• APAC stocks traded with firm gains following a strong session for Wall St.; S&P 500 +2.6%, Nasdaq +3.6%.
• European equity futures are indicative of a marginally softer open with the Euro Stoxx 50 future down 0.1% after the cash market closed higher by 7.4% yesterday.
• Ukrainian President Zelensky said he is prepared for certain compromises but the other side also needs to compromise.
• US House voted to approve the USD 1.5tln spending bill to fund the government through September.
• In FX, DXY has reclaimed 98.00 to the upside, USD/JPY continues to eye YTD highs, EUR awaits ECB.
• Looking ahead, highlights include US CPI, Chinese Aggregate Financing & M2, ECB Policy Announcement & Press Conference with President Lagarde, Russia-Ukraine Foreign Ministers in Turkey & EU Leaders Summit, RBA's Lowe, US Supply.

• Click here for the Week Ahead preview

US TRADE

• US stocks finished with firm gains on encouraging Russia/Ukraine updates and after a pullback in oil eased global growth fears.
• S&P 500 +2.6% at 4,278, Nasdaq 100 +3.6% at 13,742, Dow Jones +2.0% at 33,285, Russell 2000 +2.7% at 2,016.

NOTABLE US HEADLINES

• US House voted to approve the USD 1.5tln spending bill to fund the government through September which includes almost USD 14bln of aid for Ukraine.

GEOPOLITICS

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

NEGOTIATIONS

• Ukrainian President Zelensky said the aim of talks is to end the war and said the other side also needs to compromise but he is prepared for certain compromises.
• Russian delegation at peace talks with Ukraine will not concede anything, according to Ria citing the Russian delegate.
• EU is to back Ukraine's European bid although fast membership is unlikely, according to Sputnik citing reports.

DEFENCE/MILITARY

• White House said Russia's claims of alleged US biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine are false and that the US should be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine in light of its false claims.
• Ukraine’s government is preparing a potential move of data and servers to another country and moving Ukrainian information technology assets abroad is contingency 'plan B or C', according to a senior cybersecurity official.
• US does not support the transfer of additional combat aircraft to Ukraine at this time and the transfer of MIG-29 aircraft to Ukraine is assessed to be high risk, however, it sees a need for other weapons to help Ukraine defend itself, according to the Pentagon spokesman.
• US Secretary of State Blinken discussed with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba additional security and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine and discussed Russian attacks on population centres
• US Defense Secretary Austin spoke with Ukrainian counterpart about continued provision of defensive assistance for Ukraine.
• Spain is ready to send a new batch of weapons to Ukraine, according to reports in Sputnik citing the Defence Minister

ENERGY/ECONOMIC UPDATES

• US is considering sanctions on Russian nuclear power supplier Rosatom in which a move could impact the nuclear power industry and uranium mining (CCJ, URA), while the White House is assessing impacts, but no decision has been made, according to Bloomberg.
• UK PM Johnson told Ukrainian President Zelensky that he is committed to further tightening sanctions to impose maximum economic costs on Russia, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.
• UK Foreign Minister Truss said they would like to see a complete SWIFT ban and for G7 to end its use of Russian oil and gas.
• Russian Finance Ministry said domestic banks would be allowed to lend to companies controlled by non-residents and the move will allow firms wishing to continue doing business in Russia to work as usual.
• IAEA said it lost remote data transmission from its safeguards systems at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and are concerned about the sudden interruption of such data flows from Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia to the IAEA HQ.

OTHER THIRD-PARTY REMARKS/NEWS

• Ukraine Central Bank asked Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Turkey, and Kyrgyzstan to suspend transactions via Russia's MIR payment system.
• Pimco risks losing billions in the event of a default by Russia with the fund manager exposed to a derivative bet of at least USD 1.1bln and holds USD 1.5bln of sovereign bonds, according to FT.

FUND/SOVEREIGN ACTION

• Morningstar Indexes determined it is necessary to reclassify Russia from emerging market to unclassified and will remove all Russian securities from the Morningstar fixed income indexes as of March 31st

OTHER

• White House said the US is continuing to engage with Iran deal partners including Russia, while it believes US and Russia share an objective on the Iran nuclear deal.
• Iran's Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Shamkhani said nuclear talks have become more complicated every hour and that the US's desire for a quick agreement indicates it has no will for a strong nuclear deal.

