Flight to safety as Blinken and Russian foreign minister agree to meet over Ukraine 

US and European stock futures recovered a little on 18 February after the US Secretary of State agreed to a meeting with Russia's foreign minister, giving hope that a military attack on Ukraine may be averted.

S&P 500 futures jumped 0.7% and Nasdaq futures gained 0.8% following the news, while, in early trading, pan-region Euro Stoxx 50 futures were up 0.45%, and FTSE futures were 0.4% higher.

The meeting between US secretary of state Antony Blinken and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, is to take place next week, as Blinken warned the crisis in Ukraine was a "moment of peril for the lives and safety of millions of people".

The US state department said on 17 February night that Blinken had accepted an invitation to meet Lavrov provided there was no invasion of Ukraine. 

"If they do invade in the coming days, it will make clear they were never serious about diplomacy," said state department spokesperson Ned Price.

But there are ongoing fears that the massing of an estimated 150,000 troops close to Russia's borders with Ukraine may be part of a plan to find a reason to intervene directly.

"Reports of alleged abnormal military activity by Ukraine in Donbass are a blatant attempt by the Russian government to fabricate pretexts for invasion. This is straight out of the Kremlin playbook," UK foreign secretary Liz Truss said on Twitter, adding that Britain would "continue to call out Russia's disinformation campaign".

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown said: "Reports of firing in a border region and accusations that Moscow is orchestrating a false flag operation, an intent to pin the blame for starting conflict on Ukrainian forces, has ratcheted up tensions and led to more investors seeking less risky positions. 

"The price of gold, seen as a safe haven in times of crisis has risen by another 1.37% to $1896 an ounce, an 8-month high. Equity markets dropped with US indices falling on the open and the FTSE 100 lost more ground with once again travel stocks bearing the worst of the losses.

She added: "It's feared that recovery for airlines could be derailed if a conflict breaks out on the doorstep of Europe. This concern has seen British Airways fall by around 4%, Wizz Air by more than 5% and Rolls Royce, so highly reliant on the commercial air travel, dropped 2.5%.  Cruise company Carnival also saw a 2.5% fall in its share price as worries mount about travellers' sentiment.

"Evraz, the Russia focused mining and steel production company was the biggest faller on the FTSE 100 amid heightened worries about the effect sanctions will have on the business.

"For now the increased tensions haven't pushed up the oil price, instead Brent crude dropped around 2.2% to $92.6 dollars a barrel. 

"The price is proving much more sensitive to the better prospects for Iranian output, with negotiators of the Iran nuclear deal saying an agreement is closer than ever. An accord would provide supply side relief but fresh falls in the oil price are still likely to be limited by the ever more tense situation surrounding Ukraine.‘'