Dow Jones futures sink 700 points in oil, natural gas and gold

LAST UPDATE 08:26

Oil and gold prices are soaring while the Dow Jones futures in the US are collapsing by 700 points, after the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine.

CNN on Wednesday night-Thursday morning, reported a series of explosions near Kiev, the Ukrainian capital.

The attack took place after the Russian president’s speech to the Russian media, announcing the start of the operation.

President Biden condemned the invasion as “unprovoked and unjustified.”

Dow Jones futures are down 674 points or 2%, S&P futures are down 86 points or 2% and Nasdaq are down 331.75 points or 2.4%.

The dollar, which is sometimes considered a safe haven during times of geopolitical turmoil, is up 0.4%.

Oil prices jumped higher with the WTI rising more than 5% and Brent reaching $ 100 for the first time since 2014.

The price of gas has also risen significantly in the wake of the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. Specifically, the TTF price of natural gas is at 87.45 euros / MWh, from 81 euros / MWh that was at the start of trading today.

Gold rose 1.6% to about $ 1,941.70 an ounce.

Costs for everything from oil to grain and metals have skyrocketed over concerns that commodity flows will be disrupted by the crisis in Ukraine.

This heralds new challenges for a global recovery already hampered by high price pressures and tightening monetary policy.

“Basically, there is no discounted scenario in the market because it is impossible to discount something completely. This is always the worst case scenario. Bad news is one thing. Bad news with virtually unknown results is another,” said analysts. IG Markets.

The escalation of Russia’s moves will lead to further moves to avoid risk and focus on safe assets, given that the situation will remain unstable with retaliatory measures by Western powers, say analysts at IG Asia Pte.

U.S. wheat and corn futures are also on the rise, while soybean futures are at their highest level since 2012, when Russian forces fired rockets into Ukraine and Russian troops invaded the southeast, raising concerns about the world.

Wheat prices are up for a third day, hitting a nine-year high as corn rises to an eight-month high.

“Increased tensions over Ukraine-Russia and considerable uncertainty about Russian supplies in the coming months have prompted traders to keep their grain in warehouses rather than send it abroad,” commodities analysts told ING.

With Russia and Ukraine accounting for 29% of world iron exports, 19% of world corn supplies and 80% of world sunflower exports, traders worry that any military involvement could affect crop movement and difficulties for importers to replace supplies from the Black Sea.

Indicatively, it is reported that the May wheat contract is up 5.7%, the price of corn is up 4.7%, the May soybean futures is up 1.6%.