The Kremlin shut down the Russian stock market with the RTSI down 45% in less than a month, as shown above
As we reported Tuesday, the Russian stock market has collapsed. On Wednesday, at 12:10 Moscow time, the Kremlin made it official. With the RTS index less than 60 points from crashing through the mind-bending 1,000 point psychological barrier, the Kremlin simply stopped all trading and it did not resume (you can see the graph above begin to flatline at that point). So much for Russia’s “free” market! Russia’s financials sector led the way to the bottom, “closing” down over 7.5% after a few hours of trading, and telecoms were close behind. The overall market was down 6.39% when the final curtain fell. Already panicked, the marked imploded on fears of widespread banking collapse as the ripple effects of the American market drop were fully felt and realized. The RTS is down a shocking 57% from its May record high, and its losses are fast approaching one trillion dollars. Do you dare imagine what would have happened to Russia if the price of oil didn’t happen to be near $100 per barrel, but was instead around $40? Would Russia as we know it any longer exist?
La Russophobe 