Global Stocks Slide as Oil Soars amid Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Amid escalating geopolitical conditions in Eastern Europe, oil, gold, and dollar have surged while U.S. bond yields and global stocks plunged on Thursday as Russia begins its ‘full scale invasion’ of Ukraine.

MSCI’s broadest index outside Asia-Pacific shares plummeted by over 3.2% as Chinese blue chips also edged lower by 1.3%. U.S. stock market futures plunged as S&P 500 e-minis and Nasdaq futures dipped by 2.3% and 2.8% respectively.

Brent crude futures surged by 3.5% to over $100 per barrel, for the first time since September, 2014. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures edged higher by 4.6% to $96.22 a barrel reaching their highest levels since August, 2014. Spot gold also rose by over 1.7%, reaching its peak level since January, 2021.

Russian troops arrived in Ukraine’s Odessa and Mariupol, while also launching missile attacks on the Ukrainian strongholds of Kyiv and Kharkiv, revealed an official with Ukraine’s interior ministry.

Pepperstone’s Head of Research, Chris Weston contended, "The market was always trying to judge if they would stop at Donbass, and it looks pretty clear that they are moving toward Kyiv, which was always one of the worst case scenarios, because we now have a long night ahead of us trying to understand how bad this gets, and what sanctions get put up, because there has to be a fresh round of sanctions now against Putin and the Russian government."