Stock Markets
As mentioned, the Fed indicated that stimulus cuts would continue and this contributed to the drop in US stocks.   Essential Quantitative easing would slowly decrease unless significant economic surprise.

the S&P500 fell 0.7% after climbing to 1 point off of record high last month- Peak of 1847.3.

The Fed is confident about the market and investors also have a positive outlook even though US stocks have had the worst start of the year since 2010

S&P500 slumped as much as 5.8 percent since reaching a record on Jan 15.

In addition, about 75% of S&P 500 companies that have posted their results for the fourth quarter have beaten estimates for profit and 64% have exceeded sales projections.

Not only has the Fed's tapering of its stimulus resulted in falling stocks but so has the impact of emerging markets. Currently there is political unrest in Ukraine and Thailand and also there has been a slowdown in China's markets.

Global investors are essentially pulling money out of emerging-market stock and bond funds

Ukraine





Ukraine in Crisis

In recent news, violence has erupted in Ukraine, dozens of people are being killed at protests in the capital. The protests first broke out after President Viktor Yanukovych's government rejected a far-reaching agreement with the European Union in November 2013 in favour of stronger ties with Russia. There essentially is tension between the East and the West. In western Ukraine, a significant portion of the people speak Russian.

Thousands of people in Ukraine were outraged that the decision to join with the European Union was discarded overnight. They poured into Kiev, the coital, for peaceful protests

Vladamir Putin and Moscow definitely have a strong influence over the Ukrainian President and many people believe that Moscow was buying off President Yanukovych when it bought billions of dollars worth of Ukrainian Government Bonds and provided it with cheaper gas supplies on December 17th.

Ukrainian securities suffered the worst selloff on record on February 18th as concern the country is plunging into civil war escalated after clashes between police and anti-government activists killed at least 25 people.

The yield on the government’s $1 billion of notes maturing in June increased 19 percentage points to 42 percent, an all-time high yesterday. Russia's economic lifeline was put on hold until Ukraine changed its government to be more suitable for Moscow. but was set to resume on the 18th which kickstarted the violence to some extent.

Ukraine’s benchmark equity gauge slid 3.2 percent today, extending yesterday’s 4.2 percent decline.

The Ukranian stock index dropped 2% on the 18th as well.
Ukraine's currency obviously also becoming weaker. he hryvnia tumbled 1.2 percent to 8.95 per dollar, the weakest level in five years. weakened 7% this whole year.

President Yanukovych moved to quell a growing insurgency by granting sweeping powers to the army and police after a region declared independence from his government, risking wider conflict. At least 26 people died and hundreds were injured in clashes, which culminated in a police attempt to clear their main protest camp in central Kiev, which was repelled.

India

SENSEX rose 0.2% to 20676.19, rising for the fourth straight day amid optimism on the government’s pledge to reduce the fiscal gap and cut import and excise duties, improving imports to India. The gains are led by software and industrial companies, such as Bharat Heavy Electricals and Infosys Technologies.

The value of the Rupee is falling as importers demand the dollar due to relative volatility.