of Defense Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry officials to Minsk for talks with Ukraine. While this may seem to be a positive at first glance, it should be noted that Minsk is not a neutral territory for Ukraine as it hosted Russian troops as they prepared for invasion. Moreover, Russia insists that demilitarization of Ukraine is a condition to end military operations on its territory. So far, Ukraine is unwilling to talk about demilitarization but Ukraine President Zelensky said that talks on Ukraine neutral status (not NATO member) can be held. Nevertheless, markets are cheering with European indices and US index futures jumping 0.8-1.0% on these headlines.
DE30 jumped on reports saying that Russia is willing to hold talks with Ukraine in Minsk. Index broke above the 50-hour moving average and is testing the 14,400 pts resistance zone. Source: xStation5
