Omicron drives down UK and Eurozone growth to lowest level in 11 months; banknote maker De La Rue warns of profits – business live | Business

US stock indices fell in early trading as rising tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine worried investors.

Stocks are under pressure, ahead of the Federal Reserve’s key policy meeting on Wednesday that could cement expectations of an interest rate hike in March.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 major U.S. companies was down 386 points, or 1.1%, at 33,878 points. Boeing (-3.5%), disney (-2.9%), Goldman Sachs (-2.7%) and Visa (-2.3%) lead the declines.

the S&P500 is down 1.5%, as is the tech-focused sector Nasdaq Composite.

The UK’s smallest stock market index, the FTSE 250, is having a torrid day.

The ETI index tumbled 3.25% today, down 723 points to 21,540 points.

It’s its lowest level since late March 2021, and on track for its worst day in over a year (although it could still recover some ground).

movie channel cineworld (-13%) and cybersecurity company Dark Trace (-12.3%) are the best fallers.

the Stoxx 600 The index of European corporate stocks has now fallen 2.8%, to its lowest level since November 30.

The FTSE 100 index has now lost all of its gains so far this year.

It is down 123 points, or 1.65%, to 7,370 points, still on track for its worst day in eight weeks.

Russian steelmaker Evraz is now among the big losers, down 7.1%, just behind tech-focused investment funds Scottish Mortgage (-7.5%) which continues to suffer the repercussions of the correction of technological stocks.

Base materials producers are also weaker, including the copper producer Antofagasta (-5.8%) and glencore (-5.3%). Educational editor Pearson (-6.5%), gaming group hear (-6.3%) and air group AGI (-5.6%) are also high among slaughterers.

Gas prices jumped sharply today on fears Russian supplies to Europe could be disrupted.

The daily wholesale contract for British gas rose 14% to 217p per therm, adding to gains on Thursday and Friday.

That’s more than triple the price a year ago, but still below its highs from last fall:

The wholesale UK weekend gas price rose 9.7%, while the winter 2022 gas contract is 21% higher.

European benchmark gas prices also jumped today, with February and March contracts both up more than 6%.

13:20 GMT update: The Dutch wholesale gas contract for February is now up 18.5% today.

Russian energy supplies are under the spotlight as the United States and Europe have both vowed to impose new and much tougher sanctions on Moscow in the event of an invasion of Ukraine.

But the Kremlin insisted it was a reliable energy supplier, because Reuters reports:

Russia has been a reliable energy supplier for Europe even in difficult times in relations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, calling British media reports that Moscow could cut off supplies in the event of sanctions.

Europe depends on Russia for about 35% of its gas and is also a big consumer of Russian oil from both pipelines and seaports.

“In the most difficult times of our relations, Russia was a reliable guarantor of Europe’s energy security, flawlessly fulfilling its contractual obligations,” Peskov said in a conference call on Monday.

Today’s losses follow the worst week for global equity markets since October 2020.

The MSCI World Markets Index fell 4.25% last week as volatility increased amid a growing sense of investor unease.

Concerns over US Federal Reserve policy tightening, tensions between Russia and Ukraine and disappointing earnings announcements from some leading companies are all factors, according to Marc Haefele, Chief Investment Officer at UBS Global Wealth management:

“With a number of critical market factors still evolving, near-term market direction may remain volatile.

But for longer-term investors, we don’t think it’s a bad thing if market volatility takes some of the air out of the more speculative corners of the market – Bitcoin is down 23.8% since the beginning of the year. It’s also not a bad thing if the current volatility means that some secular growth names are offered at their best prices in months.

In the meantime, it is important to remember that we remain in an environment of very strong economic growth, which should continue to support cyclical and value sectors in the short term.

The sell-off in European stock markets is accelerating as tensions over Ukraine increase.

Britain’s FTSE 100 index of blue-chip stocks has now fallen 93 points, or 1.25%, to 7,400 points.

It is its lowest level since early January, as a risky mood sweeps the markets after NATO said it was bolstering its eastern borders with land, sea and air forces.

European markets fell deeper into the red, with Germany DAX and that of France CAC both down 1.9% today.

This puts European stocks on track for their worst day in two months (since the discovery of Omicron triggered a sell-off in November).

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and market analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, Explain :

“The threat of conflict erupting on the doorstep hangs over European indexes, as hopes begin to fade that there will be significant new moves by diplomats.

The jitters in the tech sector continue, which is unsurprising given the Nasdaq composite’s seemingly unstoppable slide and the S&P 500’s downward march on Friday.

Investors also fear that the US Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy sharply this year, after the US inflation rate hit a 40-year high.

The Fed is meeting this week and may signal that it will raise interest rates in March. Some wonder if the Fed could raise rates by 50 basis points [0.5%] in March, instead of the expected 0.25 bp rise.

Raffi Boyadjian, Principal Investment Analyst at XM, warns that there might be more jitters to come:

Wall Street just had its deadliest week since the pandemic began in March 2020 and it could get even tougher for stocks in the coming days. The Federal Reserve is set to give an official nod to liftoff on Wednesday and earnings season is about to heat up with a host of big names set to report this week.

Meanwhile, tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine show no signs of easing, adding to market angst that a dispute could potentially deepen the global energy crisis.

The house builders are some of the best fallers in London, such as Barrat Development (-6.6%) and Khaki (-5.8%). Analysts at Jefferies downgraded some construction companies this morning, as the government asks the industry to foot the bill for the removal of hazardous coatings.

Technology Focused Investment Trust Scottish Mortgage fell 5.8% today as tech stocks continue to come under pressure (the Nasdaq fell into a correction last week).

Bitcoin has fallen to its lowest level since last July as traders dump risky assets such as cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin fell to around $33,800, down more than 5% in the past 24 hours.

It has now lost more than half of its value since hitting highs of around $69,000 in November.

Victoria Scholar, Head of Investments at interactive investor, say it The crypto market is “on a boil”, and there could be further falls ahead.

It seems that the [Bitcoin] the downtrend remains intact with further downside potential towards $30,000 as the next major round number support level, coinciding with the summer low.

Similarly, Ether lost around 50% with $2,000 as the next key level to watch. It looks like the bubble has burst as panic grips the market.

What this episode taught us is that this is still a very nascent asset class with a high level of correlation between individual crypto assets, especially on the downside. It also taught us that for those who want to take advantage of the upside, traders also need to be able to handle the high volatility and steep declines. Brave traders could use this major price revision as an opportunity to buy the dip.

Falling crypto prices in recent weeks erased $1 billion from the sector’s combined value since the November peak.

Concern that US interest rates could be raised several times this year is one factor hurting speculative assets. The Ukrainian crisis is another.

Chris Weston orbrokerage Pepper says macroeconomic forces, such as “higher US real rates, lower inflation expectations, and a focus on reduced Fed liquidity” are hitting the crypto sector.