Along with the geopolitical events that include Russia and Ukraine, it has been a turbulent month for financial markets. Without any further ado, let's take a look at the changes in the charts.

Following heavy sanctions from countries all over the world, the Russian stock market crashed. Trading of Russian related equities was stopped on most exchanges. Before trading stopped on the Moscow Exchange on February 25th, the MOEX index was down 48% (in USD) year-over-year. Abroad, trading continued a bit longer. Before trading stopped for the NYSE: ERUS (iShares MSCI Russia) on March 3rd, the ETF was down 84% from its high.

While the S&P 500 is still up 13.33% year-over-year, other European stock markets were more affected by recent events. Over the same time period, the German DAX is down -15.90%, the Swedish OMXS -13.12%, and the Hungarian BUX -18.77%.

While equities declined, commodities rose. Copper is up 23.26% year-over-year, Gold 10.21%, and Oil 56.74%. Accordingly, the Energy Sector outperformed the rest of the market.

Through most of February, Interest Rates kept rising. However, the Yield Curve kept dropping and is once again getting close to an inversion. With US inflation reaching 7.48% the Real Interest Rate fell to -6.93%. Falling Real Yields have been supportive for Gold prices.

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