Last week, European stock platforms were affected by the news related to the decision of the Russian Federation on the possibility of bringing troops to the territory of Ukraine, as well as the growing threat of Russia annexing a part of Ukraine’s territory.

Russia’s stock market sustained significant losses, since western countries began immediate talks that there was a high likelihood of imposing political and economic sanctions against the Russian Federation should the Ukrainian-Russian conflict begin to escalate.

Over the previous week, the US stock market registered growth. Quite good statistical data on the US economy that were published last week made it possible for American traders to support bullish moods in spite of the troubled background worldwide. Good economic indicators were related to industry and labor market. The ISM Manufacturing Index in the US grew to 53.2 points in February 2014 compared to 51.3 points in January, which was also a record-low since June 2013. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefit for the first time fell to 323,000 during the last week of February, which was a record-low over the last three months.

During the current week, the current geopolitical situation will be draw attention of the global investment community.

Financial markets survey 11.03.2014