Growth fears weigh on stocks as stocks declined, stocks futures gained on friday

U.S stocks ended mixed Friday, with the Dow Jones erasing gains late in the session, as investors continued to weigh concerns over slowing economic growth and more aggressive Federal Reserve. Subsequently, S&P 500 declined 0.2% to finish at 3,674.84, Nasdaq 100 declined 1.4% to finish at 10,798.35, while Dow Jones declined 0.1% to finish at 29,888.78. Meanwhile U.S equity futures made modest gains on Friday with S&P 500 futures gaining 0.2%, Nasdaq 100 futures gaining 1.2% and Dow Jones futures gaining 0.78%. The 10-year yield Treasury fell 6.5 basis to 3.238%.  Gold increased 0.1% to settle at $1,841.90 per ounce, while WTI crude oil increased 0.4% to $109.99 per barrel.

25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum ended on Saturday. According to news agency RIA Novosti, the total amount of signed contracts amounted to more than 5 trillion rubles. During the plenary session at the forum President Vladimir Putin noted that Russia does not mind Ukraine’s accession to the EU but will never agree to forget about the bloody state coup in Ukraine in 2014 as it is the root of today’s problems. Meanwhile Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy predicted Russia will escalate its attacks this week as European Union leaders consider whether to back his country’s bid to join the bloc and Russia presses its campaign to win control of east Ukraine. IMOEX was up this morning by 0.4% at 2371 with oil company Rosneft and gold Producer Petropavlovsk leading the gains. Despite debt service problems Russian sovereign bonds stayed mostly unchanged with Russia 28 trading in mid 30s and Russia 47 in mid 20s. Russian ruble remained strong and gained another 1.5% against USD on Friday. This morning it was slightly off with USDRUB up at 56.51 and EURRUB at 59.53.

A tilt towards firmness at the open for SSA after Friday’s tepid session. ZAMBIN (+0.375pts) up at the open as China – its biggest bilateral lender – committed to contributing during last week’s creditors meeting. Zambia’s finance ministry also said that the World Bank is also set to provide about $1.2 billion following the conclusion of talks with creditors on top of the IMF’s $1.4 billion deal.