If you were watching the news on Saturday (2/19), the Ukraine Russia conflict did get heated up. There was an increase in fire exchange between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists. I believe the market will show a negative impact due to the growing tensions as has been seen historically when war news usually breaks out. Markets never like uncertainty and tensions and hence it reacts in a negative manner.
The futures are significantly down and similarly the major cryptocurrencies on 2/21/2022.
Here is a view of the S&P500 futures as I am writing this article -
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| Source: finviz.com |
Bitcoin has similarly taken a constant dive since the last week with some resistance but trending downwards overall.
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| Source: Finance.google.com |
The increased chances of the US, UK and other EU nations imposing sanctions could further create more turbulence in the markets. I am following the situation very closely and if Russia takes over parts of Ukraine then things are going to go sideways for the global economy in the short term.
Surprised? I am not to be honest. This is an opportunity to invest in the markets for the long run and ignore the turbulence. I can understand this can create anxiety which is very normal, but that's how historically markets react initially to any negative geopolitical conflicts. One of my mantras is to stay strong, ride the waves and be patient. I am deploying my cash reserves in diversified portfolios across index funds and cryptocurrency assets with the idea of investing and forgetting for the short term.
If you did not have a chance to read through my February Market Health post, I highly recommend to read it here: https://frugalisrich.blogspot.com/2022/02/february-market-health.html
(Disclosure: I actively invest in the S&P 500 index ETFs/mutual funds and the Bitcoin Cryptocurrency. Please review the Disclaimer section prior to any investments.)