Oil prices surged above $110 per barrel yesterday as Russian forces stepped up attacks on Ukrainian cities. Global stock markets were mixed as investors waited to hear the latest from the head of the Federal Reserve on interest rates.
Markets in Shanghai and Tokyo declined as President Vladimir Putin’s invasion fed fears of global economic turmoil. Stocks turned higher in Frankfurt, Paris and London.
On Wall Street, the futures for the benchmark S&P 500 index, Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq each rose about 0.5%.
The war is adding to worries about global economic growth as the Federal Reserve and other central banks gear up to fight surging inflation by raising interest rates.
“The conspiracy of geopolitical uncertainty and stagflation-type impulses is a brutal shock,” Tan Boon Heng of Mizuho Bank said in a report.
The DAX in Frankfurt rose 0.2% and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.5%. The FTSE 100 in London added 0.6%.
The value of Russia’s ruble fell further to less than 0.9 U.S. cents despite its central bank’s decision Monday to raise interest rates to defend the currency.
