What you need to know before the open
Russia’s stock market has jumped five per cent this morning, a rebound from yesterday’s catastrophic fall of over 10 per cent.
The rebound could be a response to reports that Russian troops have been ordered back to their bases, which also mean European markets should open higher this morning.
The US has suspended military relations with Russia. It’s also put trade and investment talks between it and Russia on hold. The White House has said President Obama is looking at ways to isolate the country further.
The ISM manufacturing numbers from the US yesterday showed a considerable improvement in February, despite the weather. Several analysts are concerned that the Ukrainian situation will overshadow significant economic data.
That said, if the upping of commodity prices its currently brought about continues, along with higher interest rates in emerging markets, we could see a sell-off in equity markets and companies take the hit of higher input costs and a slowdown in growth.
Coporate news
Miner Glencore Xstrata has reported promising production results for 2013, but highlighted the impact of weaker commodity prices.
Scandal-hit Serco has said it's braced for a challenging year, as it revealed profit before tax fall 62 per cent to £106m.
German utilities company RWE has announced today that it saw a loss of €2.8bn last year – for the first time in 60 years. The firm took a €5bn impairment charge.
Fresnillo saw gold production fall 10 per cent last year, with profit before income tax plummeting 64 per cent.
Data in focus
- 9.30am: UK Feb construction PMI
- 10.00am: EU Jan PPI