Western stocks returned to negative territory on Thursday, with eyes on Ukraine, while oil and gas fell slightly after having crossed record thresholds at the start of the day in Europe.
After Wednesday’s recovery, the main European stock markets closed lower. London ended up falling -2.57%; Frankfurt, -2.16% and Paris, -1.84%. Along these lines, the Madrid Stock Exchange also ended in the red (-3.72%), as well as Milan (-2.35%).
On Wall Street, the Down Jones fell 0.18%; the S&P 500 index was down 0.37% and the Nasdaq was down 1.14% by 5:25 p.m. GMT. In Asia, the Tokyo stock market rose 0.7% and Hong Kong’s 0.55%, but the Shanghai stock closed down 0.09%.
“Stock markets are back in the red this Thursday,” Craig Erlam, an analyst at OANDA, told AFP. “Any uptick that we see … seems to be more hope than reality and, as we’re seeing today, they don’t last,” he added.
The day before, the US markets advanced after applauding the reassuring speech of the president of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, on the next rises in interest rates.
Facing “very uncertain” events in Ukraine, Powell stressed that the Fed will show “great flexibility” depending on the changing outlook for the world’s largest economy.
But for the markets, “volatility is expected to remain high amid the bombing and possible new sanctions against Moscow,” recalled John Plassard, investment specialist at Mirabaud.
Likewise, the consequences of Western sanctions on the Russian economy led the rating agencies Fitch and Moody’s to drastically lower the Russian debt note on Thursday.
On the day, the two largest global automobile groups, Toyota and Volkswagen, announced on Thursday the suspension of their production in Russia.
Meanwhile, the prices of raw materials did not stop rising on Thursday, especially oil, a day after the OPEC meeting that did not change its policy of modest increase in production despite the tensions in the market.
Around 5:20 p.m. GMT, a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, Europe’s reference oil, for delivery in May was selling at US$113.32, after having reached US$119.84. Since 2012, it has never reached the threshold of US$120.
Levels since 2008 in WTI
For its part, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading at US$110.68 at 17:20 GMT, after reaching US$116.57, its highest level since September 2008.
Natural gas in Europe reached its record value at 08:00 GMT of 198 euros per megawatt hour equivalent in the Dutch TFF, and later stood at 113 euros per megawatt hour.
Historical level in Nickel
In metals, zinc topped $4,000 a tonne, the highest since 2007, while aluminum held close to its all-time high and nickel rose more than 5%.
For its part, the leading European air transport group, Lufthansa, fell by 8.18% and pointed out, during the presentation of its results, that the war in Ukraine is a source of “great uncertainty” for the sector.
coins
In currency terms, the euro remained weak against the US currency at $1.1046.
The bitcoin lost ground (-3.84%) after the jump registered the previous days, to US $ 42,380.
AFP
Source: Larepublica
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