Tank columns in Ukraine may increase market volatility.

In the UK, the FTSE100 initially opened lower than its 6575.5 Friday close, opening at 6570, but began to rise soon after the bell rang, creeping to 6598.7 early this morning. The DAX30 followed suit, opening 14 points higher than its 9286.8 Friday closer at 9302.5, hitting a morning high of 9320. With the Dow Jones dropping 0.01% at Friday close 17569, the futures are pointing at an opening of around 17560-17570. The APEC Summit today could have an effect on the markets, with Obama and co. hoping to push through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12 nation agreement that would implement free trade between the USA, Canada and 10 Asia-Pacific nations, nations that comprise 40% of global GDP. On the eve of this summit, China (who is hosting the conference this year) announced a CPI of 1.6%, in line with the predicted results. This figure has reinforced the view that China is facing significant obstacles in terms of growth, and is increasing at risk of deflation. President Xi Jinping downplayed these fears, claiming that their worldwide position is still strong.

The reported presence of tank columns and other war apparatus on the Ukraine/Russia border could cause volatility in the markets today, as the past few months have shown this conflict to be a pressure point for many of the indices worldwide. This news comes after the rouble fell 2% against both the dollar and the euro last week, whilst President Putin was named by Forbes as the world’s most powerful figure for the second year in a row.

The big earnings release of the day come from AVEVA Group PLC, whose half year report announced a 48% fall in pre-tax profits. However, with their dividend raised to 5.5p from 5.0, their stock prices have jumped 6% to a high of 1475. In other earnings news, Trinity Mirror PLC announced this morning that their annual profits are in line with projections, despite a revenue decline of 5%, causing stock prices to drop 4% to 159.25.

Finally, after the big banks last week were all forced to set aside around £500 million to fund the ongoing forex investigations, the Financial Stability Board announced today new rules to prevent the reoccurrence of a tax-payer bailout. HSBC, Barclays et al. will be forced to hold more money in order to provide a safety margin to forestall any losses these banks incur. These new rules could see movement on the markets today as the noose tightens on the formally freewheeling banking sector.