The announcement of a resumption of talks between Russia and Ukraine brings some calm to the markets on Monday morning. Investors are nonetheless on their guard against the confinement of the city of Shanghai and the fears it arouses in terms of activity.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are due to resume talks in Turkey today or Tuesday as the war enters its second month. Moscow has announced that it is now focusing on Donbass and Crimea. Volodymyr Zelensky said he was studying Russia’s demand for Ukraine’s neutrality and said he was aware that trying to force Moscow into a total withdrawal from Ukraine could lead to a third world war. Joe Biden’s statements on Vladimir Putin’s upcoming departure, which he called ” Butcher “, aroused strong reactions in the Western camp, forcing the American president to clarify that he was not seeking to bring about a change of regime.
Two-step containment in Shanghai
In China, the surge in contamination with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus prompted the authorities to carry out a two-step containment of the city of Shanghai. The 25 million inhabitants of the city will have to be tested in two successive waves until April 8. People residing east of the Huangpu River will be the first to be affected from Monday, those on the other side will follow four days later. Businesses will be closed. These new restrictions raise fears of a slowdown in activity, which weighs on oil prices, the barrel of Brent from the North Sea fell by 3.2% to 113.57 dollars in the run-up to a meeting of OPEC+.
Asian markets are moving in mixed order this morning, the Chinese CSI 300 yielding 0.7%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 1.2%. The contracts future on US indices fell as the yield on the 10-year bond rose above the 2.5% mark for the first time since the 1980s. In addition, the yield curve between the 5-year bonds and 10-year reversed for the first time since 2006, stoking fears of a misstep by the US Federal Reserve in normalizing its monetary policy.
Inflation and employment in the United States
The market will be paying attention this week to US income and household statistics, and in particular to the PCE component of consumer spending, the measure of inflation most closely followed by the Fed. Also to follow is the latest estimate of GDP for the fourth quarter, as well as the March employment report.
Axa announced that it has ceased all new investment in Russian assets and has fully applied all international sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine.
France plans, in particular with TotalEnergies and GRTGaz, a subsidiary ofEngieto install a new liquefied natural gas import terminal in the port of Le Havre, reports the daily The echoes citing sources familiar with the matter.
Orpea. The State, which will file a complaint against the group of private Ephad, will request the reimbursement of public funding used irregularly to the tune of several tens of millions of euros, declared the Minister in charge of Autonomy, Brigitte Bourguignon, in the Sunday newspaper.