Two factors led the market today. The first one is that the peace talk between Ukraine and Russia failed as expected. They will have another meeting soon. The second factor is that the US CPI number for Feb was reported, shocking 7.9% based on the annual rate. Last month, it was 7.5%.
FED will have a meeting next week to decide how much they are going to raise the interest rate. Over 95% of possibilities, FED will go for 25 basis points this time. They are not going to shock the US economy with a higher rate increment this time. The Ukraine war and crazy high oil prices would be enough for the US now. Because of these two factors, the US stocks market slid down a bit today. DJ Index fell 0.35%, S&P fell 0.33% and NASDAQ downed 0.78%.
One of the interesting parts is today’s crude oil market. Brent oil futures market fell more than 1.6% now, ending at $109.34 per barrel. Before the war, Brent oil price was $92 per barrel and it hit the highest this week at $139 per barrel. That’s the highest one in 14 years.
