Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com — As stress mounts in world’s commodities markets, nickel prices are wildly out of control. European Union is expected to publish fresh ideas about how it can wean itself from Russian energy. This prospect sent the ruble further down, by 4%. The U.S. stock market is expected to bounce back after Monday’s devastation, and the Treasury will offer 3-year bonds into an ever-expanding market.  Estee Lauder The exodus of Russia includes (NYSE:), Adidas OTC:, and Adobe NNASDAQ: Although oil prices remain high as Shell (LON) maintains its self-defenses, gas prices have fallen after Germany reacted to a Russian threat of cutting off current supplies. Apple (NASDAQ: ) expects to unveil new low-price iPhones. This is what you should know about financial markets Tuesday 8 March. 

1. Nickel goes crazy

The stress in global financial markets as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine is becoming ever more obvious.

After a severe short squeeze caused the main contract price to rise to more than $101,000 per ton, the London Metals Exchange had to stop trading nickel. It also announced that it might adjust or cancel certain trades. That’s about seven times where it was trading before the pandemic and more than twice its previous peak, hit in 2007.

It appears that the sharpness of this move was caused by an OTC: industrial client of China Construction Bank, which required extra time in order to fulfill its Monday margin call.

While nickel is most commonly used for the manufacture of stainless steel in construction and automotive, demand has grown in recent decades due to its role as a lithium-ion battery metal in electric cars. Average Tesla uses 45 kg of nickel (NASDAQ:).

2. Oil stays bid as Shell self-sanctionsr; prices ease  in Europe; STEO, API eyed

Oil prices remain above $120 per barrel, as Shell announced that it will no longer purchase Russian oil and gas via either the spot or long-term market. That reinforces the ‘self-sanctioning’ dynamic visible in the market for the last two weeks.

At 6:10 am ET futures had risen 2.7% to $122.61/barrel, and futures up 2.9% for $126.76/barrel

Benchmark European gas prices, however, eased off after German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said he didn’t expect Russia to follow through on a threat to stop gas supplies to Europe through existing pipelines.  

The extreme level of prices will add spice to the U.S. government’s Short-Term Energy Outlook, which is released at 12 PM ET (1700 GMT). The American Petroleum Institute’s weekly inventory report, meanwhile, is due at 4:30 PM ET, as usual, and market participants will be sensitive to any further signs of high prices causing demand destruction. The national average gasoline price hit record heights of $4.17 per gallon Monday.

3. Stocks to Open with a Unimpressive Bouncing; Adobe, Estee Lauder and Adidas join the Russian Exodus

After another day of losses due to the conflict in Ukraine, and Western sanctions against Russia, U.S. stocks will open today with a slight rebound.

They were up 75 point, or 0.2% at 6:15 am ET. Meanwhile, they were up 0.3%, and were up 0.1% by 6.15 am ET. All three cash indices suffered losses of between 2.3%- 3.6% Monday. On Monday the Dow became the latest benchmark to go into correction territory.

U.S. Treasury is set to auction three year notes at noon ET as part of its third major debt sales. On Monday, yields reached their highest level in 2 weeks due to ongoing inflation fears and initial flow-to-quality flows.

Later stocks will be in focus, including Estee Lauder (Adobe), Adidas, and Adobe. They are all the recent major names that have fled Russia.

4. EU will take serious steps to reduce energy dependency 

European bonds and central European currencies rallied after a Bloomberg report saying that the European Union will consider issuing joint debt to finance spending deemed necessary to strengthen Europe’s defenses and wean itself off Russian energy supplies.

This would represent a radical new step in the direction of a shared fiscal capacity within the EU. It will also be an addition to Next Generation EU debt, which was created to fund the reconstruction of the economy following the pandemic.

Hungarian Forint, Polish Zloty and Czech Koruna all have performed poorly in the past two weeks. They bounced back strongly.   

The European Commission is due later to issue a new strategy document detailing how it intends to cut the EU’s dependence on Russian gas, fresh evidence of the profound change in strategic thinking caused the invasion of Ukraine. In the meantime, rubles fell by 4% against dollar to reach a new low.

5. Apple to unveil a new iPhone with a lower price

Apple will likely show off a lower-priced version of its iPhone during a West Coast corporate event later in the year.

It seems that this move suggests a higher degree of price sensitivity at the company regarding its flagship product, which is different from what was apparent in the past two years, where it took advantage record highs for hardware upgrades to significantly raise the prices for its new models.