Black smoke between US Secretary of State John Kerry and the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov. The two sides have not been able to find an agreement to get out of the Ukrainian crisis and on Sunday Crimea will vote in the referendum for its entry into Russia. Lavrov said that "it is not in Moscow's plans to invade eastern Ukraine" but that Russia is "ready to support the decision of the people of Crimea". Kerry has announced sanctions against Moscow if an "illegitimate" referendum is held that the international community will not recognize. On Monday in Brussels, the foreign ministers of the European Union are ready to approve a new package of sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis. On this crescendo of tensions, the European stock exchanges closed yesterday in negative territory: Milan -1,19%, Paris -0,8%, London -0,4%. The Russian stock market collapsed by 5% in the middle of the session and then closed at -0,89%. The Russian market is bound to remain under pressure also because around 70% of the assets are owned by foreigners.
However, the reaction of the Stock Exchange since the beginning of the crisis has been moderate overall, without reactions of apocalypse. A week ago, the S&P500 index even managed to mark a new all-time high. WTI oil closed yesterday up 0,81% but remains below 100 dollars a barrel after a flare up to 105 dollars on the eve of the tensions. However, the escalation of tensions in view of the referendum has triggered the realizations waiting to understand what will happen on Sunday and in the following days. And so also Wall Street, which had given greater signs of resistance, failed to close in positive territory on Friday, albeit with modest declines: the Dow Jones lost 0,27% and the Nasdaq 0,35%. Thanks to the disappointing data from China, however, the major Wall Street indexes archived their worst week since the end of January.
And traders are expecting more jolts next week. In this situation of great instability, the shares of BMW and Volkswagen cars remain under observation, but also those of airlines and airports, such as the Spanish Abertis and the Italian Atlantia and Wdf. As well as the travel-related consumer goods sector such as Ferragamo and Lvmh. While energy names such as Enel and Total could be favourites, which have already marked a recovery on the price lists since the beginning of the year. And above all gas groups such as Gdf Suez and Eni, which could experience an increase in demand and prices due to the crisis.
