All eyes are on Russia today as it progressed with the plan to move militia fully into, and invade, Ukraine. The US stocks sold off amid the news, with the S&P 500 falling to nine-month lows. The western countries, including Europe and the US, promised tougher sanctions on Russia’s economy and its financial sector. The flight to safety resulted in a jump from both the dollar and the 10yr US Treasury bonds. The Russian stocks continued their decline, and the Ruble reached record lows; the central bank stated it would conduct FX intervention as a result.
LME metals rallied as a response to the Ukraine invasion by Russia. The metals most impacted by this, aluminium and nickel, jumped the most as the possibility of tough sanctions on the economy and, in turn, the metal industry looms. More recently, the UK introduced another wave of sanctions imposed on Russia, including export controls on items such as high-tech and semiconductors. Nickel tested June 2011 level at $25,600/t before edging lower to close at $24,716/t. Aluminium breached the $3,480/t level to close at $3,394.50/t, with the cash to the 3-month spread of $74.75/t. The impact on metals should continue to be significant given Russia’s actions, but Europe will bear the brunt of higher prices, further impacting smelter input costs. This has impacted lead and zinc indirectly, as they both closed higher at $2,343.50/t and $3,641/t, respectively.
Oil futures soared, with WTI and Brent now at $95.68/bl and $102.80/bl. Gold touched the levels not seen since mid-2020 and is now at $1,974/oz; silver rallied to $25.60/oz.
For more in-depth analysis of base and precious metals, please see our Quarterly Metals report.
All price data is from 24.02.2022 as of 17:30
