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Following mixed deals in Asia, European equity markets opened higher on Monday, with bank stocks leading the way. Some hopes of a peace deal in Ukraine helped lift investor sentiment at the start of the week. Another round of talks between Russia and Ukraine are expected to take place in Turkey tomorrow. However, market optimism was somehow dented by the latest remarks by Kremlin. Moscow said there has been no substantial breakthrough in talks with Ukraine at this stage. 

US stocks opened mixed to start the week, with the overall tone in the markets looking relatively steady as bonds reversed an earlier slide. The S&P 500 slipped marginally as energy stocks fell amid a sell-off in the oil market. Brent crude shed over 5% to derail $110 a barrel as Shanghai launched a lockdown to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases. On the data front, US wholesale inventories rose 2.1% in February versus the prior result revised up to 1.1% from 0.8%, suggesting inventory re-building continued in the country last month. 

Meanwhile, the dollar retains a bullish tone, enjoying demand above the 99.00 figure. The USD index is now within striking distance from May 2020 highs registered in the 99.40 area earlier this month. As such, the technical picture continues to suggest that the prices could target the 100.00 round mark in the coming days or weeks once the mentioned high turns into support. Later this week, the greenback would be affected by the US NFP employment report while geopolitics will continue to stay in focus anyway. 

In other markets, bitcoin is about to refresh 2022 highs around the $48,000 figure as the bulls pushed the cryptocurrency to $47,700 in recent trading. The BTCUSD pair has been clinging to the upper end of the extended trading range since then, suggesting the ascent could continue in the short term. However, as the prices are nearing the $50,000 mark, some profit-taking could push the coin lower before another bull run takes place.