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THE OIL ERA'S "LAST GREAT IRONY" (0950 EDT/1350 GMT)
Russia's invasion into Ukraine could accelerate the shift to renewable energy in the medium to long term, Jonas Wallmander, CEO of Sweden-based energy storage company Azelio told the Reuters Global Markets Forum https://www.refinitiv.com/en/products/refinitiv-messenger/global-markets-forum on Thursday.
"The Russia-Ukraine crisis has driven up oil prices, but has also put forces in motion to reduce the dependency on Russian gas in Europe," Wallmander said.
"Ultimately, there's a strong force from the governments now, to invest even more in renewables to break our dependency on Russia."
With governments scrambling to replace Russian oil and gas supplies after the invasion of Ukraine, United Nations climate scientists issued new warnings this week on the need to quickly scale up renewable energy and roll back support for emissions-intensive fossil fuels.
Demand for natural gas, liquefied and renewable natural gas and carbon credits are also rising as buyers seek to transition to cleaner and renewable fuels, say industry officials.
However, in what GMO's Jeremy Grantham termed the "last great irony of the fossil fuel era," this push for renewables may need one final spurt of "dirty" fuel to take off.
"The quicker we convert our power grid, the worse the energy squeeze will be, and we cannot risk moving slowly," Grantham wrote in a letter on Wednesday, adding fossil fuel prices will only decline after electrification becomes widespread.
Nitesh Shah, Head of Commodities & Macroeconomic Research, Europe at WisdomTree echoed the view that Europe's renewable investment plans will accelerate, but warned that oil prices could skyrocket if there is no de-escalation between Russia and Ukraine as sanctions persist.
"I expect more Russian barrels to be taken off the market, oil prices could drive closer to the $200 a barrel mark if we see close to 5 million barrels per day come off," he told the forum.
(Sanjana Shivdas, Lisa Mattackal)
NASDAQ COMPOSITE: CHARTS SHOW A CRAMPED CONDITION (0900 EDT/1300 GMT)
After sliding nearly 1.5% into its midday trough on Thursday, the Nasdaq Composite staged a dramatic reversal. Indeed, the tech-laden index managed to end slightly green on the day:
The IXIC's recovery came as it tested its now rising 30-day moving average (DMA), which was around 13,715 at the time. The IXIC hit a low of 13,689 before reversing, while only spending around 15 minutes or so below this shorter-term moving average.
Since being decisively broken in early January, the 30-DMA had acted as strong resistance throughout the Composite's collapse into its March trough. It was reclaimed on March 17. Traders wanted to see it now act as support, and so far, it is accommodating.
That said, it's certainly not an all-clear on the upside. The descending 100-DMA, which ended Thursday around 14,535, is pressing down on the market. Late-March and early-April IXIC up-thrusts were capped by this longer-term moving average.
Thus, the IXIC now finds itself trapped between these converging moving averages, which are now separated by around 815 points. As stands, this range is narrowing by around 15 points per session.
Two-straight IXIC closes outside the contracting range between these two moving averages may signal momentum in the direction of the break.
(Terence Gabriel)
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(Terence Gabriel is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)