Energy crunch sees coal, oil and gas soar.

Coal and Gas prices have surged and joined gold and oil as demand surges due to the supply shortages stemming from the Russia and Ukraine conflict.

The global indices were up overall as the market still remains unsure of how to react to the unfolding crisis. In Europe, the FTSE provided strength with a 1.36% gain and the DAX provided a small bounce rising 0.69%. In America the Dow Jones and the NASDAQ both saw decent rises, moving 1.79% and 1.62% respectively. The US markets responded positively after Jerome Powell testified that the Federal Reserve still intends to increase interest rates later this month by 25 basis points. Mr. Powell did, however, allow for some flexibility in the face of the increased conflict.

The biggest mover was coal which shot up almost 33% to $400 on the back of the energy crisis. It has led to many countries attempting to scavenge for coal reserves. Germany is poised to create coal power reserves and Italy announced it may reopen some of its previously shut coal plants. The Aussie dollar has benefited from this and other rises in commodity prices with AUDUSD touching on 0.73c overnight.

Oil prices reached as high as $114.00 and touched the 8 year high before settling in at $111. This is after OPEC decided overnight to hold production level at the current level leaving the potential shortfall in demand unaccounted for, claiming that that demand for oil is being driven by geopolitics and not fundamentals. The price of wheat and aluminium also hit 14-year highs overnight and Gold continues to remain steady at $1,927 per ounce.

Bitcoin saw a slight slump and is down  1.47% although is still very much moving upward due to the momentum from Russian investors. The Ruble saw some strength as it saw upward of 5% gains against many other currency pairs. The US dollar continues to be strong on the back of the Federal reserve and from the risk aversion seen in the market at the moment.