The lowest--and highest--common denominator of commerce is people

The world market’s behavior suggests that this battle in Ukraine—for the moment- is not going to be badly destabilizing. That is either wrong or has already been priced (discounted) into financial markets. “Some of the first and more of the latter”….probably…as of this writing. The situation though, is volatile and Russia’s leadership is unstable.

Let me introduce the OEC’s (an MIT project) work on everything about Ukraine trade….(and any other country you may wish to look up).

It’s an amazing data base. Ukraine (UKR) Exports, Imports, and Trade Partners | OEC - The Observatory of Economic Complexity

Some things gleanable about Ukraine’s economy:

The European Union countries (collectively) are Ukraine’s largest trading partner at about 40% of GDP.
Their fastest growing business relationship (easily) is with China….which is (again, easily) their largest client for exports. Pre 2014 and the annexation of Crimea by Russia, Ukraine’s largest partner was Russia.
In 2018, Ukraine was the world’s largest sunflower seed producer. Good wiki link here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Ukraine
Lastly, here’s a clever way of looking at the world’s countries and their share of world gross domestic production (GDP).

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-the-94-trillion-world-economy-in-one-chart/

One of the interesting things about GDP rankings is that there are, essentially, two ways to rank a country: by Gross domestic production or by GDP per capita/ (per person).

For example, Russia’s GDP, world ranking puts them—depending upon the data provider and year—in the 12^th spot. But by GDP per capita, they are 57^th.

In the same database, Ukraine’s GDP per capita was 112^th….while their GDP puts them in roughly, 60^th place.

Link here: https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-per-capita/#:~:text=Gross%20Domestic%20Product%20(GDP)%20per,divided%20by%20its%20total%20population.

In conclusion, Ukraine’s economy matters…(as does Russia’s). The world’s economy is being jolted.

No matter any of that….

People matter more.

May cooler, and humble, heads prevail.

Any opinions are those of Carson Advisory Group and not necessarily those of Raymond James. Expressions of opinion are as of this date and are subject to change without notice. The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but we do not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. The information contained in this report does not purport to be a complete description of the securities, markets, or developments referred to in this material.