1) Germany and UK pressure Russia with more sanction
Germany halted the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which was designed to deliver natural gas from Russia directly to Europe. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom announced the first tranche of Russia sanctions, targeted economic sanctions against five Russian banks and three wealthy individuals. Japan and Canada also recently unveiled their sanctions on Moscow.
2) Russia’s FX reserves hit record high
Russian FX reserves has hit record high at $640 billion while the stock market surged more than 7% after the U.S. President Joe Biden says the U.S. will sanction Russian banks, sovereign debt and individuals.
Analysts saw the surge in Russia’s FX reserve as a move to prepare for sanctions.
3) Hong Kong to test all population for Covid
Hong Kong will give a Covid-19 test to its entire population of 7.5 million people in March, said Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, as the Special Administrative Region of China is facing the worst coronavirus outbreak.
The infection rate is on a rise since the new year and continuing. Hong Kong registered more than 3,000 new cases on Monday with a 7-day average of more than 1,000 cases.
4) UBS expects gold price to head lower toward year end
UBS, in an interview with CBS, expected gold to head lower towards the end of this year, hitting $1,700 per ounce by the end of March, $1,650 by June, and around $1,600 by the year’s end. The Swiss investment bank said that the surge was due to a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but the surge will follow by a cooling period as investors will turn to other desirable assets.
