- Russia attacks Ukrainian targets
- Energy, other commodity prices surge
- Markets tank
- German GDP figures are released on Friday.
- On Friday US pending homes sales for January are printed.
- University of Michigan consumer sentiment is published on Friday.
- Futures on the S&P 500 fell 1.7%
- Futures on the NASDAQ 100 fell 2.3%
- Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.8%
- The STOXX 600 fell 2.6%
- The MSCI World Index fell 1.2%
- The Dollar Index rose 0.6% to 96.77
- The euro fell 1.17% to $1.1177
- The British pound fell 0.6% to $1.3462
- The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 114.73 per dollar
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined nine basis points to 1.90%
- Germany's 10-year yield dropped six basis points to 0.12%
- Britain's 10-year yield fell seven basis points to 1.41%
- West Texas Intermediate crude catapulted 7.3% to $98.79 a barrel
- Gold futures rose 1.7% to $1,942.80 an ounce
Key Events
US futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell 2000 all took a dive on Thursday, along with global shares after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a military attack on Ukraine including air strikes on major cities as well as troops and tanks on the ground.
Treasury yields and gold rallied as investors sought out safe havens while oil vaulted higher.
Global Financial Affairs
Russian troops attacked Ukrainian targets on Putin's plans to "demilitarize" its neighbor. Putin asserted he has no intentions of "occupying" the Eastern European country but rather is responding to America and its Western European allies crossing his country's red line by attempting to expand the NATO alliance. Kyiv instituted martial law, and President Joseph Biden warned Russia of additional more "severe sanctions." As well, EU leaders said they will impose new, harsher sanctions on Thursday, likely targeting Kremlin financial interests after today's "barbaric attack."
With contracts on the tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 leading declines, dropping more than 3%, US futures slumped over 2%. The underlying benchmarks for the NASDAQ 100 will join the Russell 2000 in a bear market if prices remain at these levels at the start of today's US trading.
The STOXX 600 Index plunged as much as 3.25% in the first five minutes of trade. The pan-European benchmark hit its lowest level since May 2021, entering a market correction from its January record.
The European stock gauge topped out with an Ascending Broadening Wedge, demonstrating sellers' ambition to take control.
Again, Hong Kong's Hang Seng underperformed among regional peers, plunging 3.21%, followed by Australia's ASX 200 which fell 2.99%. As usual, China's Shanghai Composite outperformed, falling only 1.7%.
The rush into the safety of Treasuries pushed yields on the US 10-year note lower again.
Rates are retesting the bottom of the rising channel and preceding pennant, itself a breakout of a large symmetrical triangle.
The dollar surged as much as 0.9%.
The greenback moved to the top of a Diamond pattern, which tends to develop at tops.
Gold surged by more than 3%, breaking the $1,950 level for the first time in 13 months. The yellow metal's rise at the same time as a rally in the dollar demonstrates investors' eagerness for safe havens as risk-appetite evaporated. During normal times, the two assets tend to have a negative correlation.
The precious metal price has risen for the fourth consecutive month, for the first time since August 2021, having completed a large symmetrical triangle that dominated throughout 2021.
Russia is a significant producer of many major commodities. Traders are worried that further sanctions likely to be imposed by the US, UK and Europe will lead to disruption in supplies of wheat, aluminum and copper for example, raising their prices yet further.
Bitcoin dropped for the second day, demonstrating once again that cryptocurrencies aren't really safe havens but rather risk assets.
Once the digital token falls below the Jan. 24 low of $36,702, it will resume the previous downtrend, which completed a sizeable H&S top and is now heading to our $30,000 initial target.
Crude oil surged, hitting over $100 a barrel and continued volatility is expected. 
Energy markets were roiled on risks that Russian energy supplies will be disrupted, which may profoundly impact the market. Russia is the second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and the world's foremost natural gas producer. Crude broke out of a pennant and Brent hit over $105 while natural gas surged 4.25%