Ed Moya, Senior Market Analyst at OANDA, joins us to review the recent market moves off the backs of the geopolitical tensions from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. We start of discussing how inflation is only being exasperated by the tariffs NATO countries are imposing on Russia, as it is a major producer of commodities, from oil and natural Gas, to cereal grains and soft commodities, to nickel, palladium, and other key metals.
Aside from how these ongoing inflation concerns are going to hamper global growth expectations, we also get into how the motion by NATO countries to remove Russia from the SWIFT banking system, may end up expediting a payment messaging system between Russian and China and other countries with excessive tariffs, and could bring cryptocurrencies in as a viable alternative for countries and their citizens.
Next we pivot over to how gold and silver may could be impacted or play a role as alternatives to working around the SWIFT banking system, but Ed feels gold investors are just going to need to be patient as gold gave up many of its gains on the recent escalation in Ukraine, but has been holding steady and consolidating the recent move higher. We wrap up with Ed outlining that the positive expectations for a reopening trade have faded fast, as inflation is still a going concern, consumers are strapped and starting to buy on credit, and most growth forecasts are slipping for the balance of the year.