Market Recap 3/14/14

Hello!

First off, I started sending quick market recaps via text to a couple of people interested in learning more about the market and staying up to date. If you're interested please comment below, find me on twitter @BritReport or email me at britreport@gmail.com
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This week was full of macroeconomic news. I think it's important to understand how the events in the Ukraine  are impacting the U.S economy.


How we got here in less than 30 seconds:

• Russia wanted to invade the Ukraine
• The U.S does not want Russia to invade the Ukraine. To prevent the Russian invasion, the U.S threatened Russia with a number of sanctions. The sanctions will effect a number of businesses within the U.S.
• Russia positioned troops for an invasion 
• Today there was a vote on the decision to unite Russia and Crimea. The results were in favor of the union, however there are a number of questions regarding the validity of the results. 

It's good thing to remember  that geopolitical events effect a number of aspects in our economy, not just. Here are some of the effects:

Energy: Russia supplies Europe's natural gas, if we impose a sanction on Russia we could lose support from Europe. Without Europe, the sanctions will be less effective and Russian investors will pull their money out of the U.S and into Europe.

Currency: In times of uncertainty, investors want to decrease their exposure to risky currencies. On Friday, there was a rally in Japanese Yen. (the Japanese currency) Currencies are valued in comparison of another currency. As the Japanese Yen increased in value the US Dollar decreased in value. This indicates that the Yen was perceived as more stable than the dollar, which has a negative effect on the U.S.

VIX: Considered the "fear guage": was up 9.5%, indicating there is a lot of volatility surrounding the macro tape. As the uncertainity continues the market will continue facing downward pressure. 

In addition to the Ukraine, a slow down in China has also put pressure on the U.S Market.

The last week China released some poor economic data indicating a slow down in their economy. Considering that China has one of the largest economies in the world, a slowdown is definitely something that will be monitored closely going into next week. 

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Trading has been tepid with lower then average trading volumes. I will be using this pullback to buy NASDAQ based techs. (TSLA, SCTY)

• What do I mean by pullback? When the stock market is down it is a good time to buy stocks you like because they are trading lower. 

Thanks!

Brit

P.S 

If you would like to learn more about the Ukraine, I attached a map and a link to a timeline of Ukraines Political Crisis.

I read that American's were the most geographically challenged nation. So here's a map:

Timeline of Ukraine's Political Crisis