APAC TRADE

EQUITIES

• APAC stocks traded with firm gains following a rally in global peers alongside an aggressive pullback in oil prices and with some optimism ahead of Russia-Ukraine talks after Ukrainian President Zelensky voiced a willingness for compromises.
• ASX 200 was lifted by strength across most industries aside from the commodity sectors following the cooling in underlying prices.
• Nikkei 225 surged with the gains magnified by a weaker currency and with Japan to raise the daily cap of foreign arrivals to 10k from 3k.
• Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. conformed to the heightened risk environment in which the former attempted to reclaim the 21k level but with further upside restricted by weakness in some developers and blue-chip energy stocks.
• US equity futures paused overnight after the previous day's rally.
• European equity futures are indicative of a slightly firmer open with the Euro Stoxx 50 future up 0.3% after the cash market closed higher by 7.4% yesterday.

FX

• DXY recouped some of yesterday’s heavy losses that were triggered by haven outflows to reclaim the 98.00 level.
• EUR/USD came off the prior day's highs but with the pullback limited ahead of the ECB meeting.
• GBP/USD slightly eased overnight although was cushioned by support at 1.3150.
• USD/JPY extended above 116.00 amid the surge in Tokyo stocks.
• Antipodeans traded indecisive as their high-beta statuses were offset by the recent cooldown in commodities.

FIXED INCOME

• 10yr USTs remained subdued beneath 127.00 with demand sapped by the risk appetite and a lacklustre 10yr auction stateside.
• Bunds were little changed overnight with prices despondent after this week's slump.
• 10yr JGBs weakened on spillover selling from global counterparts and soft demand at the 20yr JGB auction.

COMMODITIES

• WTI and Brent picked themselves up after the prior day's collapse that saw the largest intraday decline for oil in dollar terms.
• UAE Ambassador to Washington said they are in favour of an oil production increase and will be encouraging OPEC to consider higher output, according to CNN. However, an OPEC+ delegate later noted that the UAE didn't discuss OPEC+ output proposal with allies.
• UAE Energy Minister said UAE is committed to the OPEC+ agreement and its existing monthly production adjustment mechanism, while it believes in the value that OPEC+ brings to the oil market.
• Iraq oil minister said OPEC+ increases are enough and extra output hikes could harm the market. The minister earlier commented that oil supply and demand are balanced and there is no shortage in oil markets, while they can increase output if OPEC+ requires and has about 6% of production as spare capacity.
• US Energy Secretary Granholm said they have to responsibly increase short-term supply where possible to stabilise the market, including strategic reserve releases and energy companies boosting output where they can.
• UK PM Johnson is facing calls to urge Saudi to produce more oil, while it was also reported that Foreign Secretary Truss supports a push within the Cabinet to convince UK PM Johnson to approve the return of fracking in the UK, according to The Telegraph
• Standard Chartered expects a sharp fall in Russian oil output after volumes are displaced from the European market and sees Russia having to shut-in oil production as it will be unable to sell all the oil displaced from the European market
• Spot gold remained subdued after it recently failed to hold above the USD 2,000/oz level.
• Copper prices partially nursed some of yesterday's commodity slump.
• LME said it will permit nickel position transfers although trading remains halted.
• Chinese nickel giant Tsingshan secured bank lifelines following the historic short squeeze.

CRYPTO

• Bitcoin declined overnight with prices back below the USD 40,000 level.
• Goldman Sachs (GS) is exploring new options for crypto currencies.

NOTABLE APAC HEADLINES

• PBoC injected CNY 10bln via 7-day reverse repos with the rate at 2.10% for a net neutral daily position.
• PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 6.3105 vs exp. 6.3008 (prev. 6.3178)
• US called on China to ensure the visit by the UN Rights Chief is given unhindered and unsupervised access to all areas of Xinjiang.
• South Korean President-elect Yoon said they will transition into a private sector-focused economy not government-driven and will create jobs and expand the middle class. Yoon added they are to respond sternly to North Korea's illegal acts but leave the door open for dialogue and will build a strong defence to defer any provocation.
• RBA announced Deputy Governor Debelle is resigning to take the position of CFO at Fortescue Future Industries.
• RBNZ appointed Paul Conway as its new chief economist.

EUROPE

NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINES

• IFS said UK Chancellor Sunak will need to find an extra GBP 10bln to avoid a public sector pay squeeze, according to FT.

DATA RECAP

• UK RICS Housing Survey (Feb) 79 vs. Exp. 73 (Prev. 74)