The Russian ruble is plunging on Thursday.
The petro-currency is down by 2.1% at 59.3843 per dollar as of 7:49 a.m. ET.
This move follows the earlier drop in oil prices. Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, is down by 2.0% at $52.02 per barrel as of 7:51 a.m. ET.
Meanwhile, WTI Crude oil, the US benchmark, has fallen below the $50 mark: it is down by 2.3% at $49.15 per barrel. The last time WTI crude was below $50 was on December 15 of last year.
Oil's fall comes after the latest inventory data from the Department of Energy released on Wednesday, which showed supplies rose by 8.21 million barrels to 528.4 million barrels. That's the highest since record keeping began in 1982, according to Bloomberg.
As for the rest of the world, here's the scoreboard as of 7:57 a.m. ET:
- The US dollar index is little changed at 102.11. Separately, traders are feeling pretty confident that the Fed will hike rates in March. World Interest Rate Probability data provided by Bloomberg shows a 100% chance the Federal Reserve will raise its key interest rate by 25 basis points to a range of 0.75% to 1.00% at the conclusion of its March 14-15 meeting.
- The euro is up by 0.2% at 1.0559 against the dollar after the European Central Bank left monetary policy on hold at its March meeting. The bank announced that all of its key interest rates, as well as the scale of its quantitative easing programme, remained unchanged after the conclusion of the meeting.
- The British pound is little changed at 1.2176 against the dollar.
- The Mexican peso is down by 0.5% at 19.7730 per dollar.
