Markets doing the job Obama and the west can't do: The Russian Stock Markets Tank 10%

American Thinker ^ | 03/03/2013 | Rick Moran

[SeekAndFind]

"How to punish Russia" is the question of the day. All sorts of measures are being considered, including kicking Russia out of the G-20, trade sanctions, even travel restrictions for some Russian government officials.

But in the end, as Jason Karaian poin ts out in Quartz, it is the free market that is doing enormous damage to Putin's Russia:

Strongly worded statements, threats of travel restrictions, and summit no-shows. So far, these are the relatively mild diplomatic implications for Russia of its incursion into Ukraine, as few in the West can stomach an open military confrontation with Moscow over its apparent occupation of Crimea.

But the markets are punishing Russia much more swiftly than the diplomats. A wide range of Russian assets—stocks, bonds, and the ruble—plunged in value today. To shore up the ruble, which is plumbing record depths, Russia’s central bank unexpectedly hiked interest rates today. It ratcheted up the benchmark one-week rate from 5.5% to 7%, and traders report that the central bank has also been spending billions of dollars in currency markets to stem the fall in the value of the ruble.

The two main Moscow stock markets, the Micex and the RTS, have fallen by more than 10% at the time of writing, in a broad-based selloff. Big Russian companies like Gazprom and Sberbank saw their share prices plunge as traders dumped their shares.

For its part, Gazprom said today that it would reconsider the gas price discount it extended to Ukraine only a few months ago. Of course, Russia has not hesitated to punish Ukraine by restricting its energy supply in the past, with reverberations felt throughout Western Europe.

[Ken H]

...unexpectedly...

Slowly I turned. Step by step, inch by inch...

[Beagle8U]

Good job Owebama, our markets are crashing too!

[woodbutcher1963]

Yes, but oil is up. Petroleum and natural gas are Russia’s bread and butter. They way to hurt them economically is to increase oil and gas production and force the world price down. Please read KT McFarland’s article on another FR thread.

[woodbutcher1963]

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/03/03/how-obama-could-stop-putin-ukraine-power-grab-without-firing-shot/?cmpid=NL_opinion

[Beagle8U]

I read McFartland’s liberal drivel of an article. Owebama will do nothing but crash our economy and drive up oil prices.

The Demonrat voter base are commies, eco-nutballs, and queers.
They are against everything proposed in that farce article!