Asia Pacific stocks were mostly up on Thursday morning. The Shanghai composite is up 0.15% at 3,483.53. Overall, the Singapore MSCI down 0.47% at 320.90. Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index up 0.29% at 22,382.00. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 up 1.14% at 26,660.00, while the Topix index is up 1.43% at 1885.50. South Korea’s Kospi up 1.61% to 2747.08. Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.49% at 7151.40.

European equities Wednesday closing. The DAX futures contract in Germany traded up 0.69% at 14000.11, CAC 40 futures up 1.59% at 6498.03 and the UK 100 futures contract in the U.K. up 1.36% at 7,429.55.

In U.S. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.79% at 33891.36. The S&P 500 up 1.86% at 4386.53 and the Nasdaq 100 up 1.70% at 14243.69, NYSE closes up 1.94% at 16380.91.

In the Forex market, GBPUSD down 0.02% at 1.3403. The USDJPY up 0.15% at 115.679. The USDCHF down 0.05% at 0.9196. EURUSD down 0.17% at 1.1100, EUR/GBP down 0.14% at 0.8281. The USD/CNY down 0.08% at 6.3173 at the time of writing.

In the commodity market U.S. Gold futures up 0.04% at $1,929.08. Elsewhere, Silver futures up 0.13% at $25.326 per ounce, Platinum up 0.56% at $1079.00 per ounce, and Palladium up 0.32% at $2684.50.

Crude Oil up on Thursday; Brent crude oil up 1.97% at $116.78 per barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (CLc1) up 2.45% at $112.36.

In the Cryptocurrency Markets, Bitcoin at 43426.20 down 1.16%, Ethereum down 1.35% at 2910.35, Litecoin at 111.69 up 1.25%, at the time of writing.

TOP STOCKS TO WATCH OUT TODAY:

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. up 10.253% at $16.99, Paramount Global up 9.23% at $35.24, Ford Motor Co. up 8.383% to $18.10, Micron Technology Inc. up 8.161% at $93.30, Twitter Inc. down 2.643% to $34.62, Domino’s Pizza Inc. down 2.073% at $423.25.

Economic news:

US: The United States is preparing a sanctions package targeting more Russian oligarchs as well as their companies and assets, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, as Washington steps up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Some sanctions could be announced as early as this week, one of the sources told Reuters, adding that details are still being worked out. Washington is also readying sanctions against more officials in Putin’s inner circle, the source said.

The U.S. Treasury Department issued new guidance on Wednesday to close loopholes it said Russia was exploiting to evade sanctions.

“Today’s guidance makes clear that such actions on behalf of Russia’s Central Bank are prohibited, closing off attempts to access the U.S. financial system,” the Treasury Department said.

Washington has repeatedly warned that it was prepared to impose further costs on wealthy Russians. The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday launched a task force known as “KleptoCapture” aimed at straining the finances of Russia’s oligarchs.

Eurozone: A record share of firms in Britain’s business and professional services sector expect to raise prices over the next three months as they face surging cost pressures, a survey showed on Thursday, adding to the Bank of England’s inflation challenge.

The Confederation of British Industry said business and professional services firms were more likely to raise prices than at any time since the survey began in 1998. Consumer services companies’ pricing plans were the highest since 2007.

“Rising inflation and cost pressures are hitting firms’ profitability and their bottom line. The spectre of further price increases is being felt across the board,” said Charlotte Dendy, the CBI’s head of economic surveys.

The BoE has raised interest rates twice since December in a bid to stop an energy-led surge in inflation to a 30-year high from shifting businesses’ pricing behaviour upwards in the long term.

Financial markets expect the central bank to raise rates again this month and for interest rates to reach 1.5% by August, up from 0.5% now.

Important Data: UK Composite PMI (Feb) today at 4:30 this time estimated 60.20, previously which was 54.20. EURO ZONE Markit Composite PMI (Feb) today at 4:00 this time estimated 55.80, previously which was 52.30. US Initial Jobless Claims today at 8:30 this time estimated 226K, previously which was 232K. AUSTRALIA Retail Sales (MoM) today at 19:30 previously which was -4.4%. GERMANY Services PMI (Feb) today at 3:55 this time estimated 56.60, previously which was 52.20.

Technical Summary

GBPUSD

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 1.3408, TAKE PROFIT AT 1.3384 AND STOP LOSS AT 1.3432

EURUSD

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 1.1093, TAKE PROFIT AT 1.1076 AND STOP LOSS AT 1.1110

EURGBP

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 0.8274, TAKE PROFIT AT 0.8273 AND STOP LOSS AT 0.8276

EURJPY

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 128.461, TAKE PROFIT AT 127.951 AND STOP LOSS AT 128.819

NIKKEI 225

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 26599.00 TAKE PROFIT AT 26284.00 AND STOP LOSS AT 26769.00

WTI CRUDE OIL

TRADE SUGGESTION- BUY AT 115.74 TAKE PROFIT AT 116.06 AND STOP LOSS AT 115.00

GOLD

TRADE SUGGESTION- BUY AT 1930.26, TAKE PROFIT AT 1949.63 AND STOP AT 1921.32

LITECOIN USD

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 110.110 TAKE PROFIT AT 103.826 AND STOP AT 119.29