Investors are panic-selling as Russia attacks Ukraine. At the start of trading, the DAX fell 4.4 percent to a 13-month low of 13,986 points. The leading German index is thus heading for the biggest daily loss since the stock market crash in March 2020. Stock exchanges across Europe started with severe losses: in France, the CAC-40 is trading at minus 3.9 percent, the British FTSE 100 at minus 6 percent and the Spanish Ibex minus 4.3 percent.
US stock markets are already reacting before the invasion
Even before the Russian attacks last night, the US stock exchanges reacted to the tense situation between Russia and Ukraine with significant price losses. Even before Putin's televised speech, a report by the US magazine "Newsweek" appeared, according to which the USA warned of a military attack by Russia on Ukraine in the next 48 hours. The Dow Jones Industrial fell 1.4 percent. The broad S&P 500 lost 1.8 percent to 4225 points. It fell to its lowest level since June 2021, as did the Nasdaq 100, which ended up losing 2.6 percent to 13,509 points.
Price slide also in Asia
Stock exchange prices have also dipped on the Asian markets. In Tokyo, the leading Nikkei index closed 1.8 percent lower. The Hang Seng index in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region fell 3.2 percent, and the CSI 300 index, which lists the top 300 mainland China companies, fell 1.9 percent.
Chaos in the Russian financial market
The Moscow stock exchange briefly suspended trading. Shortly after the start of trading, the leading Russian index RTS collapsed by almost half to 612 points. The Russian financial markets had already collapsed massively in the past few days as a result of the Ukraine crisis. The Russian central bank has meanwhile announced that it will intervene in the foreign exchange market. The Russian ruble is under significant pressure against the dollar. The ruble fell to a record low of 89.60 to the dollar after President Vladimir Putin authorized an attack on Ukraine.
Gold is in demand, oil prices are rising
Investors worldwide are now looking for a safe haven. At $1,948 a troy ounce, gold is as expensive as it was a year ago. And the price of oil is also rising. After the Russian attack on Ukraine, the price of a barrel of oil rose to over $100 for the first time in more than seven years on Thursday night. The price of a barrel of North Sea Brent rose by 5.5 percent on Thursday morning to $102.20. That was the highest level since September 2014. The general concern on the markets: Raw material prices that continue to soar could fuel the already high inflation.
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