Stocks Plunge while Oil Surges amid Escalating Ukraine-Russia Exigency

World stocks plummeted even as oil and safe-haven assets soared on Tuesday amid increasing geopolitical tensions between Ukraine and Russia, after the Kremlin sanctioned the deployment of troops to parts of Ukraine.

As of 11:30pm ET, MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan is set to perform the worst this month dropping by 2.1%, spurred by markets in mainland China and Hong Kong, while Japan’s Nikkei edged down by 2.5%.

U.S. and European markets were also suffered blows with S&P 500 futures and Euro Stoxx 50 futures dropping by 1.8% and 1.53% respectively. Nasdaq futures also plummeted by 2.5% as well as FTSE futures at 0.89%.

On the other hand, oil edged higher with Brent crude futures reaching $96.85 rising by 1.5%. This comes after it hit a seven-year high of $97.21 during the initial session, fueled by possible supply disruptions as a result of increasing geopolitical turbulence in Eastern Europe.

Putin on Monday gave orders for Russian troops to occupy two independent regions in eastern Ukraine, thereby exacerbating the tensions between Ukraine and Russia which could potentially culminate in a disastrous war.

©Photo: The Associated Press 2020