The key currency dollar was very popular with investors at the beginning of the week. The reasons for this were the tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine and the possibility of a tighter monetary policy by the US Federal Reserve. Conversely, the euro fell 0.4 percent to $1.1297 on Monday. In addition, weak economic data from the euro zone was published. While German companies were surprisingly optimistic despite the rapid spread of the Omikron variant of the corona virus, Omikron put the brakes on business sentiment in the euro zone as a whole. The corresponding Markit index fell in the countries with the common currency by 0.9 to 52.4 points. This is the lowest level in almost a year. The development was two-pronged: while the mood in the service sector clouded over significantly, it brightened in industry.
Oil prices fell on a stronger dollar and investor concerns over the possibility that the US Federal Reserve could hike interest rates faster than expected. A barrel of North Sea Brent fell 1.5 percent to $86.60. The price of a barrel of the US WTI variety fell by 1.9 percent to $83.54. A further escalation of the situation in both Ukraine and the Middle East “justifies a risk premium on the price of oil, since the countries concerned – Russia and the United Arab Emirates – are important members of Opec-plus,” said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank .
The sell-off in cryptocurrencies is gaining momentum. One bitcoin fell 6.5 percent to $33,904. The Ethereum price even collapsed by almost 14 percent to $2242. “The current series of losses is taking its toll,” says analyst Timo Emden from Emden Research. “The fear of interest rates has the markets completely under control.”