Commodities soar and inflation is projected to skyrocket
Commodities soar and inflation is projected to skyrocket
Inflation fears weigh on global shares as they tumble ahead of key central bank announcements and slow economic growth worries, with expectations pointing to a less aggressive policy from the federal reserve bank. The U.S. consumer price index is anticipated to come in red hot at 7.9% vs 7.6% in the month of January.
Moreover, on the Federal front, unemployment falling to a 2 year low has also added to uncertainties towards the route Powell will decide to take, now that the labor market has ultimately got better in shape and inflation gets red-flagged.
Proposed sanctions on Russia, tense markets even further. Meanwhile, global companies close down operations in Russia including Netflix and TikTok, and payment providers such as American Express (down 8.0%) Visa (down 4.8%), and Mastercard (down 5.4%) pulling major indices in the red territory.
Bear markets took the gold to new highs as it made way above the $2000 level, for the first time in a year and a half. However, the highs were perhaps short-lived as the USD takes liquidity from the yellow metal and investors inject it into other assets. Along with a technical perspective that it will repeat a correction from a historical pattern jotted on the charts.
The USD also hit another 22-month top at 99.22 after positive unemployment data of 3.8%. the dollar has been gradually building an inclined momentum as eyes turn to the Fed's upcoming policy but especially as it is being held as a safe haven since the geopolitical tensions deepened.
The Euro and the sterling on the other hand continue to get battered with the Euro skidding all the way to $1.082, its lowest since the start of the pandemic era.
Lastly, under the market microscope comes oil prices which have also soared remarkably to unlock record highs at $126 for WTI and $130 for Brent. In addition to a statement by Russia predicting oil prices to hit 300 dollars per barrel prompting investors to place new bets on the world's economic growth and add new equations into perspective.