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US Equities

US stock market indices

In a difficult week, US equities struggle to the finish line. It was not an enthralling performance.

• S&P 500 -0.75% for the day (down 31 points to 4348)

• Dow Jones -0.7%

• Nasdaq fell 1.2 percent.

• Russell 2000 -1.0 percentage point

The Nasdaq was down more than 2% at the lows, so there was a bit of a rally. The S&P 500 appeared to be about to turn positive an hour before the close, but it never did and sagged again late. Monday is a federal holiday in the United States.

• S&P 500 -1.6 percent for the week

• Dow Jones -1.9 percent

• Nasdaq (1.8%)

That wraps this week’s performance of US equities.

White House

• The sanctions, according to the White House, are not intended to reduce Russia’s ability to supply energy. For a long time, it has been debated whether the United States and its allies would sanction Russian oil and gas. The EU appeared to be adamantly opposed to it.  
• This is bad news for oil and gas.
• The full comment from the White House’s Deleep Singh:
• “US measures are not designed to reduce or impair Russia’s ability to supply energy to the world but we think it’d be a strategic mistake for Putin to weaponize his energy supply because it will accelerate world diversification away from it”
•  As a result, the US and Europe are more concerned about Putin retaliating against other sanctions by limiting oil and gas exports, while the USD/CAD remains unmoved. Singh also stated that the US will not try to remove Russia from SWIFT.
• So, what exactly is at stake here? Individual sanctions and bank sanctions against Russians? That may be difficult for them, but is it really a factor in the global economy?

EU sanctions Comments

Draghi stated that the EU’s sanctions against Russia should not target the energy sector.

To sanction Russian oil and gas, all 27 EU countries would have to agree.

Draghi has stated that “sanctions should be focused on as few sectors as possible without including energy.” He went on to say that penalties should be proportionate to “the type of attack.”

I’m not sure if that includes Nord Stream 2, but sanctions on Russia’s gas and oil are more likely to hurt Europe than Russia. The US will try to push harder, but this is the clearest signal yet that Europe will respond.

Biden is about to begin a meeting with transatlantic leaders.

Russia’s pertinent invasion of Ukraine is the hot topic for the markets right now, it will be fascinating to see how the world powers struggle to prevent a war and not risk a financial meltdown at the same time.