The first week of September was relatively quiet on global trading platforms. Presidents of Ukraine and Russia held negotiations on ceasing fire in the eastern part of Ukraine. A cease-fire agreement was reached on Friday, 5 September. Regardless of this agreement, the situation in Ukraine is very far from being regulated, since the Russian Federation is
still denying the presence of its armed forces on the territory of Ukraine, while separatists have not given up their plans to withdraw the relevant territories from the composition of Ukraine.

The American S&P 500 Index continued growing and set a new historical record-high once again. In addition to a more or less quiet external background, optimistic moods of investors were based on unexpectedly good data on durable goods orders, which came in a week before. In unison with this indicator, the ISM Manufacturing Index in the US turned
out to be a pleasant surprise. In August 2014, this index rose to 59 points – a record-high since March 2011 – against 57.1 points a month before.

Financial markets survey 08.09.2014