
Apr 05, 2022 03:39AM ET
By: AnalysisWatch
European stock markets traded mixed on Tuesday, with investors weighing potential further sanctions against Moscow that could lead to higher commodity prices and fuel inflation fears.
By 3:40 AM ET, Germany's DAX was trading 0.4% higher, France's CAC 40 was up 0.1%, and Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.1%.
The United States and Europe have been planning new sanctions to punish Moscow for alleged atrocities in Ukraine, with U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bukhara.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to address the UN Security Council later on Tuesday, having earlier warned that the alleged atrocities in Borodjanka, a settlement near Kiev, could be worse than those in Bucha.
The United States on Monday prevented the Russian government from paying holders of its sovereign debt more than $600 million from reserves held in U.S. banks, but the main move would be if the European Union and Germany, in particular, banned imports of Russian gas and oil.
Germany is heavily dependent on Russia for energy, and agreeing to such a move would run into political difficulties given the economic consequences.
German banks already expect a sharp slowdown in growth of about 2% this year as a result of the war in Ukraine, Christian Sewing, chief executive of Deutsche Bank and president of the German banking lobby BDB, said on Monday.
"The situation would be even worse if imports or supplies of Russian oil and gas were halted. A significant recession in Germany "would then be virtually inevitable," Sewing said.
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