Appetite for risk perks up as US and Russian officials agree to meet

The meeting is certainly a positive step towards a peaceful resolution, although Russia needs to manage to not invade Ukraine ahead of the meeting for it to remain valid. It would be a bad time, for example, for someone trip over their gun in the region and spark unintended consequences.

Whilst we’re not yet sure who instigated the meeting, perhaps pressure from the US helped seal the deal. The US had been piling on the pressure, simultaneously calling out Russia’s false-flag whilst remaining adamant that they would invade ‘within days’. Separately, the Whitehouse has since confirmed that Joe Biden will host a call today with NATO allies.

At the very least the meeting appears to be a good delaying tactic from the West, and one that could take some of the sting out of the negative sentiment for markets. Safe-havens are moving lower in line with this positive step and gold has been knocked from its $1900 perch. But traders would be wise to remember this is a fluid situation and things can change quickly, so nothing should be taken for granted.

We can see on gold’s 1-hour chart that its rally stalled around 1900, near the weekly R2 pivot point. It promptly fell around $12, broke an intraday bullish trendline but is now showing signs of stability around the daily pivot point and $1890. We suspect this level will hold initially at least and is likely to be a pivotal area for the remainder of the day. It sits around the midway point of support and resistance zones around 1880 and 1900, so could be of interest for intraday swing traders.

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