Ukraine's Zelenskyy: High risk that peace talks with Russia will end, cites actions of Russian troops

Joel Frank Independent Analyst

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that peace talks with Russia at a high risk of ending given the action of Russian troops during the war, reported Russian state-run news agency Interfax reported according to Reuters.

Seperately, a Pentagon spokesperson said that it is hard to look at what Russian President Vladimir Putin is doing in Ukraine and think that any ethical, moral person could justify such actions. The Pentagon spokesperson added that Russian operations in Ukraine are brutality of the coldest and most depraved sort.

Author

Joel Frank

Independent Analyst

Joel Frank is an economics graduate from the University of Birmingham and has worked as a full-time financial market analyst since 2018, specialising in the coverage of how developments in the global economy impact financial asset

EUR/USD: Breakdown below trading range support near 1.1770 comes into play

The EUR/USD pair opens with a bearish gap at the start of a new week as the US-Iran war-led global flight to safety boosts the US Dollar. Spot prices, however, lack follow-through selling and manage to hold above mid-1.1700s during the Asian session.

GBP/USD targets 1.3500 barrier near moving averages

GBP/USD rebounds from the daily losses, trading around 1.3450 during the Asian hours on Monday. The technical analysis of the daily chart indicates an ongoing bearish bias, as the pair trades within a descending channel pattern.

Gold retreats from $5,400; still up over 1% amid Middle East tensions

Gold retreats from the $5,400 neighborhood, or its highest level since late January, touched in the Asian session on Monday, though it manages to hold above the $5,300 round figure. The bright metal opened with a bullish gap of about $17 and rallied toward the $5,400 level as Asian traders hit their desks and reacted negatively to the weekend news of the US and Israel attacks on Iran, rushing for cover in Gold.

Top Crypto Losers: Tezos, Toncoin, and Polkadot at crucial levels amid US-Israel strike on Iran

Altcoins such as Tezos, Toncoin, and Polkadot rank among the worst hit cryptocurrencies over the last 24 hours amid the US and Israel's attack on Iran. Tezos and Toncoin are down to crucial support levels while Polkadot remains near a crucial resistance trendline, showcasing underlying strength.

The market is paying for insurance, not apocalypse

As expected, this morning felt less like a Monday market open and more like a fire drill. Futures screens flickered red. S&P contracts down almost 1%. Nasdaq off 1.2%. Brent leaped 13% through $80. Gold rose 1.6% toward $5350 before paring some gains. The dollar is strutting mildly. The Swiss franc is quietly doing what it always does in a storm, catching some safe-haven flows.

Starknet unveils strkBTC, shielded Bitcoin transactions on Ethereum Layer 2

Starknet, the Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by StarkWare, today announced strkBTC, a wrapped Bitcoin asset that introduces optional shielding while preserving full DeFi composability.