MILANO – Futures on Europe and Wall Street are slightly up, while investors watch with bated breath at the evolution of the situation in Ukraine with the expected talks between the delegations of Kiev and Moscow. The Moscow Exchange is still closed: it is the fourth day in a row.
The energy sector remains in the spotlight after the rush of the last few sessions: the price of futures on Petroleum Brent has exceeded the threshold of 117 dollars, the WTI has reached the area of 115 dollars after having registered a growth of 7% on the eve: according to the Bloomberg we are at the highest levels since 2008, while Opec + continues with its growth trajectory to production as if nothing had happened. Even the gas resumes its march and in Amsterdam, the reference market for Europe, natural gas moves around 180 euros per megawatt hour, an increase of 8% compared to yesterday’s closing, when it had strongly ‘retraced’ compared to the maximum of the day. Yesterday, in fact, new records had been reached at almost 200 euros per MWh. Nor does the race in the prices of food raw materials on international markets stop. The future on grain rises 7.3% to $ 11.70 per bushel, a level not seen since 2008. The cost of most increased by 3.25% to 7.63 dollars per bushel, on the highest levels since 2013. The price of soya beans at $ 17.11 per pound.
The US financial agency tells how MSCI and FTSE Russell are cutting Russian stocks off their indices, which are widely followed by the investment fund industry: Moscow stocks are thus overshadowed by the fund’s radar. For the vast majority of investors, the Russian market is currently not investable and therefore its shares will be removed from emerging market indices on March 9, MSCI said. FTSE will trigger the zero weight cut of Russian components on 7 March. With foreign reserves frozen, seven banks cut off from SWIFT, internal capital controls, big companies breaking bridges, the isolation of the Russian economy proceeding.
Positive closing this morning for the Tokyo Stock Exchange which followed the recovery of US stock indices, with investors focusing on the next moves of Federal Reserve, and the chances of a more modest-than-expected interest rate hike: Powell said it is appropriate to do so, but only by 25 points versus the expected 50. And so the day ended at + 0.7% for the Nikkei. The other Asians contrasted: + 0.45% of Hong Kongwhile Shenzen loses 1.08% e Shanghai it’s on par.