{"id":60048,"date":"2022-02-24T08:59:19","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T13:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.t3live.com\/blog\/?p=60048"},"modified":"2022-02-24T08:59:19","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T13:59:19","slug":"coffee-with-greta-russia-attacks-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/2022\/02\/24\/coffee-with-greta-russia-attacks-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee With Greta: Russia Attacks Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor's Note:<\/strong> Coffee With Greta is a FREE morning update from our newest contributor Greta Wall. Want to get it by email every day? Click here<\/span><\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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DJIA Futures:\u00a0<\/b>-812 (-2.5%)<\/p>\n

SPX Futures:\u00a0<\/b>-108 (-2.6%)<\/p>\n

NASDAQ Futures:\u00a0<\/b>-432 (-3.2%)<\/b><\/p>\n

Good morning friends!<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Futures are sharply lower after Russia attacked Ukraine overnight.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get right to it!<\/span><\/p>\n

Russia Attacks Ukraine<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Russia invaded Ukraine overnight after President Vladimir Putin announced a special \u201cmilitary operation\u201d in the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Putin claims the goal was to demilitarize Ukraine, not occupy the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He also warned countries that try to interfere will face \u201cconsequences they have never seen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Airstrikes have been reported in the capital city of Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkiv, and Mariupol.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ukraine says Russia has conducted more than 30 strikes on civilian and military infrastructure.<\/span><\/p>\n

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance will increase its presence in eastern Europe in response.<\/span><\/p>\n

President Biden is meeting virtually with G7 leaders today and is expected to announce severe sanctions against Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oil, Metal Prices Surge<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Oil prices are surging amid the Russian attack on Ukraine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brent crude futures are up more than 8%, at nearly $105 per barrel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time prices have topped $100 since 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures are also up 8% and hovering just below $100.<\/span><\/p>\n

Natural gas prices are up 6%.<\/span><\/p>\n

Russia is the second-largest oil exporter in the world and largest natural gas exporter.<\/span><\/p>\n

The conflict is expected to cause gas prices in the U.S. to rise sharply.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fears of a supply disruption are also rocking the metals market.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aluminum prices jumped more than 3% to a record high $3,450 per ton on the London Metal Exchange. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Nickel is trading at $25,000 per ton, the highest level in more than a decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Platinum prices are up more than 2% with palladium surging more than 6%.<\/span><\/p>\n

The conflict is expected to cause gas prices in the U.S. to rise sharply.<\/span><\/p>\n

Russia is a producer of all four metals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The country supplies 35% of global palladium, 10% of platinum, 6% of aluminum, and 5% of nickel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Weekly Jobless Claims Beat Expectations<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Labor Department says 232,000 Americans filed initial claims for unemployment benefits last week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That was down 17,000 from the previous week and better than 235,000 expected.<\/p>\n

Continuing jobless claims fell by 112,000 to 1.48 million vs 1.58 million expected.<\/p>\n

That's the lowest level of continuing claims since March 1970.<\/p>\n

Q4 GDP Revision<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Bureau of Economic Analysis revised Q4 GDP growth higher to 7% annually from 6.9%.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

For all of 2021, GDP rose 5.7%.<\/p>\n

That's the fastest calendar-year growth since 7.2% in 1984.<\/p>\n

Today's revision included increases in private inventory investment, exports, PCE, and nonresidential fixed investment.<\/p>\n

Those increases were partly offset by decreases in federal, state and local government spending.<\/p>\n

Alibaba Earnings\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Alibaba\u00a0<\/strong>(BABA) shares are down 8.6% ahead of the open after reporting its slowest revenue growth ever.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The Chinese e-commerce giant reported earnings of 16.87 yuan per share on 242.58 billion yuan in revenue.<\/p>\n

EPS beat expectations but revenue fell short.<\/p>\n

Sales were up 10% year-over-year, which is the company slowest quarterly growth rate since listing in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Moderna Earnings<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Moderna\u00a0<\/strong>(MRNA) shares are down 4.1% in premarket trade despite beating Q4 expectations.<\/p>\n

The pharmaceutical giant reported earnings of $11.29 per share on $7.2 billion in revenue.<\/p>\n

That beat expectations for EPS of $9.90 on $6.78 billion in revenue.<\/p>\n

Full-year revenue totaled $18.5 billion in 2021, including $17.7 billion from its Covid vaccine.<\/p>\n

Moderna hiked its 2022 sales forecast for the vaccine by $2 billion to $19 billion.<\/p>\n

Market Correction Deepens<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The major indexes fell sharply on Wednesday as the market continues to monitor the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The <\/span>S&P 500 <\/b>slid for the fourth straight session, closing 1.6% lower.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Dow <\/b>and the <\/span>Nasdaq <\/b>both notched a five-day losing streak.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Dow closed at its lowest level yet in 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The Nasdaq is nearing bear market territory, down more than 18% from its last closing record in November 2021.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

New Home Sales Preview<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Census Bureau reports January new home sales at 10:00 a.m. ET.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Consensus expectations are that sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 803,000 units last month.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

But existing home sales jumped unexpectedly in January.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The National Association of Realtors reported existing sales rose 6.7% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.5 million units.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Many economists attributed that surprise increase to buyers rushing to get into the market before mortgage rates rise further.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The average 30-year rate is now above 4% for the first time since 2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Case You Missed It<\/span><\/h2>\n