Safe Havens In Demand, Rouble Turns Toxic

Fallout from the Russo-Ukraine war has roiled risk as Western leaders upgraded their sanctions ammo to a larger calibre and fired a salvo against Moscow over its ongoing invasion. A coalition of nations approved a plan to disconnect selected Russian banks from the SWIFT system and prevent Russia's central bank from deploying its foreign reserves. Financial measures came alongside continued supply of weapons into Ukraine, where heavy fighting drags on. Kyiv and Moscow will hold talks Monday morning, even as Russian President Putin rattled his nuclear sabre.

• Participants await Moscow re-open to assess the extent of the rouble's collapse. The WSJ reported that USD/RUB was quoted at RUB110-120 by Russian banks, with wires citing anecdotal evidence of very thin liquidity. Russian bank Tinkoff (world's largest digital bank) offered a USD/RUB exchange rate of RUB171, while crowds of Russian retail clients rushed to withdraw their foreign currency deposits.
• Scandinavian currencies are the worst performers in G10 FX space on the back of contagion risk, with NOK failing to take shelter in surging crude oil prices. The Eurozone's single currency has weakened in tandem with Scandie FX.
• Broader defensive flows have been evident, with the likes of USD, JPY and CHF buoyed by aversion to risk. Antipodean currencies have lost ground, albeit they fare better than aforementioned European currencies.
• U.S. MNI Chicago PMI & flash wholesale inventories, Swedish GDP as well as comments from Fed's Bostic and ECB's Lagarde & Panetta will draw attention later in the day.