A dealer is reflected in a monitor with quotations at Moscow International Currency Exchange (MICEX) July 3, 1998. Russian share prices have been under heavy pressure in recent weeks as the government fights a major financial crisis triggered partly by Asia's economic woes and partly by domestic problems including a shortfall in tax revenues. REUTERS When President Obama first launched sanctions against a handful of Putin "cronies," the markets laughed at how weak they were.

Nobody's laughing at Obama's sanctions now.

The Russian stock market is tanking today, as the MICEX is down 3.7% 2.0% in early going. This comes after Obama introduced sanctions against a new round of Russian officials, as well as a key bank used by Putin's cronies, Bank Rossiya.

One thing that's making the sanctions sting is that Visa and Mastercard have announced they're freezing the accounts of cardholders at that bank.

The ruble is also falling.

The other big move today is that the Shanghai Composite finally caught a strong bid, with stocks rising 2.7%.

Meanwhile, U.S. stocks are slightly higher.



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