Markets | 08/08/2014 | U.S. Stocks: Futures turn higher on hopes of easing Ukraine tensions

It’s been a bruising end to the week for many Asian markets as fears mount over the deteriorating geopolitical situation in many corners of the globe. President Obama’s approval for selective airstrikes on militants in Northern Iraq lead an exodus to de-risking positions ahead of the weekend break, with stocks generally being pushed down and the Yen rallying hard in light of its safe haven status, although performance in Hong Kong and Shanghai has bucked the regional trend. With a growing number of sanctions being applied between the West and Russia, Beijing is increasingly well positioned to extend trade with Moscow.

This all paints a rather bleak picture for the open on Wall Street today – we’re currently eyeing another triple digit loss on the DOW when trade gets underway later, whilst the S&P is tipped to kick off the day below the 1,900 mark and that’ll be the first time we’ve been down here since the latter part of May. Economic data is relatively thin on the ground today but it’s going to be the next steps of intervention in the growing list of global trouble spots that has the ability to provide the most compelling direction in determining where markets end the week. For now we’re calling the DOW down 101 at 16.267 and the S&P down 15 at 1895.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-futures-feel-the-weight-of-geopolitical-worries-2014-08-08?siteid=yhoof2