US indices finished yesterday’s session low but slightly off the daily lows. S&P 500 dropped 0.73%, Dow Jones moved 0.56% and Nasdaq moved 0.28% lower

Stocks in Asia traded mixed – Nikkei dropped 0.3% while S&P/ASX 200 gained 1%. Indices from China plunged and finished 1.7-5.0% lower

DAX futures point to a higher opening of the European cash session today

The United States announced a total ban on Russian oil, natural gas and coal. United Kingdom announced that it will phase out Russian oil in the coming months

In response, Putin signed a decree banning exports of certain commodities from Russia. However, list of those commodities have not been defined yet and is expected to be announced within days

According to media reports, NATO is considering imposing a no-fly zone over Western Ukraine to guard humanitarian corridors

Bank of Russia limited USD withdrawals from personal accounts to $10,000. Remaining balance can be withdrawn only in RUB

More companies announce withdrawal from or suspension of services in Russia. McDonald’s, Starbucks and Coca-Cola are the latest to make such announcements

Fitch expects Russia to default on its debt imminently

According to Reuters report, United States offered Venezuela to relax oil sanctions but only under condition that oil will be shipped directly to US

API report pointed to a 2.8 million barrel build in US oil inventories (exp. -0.8 mb)

The Japanese GDP report for Q4 2021 was revised lower from 1.3% to 1.1% QoQ (exp. 1.4% QoQ)

Chinese CPI inflation remained unchanged at 0.9% YoY in February (exp. 0.9% YoY) while PPI inflation decelerated from 9.1 to 8.8% YoY (exp. 8.7% YoY)

Cryptocurrencies caught a bid during the Asian session with Bitcoin jumping almost 8% to $41,500

Oil continues to trade near recent highs

Palladium, platinum and silver gain over 1% while gold trades flat

AUD and GBP are the best performing major currencies while JPY and USD lag the most