Geo Political Risk

[Davexl]

Guardian

3m ago 00:45
Stocks in Asia Pacific are being hammered on Thursday morning as the grim drumbeat of war becomes louder by the minute in Ukraine.
The Australian ASX200 index was first cab off the rank and is down 2.3% after 90 minutes of trading.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei average is down 0.8% and the Kospi in Seoul has fallen 1.4%.



A trader works at the New York stock exchange where stocks fell heavily on Wednesday. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

It follows steep losses on Wall Street where the Dow lost 1.4%, S&P 500 dropped 1.8%, Nasdaq plunged 2.6%.

The S&P 500 – the broadest measure of shares in the US – has fallen 10% since its record high on 3 January, meaning it is officially in a correction phase. The Dow is only a fraction off the same metric.

The Nasdaq has tumbled more than 16% so far this year

[Davexl]

Flight paths are now closed along the Ukrainian border...airport runways closed...

Don't know about the shelling Panda-NZ, but there were 5 big explosions in Donetsk 20 mins ago...False flag?

[Davexl]

Guardian

8m ago 01:03
Blinken expects 'full-on invasion' before night is over

US secretary of state Antony Blinken says he expects Russia to invade Ukraine before the night was over [EST time] but still sees a chance to “avert a major aggression”.
Speaking to NBC News he said:

Everything seems to be in place for Russia to engage in a major aggression against Ukraine.”

Blinken also told ABC News that Russia is “putting the final touches” on having forces in places for a “full-on invasion” and said the US has “certainly seen the presence of Russian forces inside of Ukraine.”
The secretary of state did not elaborate on the Russian forces he said they have seen inside Ukraine and could not give “specific numbers,” but “everything we’ve seen over the last 24 to 48 hours has Russia of putting the final touches on having its forces in place across all of Ukraine’s borders, to the north, to the east, to the south, to be ready for a full-on invasion.”