<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Global stock indexes and major cryptocurrencies dived on Thursday while commodities like oil and precious metals rallied as Russia’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2022/02/23/russia-orders-special-military-operation-in-ukraine/?sh=72e111fc2321">invasion</a>&nbsp;of Ukraine sent shockwaves through international markets.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



European stocks tumbled as markets opened on Thursday morning, with key indexes including London’s FTSE 100 down 2.46%, Germany’s Dax 3.48%, France&#8217;s CAC40 3.01%, Spain’s Ibex 2.58%, Euronext 100 2.62% and Euro Stoxx 50 3.37%.



The slump mirrors falling stocks in the Asia Pacific region Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei down 1.81%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 3.21%, Australia’s All Ordinaries 2.95% and Shanghai’s Composite 1.70%.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



U.S. markets are on a similar path for when markets open, with the Dow down 1.38% in pre-market trading, Nasdaq 2.57% and S&amp;P 500 1.84%, with the latter&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2022/02/23/sp-500-falls-deeper-into-correction-territory-as-ukraine-declares-state-of-emergency/?sh=793035b35e67">continuing</a>&nbsp;a days-long downwards trend.



The Moscow stock exchange, which uses the Russian ruble, suspended all trading Thursday amid enormous volatility in the currency and benchmark index MOEX was down nearly 40%.



Oil prices, meanwhile, jumped past $100 a barrel with the highest prices since 2014—Brent crude rose nearly 7% to $103 a barrel—and safe haven&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/gold-rises-escalating-ukraine-crisis-spurs-safe-haven-bids-2022-02-24/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">assets</a>&nbsp;like gold, silver platinum and palladium grew between 1.5% and 3%.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Major cryptocurrencies also crashed in the wake of the invasion, with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/digital-assets/assets/bitcoin-btc/?sh=23274a6d4357">bitcoin</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/02/23/bitcoin-falls-below-35000-as-putin-orders-military-operation-in-ukraine/?sh=56d6315f4a3a">down 8%</a>&nbsp;in the last 24 hours,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/digital-assets/assets/ether-eth/?sh=6457a2717b0e">ether 12%</a>, Binance’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/digital-assets/assets/binance-coin-bnb/?sh=6b8afc44ae78">BNB 11%</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/digital-assets/assets/ripple-xrp/?sh=38a7ebe1535a">Ripple’s XRP 13%</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



More sanctions. World leaders have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/02/23/russia-sanctions-tracker-first-barrage-of-penalties-span-japan-to-us/?sh=3379f45c149a">already imposed fresh sanctions</a>&nbsp;on Russian banks, lawmakers and oligarchs and President Joe Biden warned Thursdays’ G7 meeting would yield more “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/02/24/russias-invasion-of-ukraine-draws-international-condemnation-and-threats-of-more-sanctions/?sh=3f2fd15c7b3b">severe sanctions</a>’ on Russia.&nbsp; The sanctions—which could be severe given the scale of Russia’s incursion—could cripple Russia’s economy and bar it from key markets. European&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-russia-new-sanctions-package-ukraine/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">leaders</a>&nbsp;have already scheduled an emergency meeting to discuss the measures on Thursday evening.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/02/24/russias-invasion-of-ukraine-draws-international-condemnation-and-threats-of-more-sanctions/?sh=3f2fd15c7b3b">Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine Draws International Condemnation And Threats Of More Sanctions</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2022/02/23/russia-orders-special-military-operation-in-ukraine/?sh=72e111fc2321">Russia Orders ‘Special Military Operation’ In Ukraine</a> (Forbes)



By <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/"></a>Robert Hart, Forbes Staff

Oil Prices Moving Down

Global Stocks Plummet And Oil Soars As Russia Invades Ukraine

It might go down as one of the worst financial market calls ever, akin to&nbsp;BusinessWeek&nbsp;declaring the death of equities on the eve of a booming era for stocks.



Ray Dalio, the billionaire who founded the world’s biggest hedge fund firm, had a message for the billionaires and CEOs who met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January.



“Cash is trash,” Dalio said. “Get out of cash. There’s still a lot of money in cash.”



Two months later, cash has become king across global markets and the economy. Dalio’s big Bridgewater Associates macro hedge fund, meanwhile, has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-14/dalio-s-macro-fund-plunged-about-20-this-year-as-market-tanked" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plunged by 20%</a>&nbsp;in 2020.



Businesses and investors have rushed to cash as known cases of Covid-19 passed 140,000 globally and the World Health Organization has declared the virus is now a global pandemic.



With global stock markets plunging, investors have sought the safety of cash. U.S. money market funds experienced $87.6 billion of inflows in the seven days prior to Wednesday, according to Lipper. Bank of America reported that last week investors plowed a total of $136.9 billion into cash.



The U.S. banking system entered the coronavirus pandemic in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2020/03/12/why-banks-are-likely-to-help-america-recover-from-the-economic-fallout-of-the-coronavirus/#4883d09b7eb1">strong shape</a>&nbsp;and is much more resilient than it was during the financial crisis. The Federal Reserve moved on Sunday to further safeguard the financial system by launching a $700 billion quantitative easing program.



Last Thursday, as stock were plummeting, yields on 30-Year U.S. Treasuries were rising and gold fell. Bitcoin, which its proponents have advertised as a safe haven, crashed. Cash was where nervous investors wanted to be. It isn’t just any currency that is king. U.S. dollars are in particular demand as borrowers around the world start to pay a <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-moneymarket/feds-failure-to-fix-credit-plumbing-leaves-markets-scrambling-for-dollars-idUSKBN2130XP" target="_blank">premium</a> to obtain U.S. dollars.



Corporations also moved to make sure they had sufficient cash on hand. Boeing, already dealing with the grounding of its 737 Max aircraft, moved last week to tap a $13.8 billion credit line it had secured about a month ago. Other companies like Hilton, Wynn Restorts and Seaworld Entertainment, which are dealing with a swift deterioration in their business related to Covid-19, also drew on credit lines last week. There have been reports that private equity firms are looking to push their portfolio companies into considering tapping their credit lines as well.



The big U.S. banks that are funding those credit draws, like Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, all moved on Sunday to put their stock repurchasing programs on hold to conserve cash.



States also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.syracuse.com/coronavirus/2020/03/as-coronavirus-strains-budgets-states-turn-to-cash-reserves.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">moved</a>&nbsp;to tap their rainy day funds to help them fund efforts to deal with Covid-19. Washington state, for example, is drawing $200 million from its rainy day fund, mostly to support public health efforts. &nbsp;



The rush into cash has been intense enough to include physical cash. Over the weekend <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/business/coronavirus-cash-shortage-bank.html" target="_blank">The New York Times reported </a>that a Bank of America branch in Manhattan for a short period ran out of $100 bills as customers were pulling out tens of thousands of dollars at a time. <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-15/new-yorker-anxiety-in-hamptons-leads-to-requests-for-hard-cash" target="_blank">Bloomberg News reported</a> that a Chase bank branch in the Hamptons had fielded a request for $30,000 in cash that it had to review under its protocols.



&#8211;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/">Nathan Vardi</a>, Forbes Staff, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/hedge-funds-private-equity">Hedge Funds &amp; Private Equity</a>

Tag: Global Markets

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Global Stocks Plummet And Oil Soars As Russia Invades Ukraine

Cash Is King In The Time Of Coronavirus