MILANO – The European lists open strongly, despite the mixed results of Asia and with the US futures fluctuating. The price of oil remains in tension after the US move, followed by the UK, to block purchases of crude oil from Russia: the focus now shifts to the report on US inventories, arriving today. The price of crude oil is now about double compared to the beginning of December: the Brent it is trading at 130.18 a barrel, up 1.72%, but below the peak of 139.13 dollars reached on Monday. The West Texas Intermediate it is up 1.31% to $ 125.32 a barrel.
Investors are grappling with the maximum volatility linked to the evolution of the conflict and await tomorrow, circled in red on the agenda for the simultaneous meeting of the ECB and the publication of the data on US inflation. In the reports of the investment banks the danger of stagflazioneespecially on the Old Continent, with which the central bank risks having to deal: a mix of low growth and high prices.
In the first few bars, Milano soars 3.6% with banks leading the rise. The others also did well: Frankfurt salt by 3%, Paris 2.8%, London Of 2%.
in the meantime the White House would have tried unsuccessfully to arrange a phone call between Joe Biden and the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. According to Wall Street Journal, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates would both have refused to speak with the President of the United States and thus to indulge his attempt to create international support for Ukraine in an anti-Russian key and contain the surge in oil prices.
Meanwhile, the financial situation in Moscow is becoming increasingly tense: the agency Fitch downgraded the rating of the Russian Federation from ‘B’ to ‘C’ due to the impact on the national economy that the sanctions approved following the invasion of Ukraine are having. For the rating agency the risk of a Russian default on sovereign debt is “imminent”. The ruble updates the lows and loses more than 7% against the dollar compared to last Friday’s closing: 113.88 rubles are needed for one dollar. Against the euro, the ruble opened at 120.5 but then hit an all-time low of 127.4. The spread between ten-year BTPs and German Bund counterparts it is stable: it stands at 148.3 points, in line with yesterday’s closing. The yield of the Italian bond is up slightly to 1.595%.
The session in Asia got worse. There Tokyo Stock Exchange closed lower, reversing course after initial gains, due to persistent uncertainty over the situation in Ukraine and pending US consumer price data expected this week. The Nikkei 225 Index lost 0.30%, or 73.42 points, to 24,717.53 points, while the Topix Index fell 0.06%, or 0.97 points, to 1,758.89.