All attention is on the situation in Ukraine after the invasion by Russia. Otherwise, there is the usual round of central bank speakers, decisions from the Bank of Canada and Reserve Bank of Australia and earnings from some of the more speculative end of the tech sector to look forward to. Finally, Friday sees the monthly US jobs report. 

Ukraine 

Markets have been tested enormously by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On Thursday, the ruble plunged to a record low against the USD and the Moscow stock market had its worst single day drop on record. Meanwhile the impact was felt globally as oil prices surged above $100 to levels last seen in 2014. The situation is dynamic, and markets will continue to be on the hook for news flow. 

OPEC meeting 

OPEC and allies, including Russia, are due to meet this week. Against the backdrop of surging oil prices and potential sanctions on Russian oil, the meeting comes at a difficult moment in terms of the geopolitics. Can the alliance between Russia and OPEC members survive the current crisis?  

Central banks 

The Bank of Canada is due to begin raising rates when it convenes on March 2nd, beginning a brisk hiking cycle The Reserve Bank of Australia meets but is not expected to raise interest rates yet. A hike is not expected until June at the soonest. Meanwhile we are set to hear from Fed chair Jay Powell as he testifies in front of the House Financial Services Committee.  

Jobs report 

The monthly nonfarm payrolls report is due Friday. Last time the January figures were much more impressive than expected, gaining +467k vs +110k expected. Wages were up big, jobs growth much better than expected. Also, there were some massive upwards revisions to prior months. This was a reading that seemed to offer the Fed carte blanche to hike rates by 50bps in March – but this was before Russia invaded Ukraine. 

Economic data 

Ahead of the NFP numbers we get the ADP jobs report on Wednesday. Seldom a good indicator for the official jobs report, it’s nevertheless a market-moving event. We are also watching for the ISM manufacturing and services PMI reports for the US. 

Earnings season continues 

Look for updates from tech names including Zoom, Salesforce, Snowflake and Broadcom. 

Major economic data (times in GMT) 

Key earnings data