Fearing a Russian invasion of Ukraine, investors are fleeing the stock markets in droves.

Dax and EuroStoxx 50 fell more than three percent on Monday to 14,919 and 4027 points respectively.

In return, the V-Dax, which reflects the nervousness of German investors, rose to a 13-month high of 31.72 points.

Investors therefore stocked up on federal bonds, which are considered safe.

This pushed the 10-year yield down to 0.204 percent.

"The Russian crisis has replaced the interest rate turnaround as the number one risk factor," warned portfolio manager Thomas Altmann from investment advisor QC Partners.

"The fear of further rising energy prices in the event of a military escalation is huge." This could stall the economic recovery from the corona pandemic.

The European natural gas futures contract rose by 13 percent to EUR 84.20 per megawatt hour.

Russia is an important supplier of this energy source.

Speculations about supply disruptions also drove up the price of oil.

The Brent variety from the North Sea rose in price by up to 1.8 percent and, at 96.16 dollars per barrel (159 litres), at times cost as much as it did seven and a half years ago.

However, the onset of profit-taking pushed the price down to $94.28.

"If there are troop movements, the Brent price will easily jump above the $100 mark," predicted analyst Edward Moya of brokerage house Oanda.

The American government has repeatedly warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is possible at any time.

Russian securities also flew out of the depots.

Moscow's dollar-denominated index slipped as much as 5.4 percent.

The sell-off in Russian government bonds pushed yields on 10-year bonds to a six-year high of 10.05 percent.

"It makes sense to minimize risks related to Russia as much as possible and not to actively engage in Russian assets until the risk of a military clash has disappeared," said CentroCreditBank economist Yevgeny Suvorov.

On the foreign exchange market, investors withdrew from the Russian ruble and the Ukrainian hryvnia.

Conversely, the dollar appreciated 1.5 percent to 78.29 rubles and 2.5 percent to 28.749 hryvnia.

Travel stocks in particular came under selling pressure on the Western European stock market.

The industry index slipped four percent as some airlines suspended or are considering suspending flights to Ukraine.

The shares of the Austrian Raiffeisen bank, which is heavily involved in Russia, collapsed by more than ten percent, the strongest since a year and a half ago.

The papers of the Swiss specialty chemicals group Clariant, which at times fell by more than 17 percent in Zurich, also came into focus.

They were heading towards the biggest daily loss in the company's history.

The company postponed the publication of its business figures due to possible incorrect postings.

In addition to the Ukraine crisis, fears of further interest rate increases unsettled investors.

Bruce Kasman, chief economist at Bank JP Morgan, predicted that the ongoing price pressure would make a tightening of monetary policy more likely worldwide.

However, despite high inflation in the USA, he does not expect the Fed to raise interest rates drastically in March.

Analyst Jochen Stanzl from the online broker CMC Markets pointed out that the basically positive balance sheet season also comes with one or two drops of bitterness.

"While most companies were able to meet their expectations for earnings in the fourth quarter, a good half have some warning in tow regarding their sales, margins or profits for the current year will be able to pass on the increased prices for primary products and raw materials to their customers on a one-to-one basis."