Putin Escalates Assault Despite Peace Talks

The risk-related sentiment is still the main market driver during the US trading session. Safe-haven assets surged higher at the weekly opening amid escalating war between Russia and Ukraine.

The sentiment temporarily improved the early US session amid peace talks. However, such talks concluded no decisions. A new round of talks will take place within a few days, but hostilities resumed with Moscow bombarding civilian buildings near Kyiv.

Russian President Putin ignores sanctions and financial chaos: Russia imposes a halt to foreigners’ security payments. Local stocks markets will remain closed on Tuesday, while the RUB is stumbling to record lows vs the US dollar.

Western nations are also escalating their war preparations in the Baltic. Germany and Croatia, among other countries, announced defensive preparations.

ECB President Christine Lagarde tweeted: “I reiterated that the ECB will implement sanctions decided by the EU, and we are ready to do all that is needed within our mandate to ensure price stability and financial stability”.

The EUR/USD pair flirted with the yearly low before bounding, now trading around the 1.1200 level. GBP/USD posted a modest intraday advance and settled around 1.3400.

Commodity-linked currencies were among the best performers against the US dollar, with AUD/USD trading around 0.7250 and USD/CAD in the 1.2690 price zone. The Swiss Franc and the JPY edged firmly higher against the dollar.

Spot gold trades around $1,900 a troy ounce, while the barrel of WTI changes hands at around $935.30, both up from Friday’s close.

Increased demand for government bonds dragged yields lower. Meanwhile, most global indexes traded in the red territory.