MILANO – 10:30 am. Shock reopening, after Black Friday, for the European financial markets: the stock exchanges plummet, the cost of raw materials, gas and oil in particular, soars. The escalation of war in Ukraine, where bombings are increasingly targeting the civilian population, is leading the allies to evaluate tougher interventions from the point of view of sanctions. According to international media, the US is pushing (with or without allies) to adopt a total blockade on the import of Russian oil. An option that has screened the Crude oil prices rise, as well as gas prices at the European hub in Amsterdam.
The latter updated its all-time high by igniting at 300 euros per MWh, with an increase of 54%. In London the price rises to 697 pence at the Mmbtu (+ 51%). In the night the Brent, the European quality of oil, almost touched 140 dollars a barrel in Asia. In the morning the Brent was traveling just under 130 dollars, while the WTI rose to 125 dollars in April.
Oil, the role of Russia: how much oil does Moscow produce and where does it go?
edited by Raffaele Ricciardi
Very strong sales on the bags: Milano, which had lost 6.2% on Friday, lost a further 3.15% today. In some trading phases, the Ftse Mib reached -6%. In Piazza Affari the banks are sold in full hands, with Unicredit that doesn’t even manage to make a price. Also suspended Stellantis in volatility auction with double-digit drops. Leonardo, on the other hand, is betting on an increase in military spending. Heavy discounts also on other exchanges: Frankfurt -3,7%, Paris -3,4%, London -2,15%.
We are therefore at a new episode in the upheaval of the global energy market: “One of the greatest uncertainties is how much and how the escalation of the economic war between Russia and the West will impact the flow of oil and gas,” he told the Bloomberg Victor Shum, vice president of IHS Markit, S&P Global. “NATO members currently buy more than half of the 7.5 million barrels per day of crude oil and refined products that Russia exports and stocks are already low in the US and at lows in OECD countries in Europe and Asia,” he added. . “The multifaceted dimensions of this war will lead to unexpected outcomes.” As Deutsche Bank recalls in its opening note of the day, the tension on oil also derives from the fact that over the weekend the hopes of accelerating the nuclear deal with theIranwhich would bring a major producer back to flow its crude oil into the global market.
A taste of investor concern came early in the morning with the Tokyo Stock Exchange which concluded the first session of the week in a sustained decline, with the reference index at its lowest in 16 months: the Nikkei lost 2.94%, to 25,221.41, with a loss of 764 points. The Chinese stock exchanges also closed the session with heavy losses: the Composite index of Shanghai yields 2.17%, to 3,372.86 points, while that of Shenzhen it loses 2.70%, reaching 2,203.41.
On the currency front, the recent safe haven rush is further strengthening the dollar. L’euro thus it falls to the lows from June 2020 to 1.0877 against the greenback. The single currency is practically on par with the Swiss franc, something that hasn’t happened since 2015.
The same desire for safe investments drives up the gold ingot with immediate delivery after hitting $ 2,000 an ounce marks $ 1,980 an ounce with an increase of 0.5%. However, other raw materials are under tension, for reasons that link them to Russia: The biggest rise is in Nickel which has seen a jump of 16%. Also in tension aluminum (+ 2%) and copper (+ 3%). Palladium is running, rising by 5.2 percent to around $ 3,137 per ounce.
Among the macroeconomic data of the day, it should be noted that orders to factories in Germany they rose by 1.8% in January compared to the previous month and against an expected + 1%. This was announced by the German Federal Statistical Office Destatis. On an annual basis, the increase is equal to 7.3%. China has experienced a trade surplus of 115.95 billion dollars in January-February, up on the 99.46 billion of the same period of 2021 and on the 99.5 billion estimated by analysts. According to the National Statistics Office, exports recorded double-digit progress for the sixteenth month in a row (+ 16.3% per year against the expected + 15% and + 20.9% in December 2021) at 544. , 7 billion, while imports slowed down to + 15.5% (compared to the estimated + 16.5% and + 19.5% in December), 428.75 billion.