Stocks accelerate losses as risk aversion grips markets

The broader market mood is quickly shifting now in European morning trade as there is a whiff of risk-off sentiment in the air. Equities are selling off while bonds are being bid as yields stumble lower. 10-year Treasury yields are now down 6 bps to 4.35% with 10-year German bund yields down 8 bps to 2.28%, poised for its biggest daily drop since June.

S&P 500 futures are now down 0.6% with the DAX and CAC 40 also both down by over 1%.

In FX, the clearest hint is there being bids in both the Japanese yen and Swiss franc. Of note, EUR/CHF is now down 0.5% to 0.9315 and closing in on a test of key support near 0.9300 again.

In terms of headlines, it looks a lot to do with Russia and Ukraine. Here are a couple of headlines to note:

• UKRAINE MADE THEIR FIRST ATACMS STRIKE INSIDE RUSSIA – RBC UKRAINE
• RUSSIAN AIR DEFENCE FORCES SHOT DOWN FIVE UKRAINIAN BALLISTIC MISSILES AND 85 DRONES OVER LAST 24 HOURS – TASS
• RUSSIA WARNS OF POSSIBLE RESPONSE TO UKRAINE’S USE OF WESTERN MISSILES: PESKOV HINTS AT NUCLEAR OPTION – TASS

And this also comes after Russian president Putin has approved an updated nuclear doctrine, saying that Russia could consider using nuclear weapons if it was subject to a conventional missile assault.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.