Western sanctions on Russia have made countries that aren’t on good terms with the US acutely aware of how money can be weaponized and that appears to have rekindled Saudi-China talks on pricing oil in yuan.
The talks over pricing oil in yuan have been ongoing for six years but the WSJ reports that they’ve accelerated as Saudis “have grown increasingly unhappy with decades-old U.S. security commitments to defend the kingdom.” The report says the Saudis want US support for their intervention in the Yemen civil war.
The advisor says that either there will be an agreement in talks between both parties or that Russia will go on the offensive.
The headline may be a bit misleading but it doesn’t look like much has changed since last week. If anything, talks appear to be buying time but if they do not yield anything, it is hard to imagine Russia backing off or conceding ground in any way.
The NASDAQ index had another tumble with the index falling -2.04% and closing below the February low at 12587. The price closed the day at 12581.23.
NASDAQ index closed below its February low
Looking at the major indices, the Dow industrial average squeaked out a small gain of 1.05 point (at least it was a gain). The S&P index was lower. The Russell 2000 also fell sharply (in line with the Nasdaq index).
The final numbers are showing:
Dow industrial average, +1.05 points or 0.0% at 32945.425
S&P index -31.2 points or -0.74% at 4173.12
NASDAQ index -262.58 points or -2.04% at 12581.23
Russell 2000-37.94 points or -1.92% at 1941.719
The energy sector was the hardest hit at -3.0% as oil prices fell sharply. Technology fell -1.8% and consumer discretionary fell -1.7%.
On the plus side, financials were the biggest gainer with a 1.3% rise, while healthcare rose 0.7% and consumer staples increased 0.5%
Some of the biggest the gainers included:
Deutsche Bank, plus a .63%
Moderna, +8.59%
Pfizer, +3.92%
Charles Schwab, +3.78%
American Express +2.9%
Wells Fargo +2.87%
Dollar Tree +2.76%
Bank of America +2.13%
Papa John’s +2.13%
Visa +1.89%
American Express +1.64%
Some of the biggest losers included:
Gamestop, -15.77%
Doordash, -12.54%
Nio, -12.26%
Alibaba, -10.38%
Tencent, -8.94%
Palantir, -8.52%
Snowflake, -7.58%
Sofi, -7.25%
Qualcomm, -7.25%
Snap, -7.02%
Block, -6.9%
Looking at the Dow 30, the biggest losers included:
