European stock markets are reacting sharply to the winds of war blowing between Russia and Ukraine, and to the bad news – which also includes reports of casualties – coming from Kiev. The trading day opens in Europe with price declines amounting to about 3%, and European bank shares also react accordingly. Forex trading weakened the euro by 0.5% against the dollar and the pound weakened by 0.6%.
In Moscow trading ceased this morning and then resumed. Prior to that, the MOEX index plunged 45% and with the opening of trading recorded another 25% decline. The Russian ruble stands at over 88.8 rubles to the dollar, down by at least 8.5%.
Bitcoin continued the downward trend reported by Business this morning, but in the last hour has stabilized at over $ 35,000 per currency unit.
Heather dropped by about 8% after previously being on a sharper diving trend. At the same time, the demand for wheat in the contract world is skyrocketing to about $ 9.3 per bushel and investors are choosing gold and platinum options as a safe haven from geopolitical upheavals.
Catch 22
Guy Beit Or, Psagot’s chief economist, said this morning that following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war officially started, oil prices jumped more than 5.0% this morning and oil broke the psychological barrier of $ 100 a barrel and traded this morning at $ 102 a barrel. Recall that even before the deterioration in the geopolitical sector, the world was in an energy crisis, mainly from the direction of Europe in a way that led to a jump in the prices of natural gas and coal.
The West’s response to Russia’s actions is expected to be in the form of worsening economic sanctions on Russia and in light of the fact that Russia is one of the three largest oil producers in the world and Europe’s main gas source – risks to oil prices in particular and energy in general continue to be upward. For Israel, the combination of a jump in oil prices together with the significant devaluation we are witnessing in the shekel increases inflationary risks in Israel and is expected to lead to upward updates in forecasters’ forecasts.
Cyber attack
Recall that yesterday a cyber attack was reported by Data Wiper malware that exploits popular computer maintenance software from a company called Easus through which the attackers infiltrated computers in the government and essential services in Ukraine and deleted information so that they interfered with day-to-day operations and even prevented them from functioning. From information collected by the information security company ESET through their samples and timestamps, it can be assumed that the attack was in preparation for almost two months since the first launch date indicated on them is 28-12-21. As it stands now, this is an intrusion into hundreds of computers in the country.
Earlier in the day sites in Ukraine experienced a DDOS attack. Alex Steinberg, product manager at the information security company ESET Israel, explains: “A DDOS attack is a denial of service attack whose goal is to create an unusual load that does not allow the other party to deal with it until it crashes. It is usually an attack that is temporary and difficult to sustain over time because it requires the use of many resources in order to infect many computers with dedicated damage.
Who will insure the Israelis?
In the background of the realization of the war predictions, and with the Russian army’s invasion of Ukraine that led to an exchange of fire between the armies, the question arises as to the continued validity of the insurance coverage purchased by Israelis who flew and / or plan to fly to Ukraine and Russia.
The Hirschowitz Solutions survey shows that for the time being there is no change in policy among the insurance companies that provide travel insurance services abroad. However, the company notes that those planning to fly to Ukraine must take into account that most flights to the destination country have been canceled.
Does the cancellation of flights make the insurance irrelevant? “Travel insurance abroad does not differentiate between air and land travel and therefore, unless otherwise stated, travel insurance for Israelis in Ukraine is still valid,” explains Hanoch Hirshovich.
However, he emphasizes that the insurance policies do not usually include insurance coverage in case the airline cancels the flight / closure of borders, since the “cancellation or shortening of travel” clause includes an exception in war zones.
He adds that “although health insurance is in force, all travel insurance policies abroad limit the insurance coverage to ‘detection, rescue and rescue’ services so that they do not include war events. This means that anyone staying in one of the war zones between Ukraine and Russia will not be covered by this coverage, so it is important to exercise extreme caution. “
It is important to note that in light of the fighting in the region, the Foreign Ministry has issued a severe travel warning to the target countries, and therefore it is recommended not to fly to Ukraine and Russia for the time being.
Hanoch also mentions that the policy of the insurance companies may change at any time, and therefore it is recommended to be updated on the Hirschowitz Solutions website on any changes in the insurance options available to those staying and flying from Israel to Ukraine and Russia.