By
Steve Muchoki
April 16th, 2024
The slight miss of European stocks has also trickled down in some way to Wall Street as well as other markets around the world.
Stocks in the European region are trading at a slight miss on Thursday following the escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine who some may agree are at the brink of war.
The STOXX Europe 600 (INDEXSTOXX: SXXP) is down 0.041 to 467.58 at the time of writing while the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, FTSE 100 Index (INDEXFTSE: UKX) has shed off 48.10 points atop a 0.63% loss to 7,555.68. The encompassing losses seen across the board were arguably cushioned, thanks to the region’s strong corporate earnings.
Just a day after Russia said it has started withdrawing some of its military resources from the Ukrainian border, a Reuters report highlighted how Russia-backed separatists from Eastern Ukraine alleged that Ukrainian forces opened fire on their territory, with an on-site assessment of their casualties ongoing. This stunt tracks back whatever tiny shade of progress that has been made in the wake of this tension between both nations.
The MSCI World, a market cap-weighted stock market index of 1,546 companies throughout the world also tracked back by a slight loss in tandem with global market realities. Analysts have been making attempts to help investors take their minds off the current blurry stock market, citing the temporary nature of the ongoing feud between Russia and Ukraine.
“Drawdowns driven by geopolitical stress events are typically short-lived for well-diversified portfolios,” said Mark Haefele, Chief Investment Officer at UBS Global Wealth Management.
He also noted that the base case his company is projecting is a “relaxation of geopolitical tensions”.
Response from Wall Street as European Stocks Go on a Slope
The slight miss of European stocks has also trickled down in some way to Wall Street as well as other markets around the world. Despite the tiny 0.088% growth in the S&P 500 Index (INDEXSP: .INX) to 4,475.01, other mainstream market averages slipped notably.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX: .DJI) slumped 0.16%, shedding 54.57 points to 34,934.27, and the Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ: .IXIC) 15.66 atop a 0.11% slump to 14,124.10. Oil prices are also taking a hit today as the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is down 2.24% to $91.56 per barrel and Brent Crude is selling for $92.94, down 1.97% in the past 24 hours.
Beyond these dwindling prices, Gold impressed and is currently trading at $1,883.95/oz, up 0.75% in the past 24 hours. As investors jostled the type of assets to back amidst a comprehensive uncertainty, the minutes from the United States Federal Reserve, according to Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management indicate a “faster pace of tightening relative to the last hiking cycle is warranted.”
Ripley also noted that there was nothing in the minutes that suggested the Fed will introduce any tightening measures beyond what the market has already priced in.
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