USD/JPY recovers back into the green following huge opening gap

• USD/JPY recovers from the opening bearish gap as markets are mixed on the Ukraine crisis. 
• Headlines from the weekend offer something both the bears and bulls. 

USD/JPY opened at 115.14 and moments later, the pair has recovered to print a high of 115.78 on news that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine and Russia would conduct the first diplomatic talks since the Kremlin-launched invasion.

However, this comes on the back of Russian President Vladimir Putin stating on Sunday that he had put his nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, attributing the move to "aggressive statements" from the West against Russia. The White House called the order an example of "manufacturing threats that don't exist."

The Pentagon has criticized Putin's decision to put his nuclear forces on high alert as "unnecessary" and "escalatory," but remains confident that the United States and NATO will be able to defend themselves, according to a senior defence official.

In other news from the weekend, the Kremlin's access to its sizable foreign currency reserves in the West will be cut off some as the West decides to block Russian banks from the SWIFT financial messaging system. 

Meanwhile, the week ahead will be important for financial markets considering the economic data slated. In particular, US Nonfarm Payrolls will be of interest. ''Employment likely continued to recover in February following an unexpectedly strong Jan report—despite the Omicron-led surge in COVID cases,'' analysts at TD Securities explained.

''We expect some of that boost to fizzle, though to still firm job growth pace. Seasonal adjustments were a factor last month and they will likely play a role again in Feb. We expect wage growth to slow to a still strong 0.5% MoM pace.''