The US stock market continues to adjust against the background of the remaining very complex geopolitics, against the background of new outbreaks of the "coronavirus" in China, against the background of another crisis looming all over the world, against the background of an increase in key Fed rates and the start of the QT program, which is a reverse QE program. The correction is still quite slow, but do not forget that the Fed has raised the rate only once so far, and it will not begin to reduce its balance sheet until May-June. Thus, so far, the US stock market can be said to be adjusted "upfront". But in the near future, its decline may accelerate, as the situation in the world continues to heat up and there is no reason to expect that relations between the parties to the conflict in Ukraine will improve in the near future.
Yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that "the risk of nuclear war exists and this danger cannot be underestimated." Agree, when such a high-ranking official talks about the "existence of probability", it somehow makes you tense and fearful. After all, there will be no winners in a nuclear war. Of course, Lavrov could have voiced this "warning to the West" to force America and the European Union to limit the flow of weapons to Ukraine. However, it is already clear to everyone that the EU and the US (as well as half the world) do not support the Russian Federation in this conflict, which is seen by the almost 9,000 different sanctions that have been imposed against Russia over the past two months. Since in a direct clash between NATO and the Russian Federation (without nuclear strikes), 99% of NATO will be the winner, which is recognized even in the Kremlin, then in fact the collision of these two forces can only be nuclear. That is why they are trying to avoid it both in the West and in Russia.
The operation in Ukraine did not go according to plan. No one expected that the whole world would provide such strong support to Ukraine. Therefore, "to take Kyiv in three days" did not work. And now it is not possible to "take the East of Ukraine" or "take the South of Ukraine". Unfortunately for everyone, this means that the military conflict will persist for a very long time, albeit in the form of a "positional war". Meanwhile, Finland and Sweden may apply for NATO membership as early as next month. Recall that Russia, with its "special operation" in Ukraine, tried to protect itself from NATO bases near its border. Now, if the Kremlin does not start conducting a "special operation" in Finland, more than one NATO base may appear on the 1000-kilometer Finnish-Russian border. And from the Finnish-Russian border to, for example, St. Petersburg is only 200 km away. Russia has already stated that they will consider Sweden and Finland official opponents if they join NATO.