Russia Trims Oil Production by 500K Barrels per Day

U.S. stocks fell ahead of this week’s last trading session, as investors' risk appetite remained swayed by this week's corporate earnings and economic data reports, as well as statements from Federal Reserve officials. Lyft fell more than 30% ahead of its SPO after missing guidance in its most recent quarterly update.

As of 1:00 p.m. CET the Dow Jones is trading down 0.38%, the Nasdaq Composite is declining 1.14% and the S&P 500 is down 0.64%.

By far the main focus today is the oil market. Russia plans to cut its oil production by 500,000 barrels a day in March in response to Western price caps, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said. The Kremlin has repeatedly hinted at retaliatory cuts equivalent to about 5% of January production since the EU and the G7 began discussing price caps for Russian exports. The move deepens the 2 million barrels per day (bpd) cuts OPEC+ announced late last year and threatens to rattle oil markets again. Crude prices rise on news, with Brent up more than 2%.

Major European stock indexes are edging lower this European afternoon after news that UK GDP fell 0.5% in December while the trade deficit widened. Investors will now turn their attention to next week's reports, which include eurozone GDP and employment reports.

The German DAX is trading down 1.44%, while Adidas AG fell 9.55%. The British FTSE 100 fell 0.63%, while Standard Chartered dropped 6.20%. The French CAC 40 eased by 1.17%, while Worldline SA (WLN.PA) fell 4.15%. The Euro Stoxx 600 index fell 1.35%, with Adidas also the worst performer on the index.

Earlier today in Asia, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will nominate professor and former Bank of Japan board member Kazuo Ueda to take over as central bank governor from April. That sparked gains in the yen, as traders interpreted the decision as a possible departure from the Bank of Japan's cautious approach to ending an era of record-low interest rates. While the currency initially gained as much as 1.4% against the dollar, it pared those gains sharply after Japanese media reported that Ueda said it was important to maintain monetary easing for now, while refusing to drop speculation about his nomination.