📉 Uncertainty over Ukraine and Wall Street sell-off on Friday pressures European indices
A small and brief bounce on the European stock markets waned quickly. Blue-chips indices from Europe launched today's trading with bullish price gaps. However, upbeat moods did not last long and indices started to erase gains. Even better-than-expected PMIs from Germany, with the manufacturing index jumping back above 60 and services back above 50, did little to change the situation.
Pessimism in the European markets can be blamed on the weakness of US equities, that experienced another sell-off on Friday. Moreover, the Ukraine-Russia situation is adding to uncertainty in Europe. Western countries are moving military equipment to Ukraine in hopes that it will deter Russia from invading the country. Meanwhile, Russia says that any build-up of Western troops in Ukraine will be met with build-up of Russian troops on the Ukraine-Russia border. UK and US evacuated families of their diplomats from Ukraine while NATO announced that warships and jet fighters will be moved closer to Ukraine. While Russia said it does not intend to invade Ukraine, it continues to maintain around 150 thousand soldiers near the border.
DE30 trades at the lowest level since December 21, 2021 and tests 78.6% retracement of the recent upward impulse. The index broke below the 200-session moving average on Friday. The next major support can be found in the 15,000 pts area. It should be noted that Russian RTS (RUS50) resumed sell-off and drops over 6% today. Source: xStation5
