- As traders pondered the economic effects of the war in Ukraine, technology companies dragged down the equities market ahead of Friday's jobs data. Oil's advance has slowed, and crude has been undergoing a period of extreme volatility.
- The S&P 500 lost ground, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 lagged major benchmarks, with megacaps Tesla and amazon.com both down by at least 2.7%. WTI reached a high of $116 before reversing. As industrial metals continued to rise, pushed by trade tensions and Russia's growing economic isolation, zinc hit a new high and aluminium set a new high.
- Traders were waiting for the government's employment report, which is expected to indicate that the US added 415,000 jobs in February. The US' high wage rise is unlikely to slow anytime soon. High labor expenses are another factor the federal reserve will have to battle with as it prepares to hike interest rates to tame inflation, in addition to skyrocketing commodity prices since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
- The spike in oil costs, according to Fed's Powell, would almost certainly spill over into inflation, and if that shift is sustained, it might put upward pressure on the "margin" of longer-term expectations, which the central bank wants to avoid creeping up. He also mentioned that the war in Ukraine may have an impact on attitude and investment spending.
- As the US and its allies seek to increase pressure on President Vladimir Putin's inner circle in response to the invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration announced sanctions against eight Russian elites and their families, as well as visa restrictions on 19 others and 47 members of their families.
- During Russia's invasion of Ukraine, investors abandoned risky assets, but junk became a haven. Over the last week, high-yield corporate bonds in the US have surged, outperforming investment-grade bonds, which are more vulnerable to rising interest rates. Even when higher-rated bonds fall in value, strategists predict the debt to perform well.
- Prior to Wednesday's rally in rates, treasuries had entered "extreme overbought territory," according to JPMorgan strategists. On a technical level, the bank's experts believe the bear market is still intact and that the 10-year yield will approach 2% in the next months.
