European stock markets open with massive losses due to Russia's attack on Ukraine

Russia's attacks in Ukraine have caused the collapse of European stock markets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has crossed a limit with his offensive that analysts did not believe he would reach and every step he takes now means an approach to the worst scenarios foreseen.

This has translated into massive losses in the main European stock markets, which have opened with falls of more than 4%, while the price of oil has skyrocketed and a barrel of Brent already exceeds the barrier of 100 dollars.

The Ibex has opened with losses of 4.22%, one of the biggest falls since the start of the pandemic, standing at 8,077 points, again at a low this year.

The operation initiated by Putin has led to the immediate collapse of the Russian markets.

The Moscow and St. Petersburg Stock Exchanges were forced to halt trading after their main indices plunged above 30%.

“Trading in all markets was suspended.

The restart will be announced at a later date," the Moscow Stock Exchange said in a statement, reports Efe.

The St. Petersburg Stock Exchange, the country's second-largest, also announced a "ban on offers and contracts for all modes of trading and all types of securities" starting Thursday morning.

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The main stock markets in Europe opened with massive sales by investors.

Frankfurt lost 4.9%;

Milan, 4.3%;

Paris, 4%, and London, 2.7%.

The Euro Stoxx 50 also started with red numbers above 3.5%.

The Ibex fell to close to 8,000 points.

The fall is far from the 14.06% of March 12, 2020, when the markets panicked due to the pandemic and the massive confinements that were being decreed in half the world.

Even so, the tensions unleashed by Putin with the main Western powers, including the US and the EU, have dealt a blow to markets that had been entering negative territory for weeks.

“Emerging market equities could fall by as much as 10% in the short term, unless it can be offset by a mediating policy response,

Before, at dawn, the Asian stock markets had already closed with red numbers.

Tokyo ended with a fall of 1.81% in its main index, the Nikkei, after losses reached more than 2%.

Wall Street had already closed the day on Wednesday with heavy losses.

The Dow Jones had lost 1.38%, while the Nasdaq had lost 2.57%.

And they paint coarse for Thursday.

Futures point to the flight of investors from equity securities with falls in the main indices that are close to 3%.

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Investors repeat the pattern they follow during major crises, flocking to assets they see as much safer.

Gold, the main refuge value, rose 1.79% and reached its highest level in the last year, while silver did 2.35%.

The yield on the German 10-year bond sank to 0.163%, but investors also flocked to French, Italian or Spanish debt, which in recent weeks has been under great pressure by market speculation about the next steps of the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve to curb inflation.

Nervousness has been installed in the markets for days, which have been lurching from green to red, but with a tendency to go down.

Analysts do not see the end of the tunnel because they also do not know how far Putin can go.

“Bad news is one thing.

Bad news with a virtually unknown outcome is quite another," Kyle Rodda, an analyst at IG Markets, told Bloomberg.

While the parks are turning red, energy prices continue to climb due to the unpredictability of Russia, one of the world's leading producers.

That puts more pressure on inflation.

Oil prices have soared and a barrel of Brent, a reference in the United States, exceeded 100 dollars.