Financial Markets Daily Report23 February 2022
Investors remained worried about the escalation on the Russia-Ukraine crisis and volatility in financial markets continued to increase. Yesterday, the US announced sanctions against Russia while the EU and UK signaled they would take similar actions if there are no changes on the Russia stance on Ukraine.
- Investors remained worried about the escalation on the Russia-Ukraine crisis and volatility in financial markets continued to increase. Yesterday, the US announced sanctions against Russia while the EU and UK signaled they would take similar actions if there are no changes on the Russia stance on Ukraine.
- In this context, stock indices declined across the board, although they closed above the minimums registered during the session (the Eurostoxx 600 fell by almost 2% early in the morning). In fixed-income markets, yields on sovereign bonds edged up in the US and in the euro area while peripheral spreads narrowed.
- In commodity markets, the price of the barrel of Brent reached $99 during some minutes of the session and European gas prices surged by 10%.
- On the data front, US Composite PMI rose in February from 51.1 to 56.0 points.