Texas Interest rate and Political Update

On the geo-politics issue, pro-Russian forces in Crimea stormed onto Ukraine's navy headquarters in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol to raise a Russian flag. Yesterday one person was killed by Russian troops but there were no harsh words or threats from Ukraine officials and no additional aggression by Russia. The financial markets have swept the entire issue to the background, still watching but as long as there is no escalation of tensions that would suggest military involvement, the move by Crimea to join Russia, at least up until now, isn’t causing excess global or regional economic concerns.

According to a WSJ article this morning, the White House efforts to make a deal with the Russian Foreign Minister failed, quickly pointing that Russian diplomats have little authority to negotiate much. The article goes on saying the White House has little contact with Russian diplomats and is isolated from direct talks and negotiations. The article went on saying, Mr. Obama in recent years has treated the Kremlin as a top U.S. diplomatic partner in addressing national-security challenges despite evidence Mr. Putin was working at cross purposes to U.S. ambitions in many parts of the world. The ruble strengthened for a third day as Russia pushed on with its annexation of Crimea and investors wagered the impact of Western sanctions will be mild. Stocks were little changed after two days of gains.

There is not a lot of news or expected changes in the markets today, but I am suggesting to lock your interest rate before tomorrows job numbers unless you like to roll the dice. Thursday has historically been a volatile day in the markets.