The geopolitical tension between Ukraine and Russian has dominated the market with investors scampering towards cutting risk. It has proven to be a tough time for Wall Street traders as they seek to balance between the aggressive FED, rising rate of inflation and now the Russian invasion in Ukraine, which continues to stir more turmoil in the market. Shock and panic continues to build up as investors absorb the different waves.
Thursday was a brutal day! All the indices dropped heavily marking their 2nd lowest points in the year. NASDAQ had the largest fall of 2.88% with only 7 stocks gaining. S&P followed, sinking 2.12% with several stocks registering gains while Dow sank 1.78% with only 5 stocks rising. The 10-year Treasury bond closed at 1.967%, a drop of 0.005. Gold dropped by 0.44% to 1,893.60.
President Joe Biden affirmed his support to NATO members, intensifying the diplomacy talks to neutralize the threat. He said on Tuesday, “We are ready with diplomacy – to be engaged in diplomacy with Russia and our Allies and partners to improve stability and security in Europe as a whole. “ Despite Biden’s call for high level diplomacy, Russia expelled the deputy ambassador, Bartle Gorman, on Thursday signaling heightened risks of invasion.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, however, has dismissed the threat of escalation. Addressing the parliament earlier on Friday, he said, “Our intelligence sees every move that could pose a potential threat to Ukraine. We estimate the probability of a large-scale escalation as low.”
Although Russia has been making claims of withdrawing its troops from the Ukranian boarder, NATO’s Sec-Gen, Jens Stoltenberg, indicated the rising tension in Europe as the “new normal”. The claims by Russia have been termed deceptive given that no affirmative actions have followed the statements. Russia has further followed its withdrawal terms with “cold war demands”, which according to German’s Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, challenges the principles of the European peace order.
Despite the hefty drops, 3 stocks had spikes above 10,000 bps. Inspirato gained 648.38%, followed by Cepton with a rise of 343.51% and Anghami De that increased by 161.36%. Inspirato concluded SPAC merger with Thayer Ventures Acquisition Corporation on February 8 and began trading on NASDAQ on February 14. Cepton also debuted its public listing on NASDAQ on February 11 after a SPAC merger with Growth Capital Acquisition Corporation.
A ray of hope shines on the market today as Sergei Lavlov, Russia’s Foreign Minister agreed to meet Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State next week. President Biden is also expected to address the transatlantic leaders today. Although far from persuasion, the U.S. futures market recorded a gain of 0.40%, 0.54% and 0.71% for Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ respectively, indication a possible rebound for the stocks.
Yesterday’s Highlights
