A Narrowing Path to an Economic Soft Landing
What’s in Today’s Report:
- A Narrowing Path to an Economic Soft Landing
- Weekly Market Preview: All About Ukraine (Will there be a real cease-fire?)
- Weekly Economic Preview: Inflation is key this week (CPI on Thursday)
Futures are sharply lower as oil spiked more than 6% (above $120/bbl) overnight on multiple reports the West is actively considering an embargo on Russian oil and gas.
Geopolitically, there were attempts at localized cease-fires in southern Ukraine to allow citizens to flee the cities, but those efforts have been, so far, a failure. More peace talks are scheduled for today although not much progress is expected.
Economic data was solid as German Manufacturers’ Orders and Retail Sales both beat estimates, but that’s not moving markets.
Today there are no notable economic reports and no Fed speakers, so oil and geopolitics will continue to move markets. If oil continues to rally throughout the day, that will further pressure stocks and it’ll take meaningful progress on a cease-fire to help markets rebound (and that doesn’t seem likely, at least not today).
