Sanctions were imposed on Russia after it decided to wage war in Ukraine. The UK imposed sanctions freezing the assets and imposing travel bans on 8 individuals and 11 businesses, which includes six banks. The UK also called for Russia to be removed from the SWIFT system so no international payments can be made. The US announced its ‘first tranche’ of sanctions which included large Russian state-owned banks, oligarchs that are close to President Putin and stopped US banks and individuals from trading Russian sovereign debt. The EU targeted those in the Russian Duma (Parliament) that voted in favour of recognising the self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk as well as commanders of the Russian military. The sanctions in place look to stop Russia from being able to raise capital that could be spent on the war in Ukraine.
Western Allies expect the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv to fall to Russian forces in the coming days. As Russia begin to encircle the Capital, fierce fighting can be heard with casualties on both sides of the conflict. Russia’s aim seems to be controlling key military and government infrastructure to cause panic and confusion amongst the Ukrainians, as Civilians evacuate the fighting areas and head west towards Poland.
The Federal Reserve is expecting to stick to its move to raise interest rates next month despite the uncertainty that the Ukrainian-Russian conflict brings. One policy member is considering a half-point raise in retaliation to inflation rising and oil prices continuing to rise. The US dollar strengthened as a result of the oil price increasing and expectation that a interest-rate rise is still going ahead next month following the footsteps of 2014, which resulted in the US dollar continuing to strengthen throughout the year.
| Share Index | Prev. Close | Open |
| FTSE100 | 7207.38 | 7207.38 |
| DAX | 14052.1 | 14230.09 |
| CAC40 | 6521.05 | 6571.95 |