Some early relief send European stocks on the rebound. Traders are betting on an easing of tensions after pro-Russian rebels hand over the black box from the downed Malaysian airliner. Mint Partners' Bill Blain says markets have no moral compass, so they're just moving on to what the likely effects are going to be.

SHOWS: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (JULY 22, 2014)

1. MINT PARTNERS, BILL BLAIN, SAYING:

JOURNALIST ASKING BILL BLAIN: 'Markets don't seem to really care that much.'

BILL BLAIN: 'Well you got to always remember that markets have no moral compass. All they're ever doing is reacting to where they think the prices of assets are going to be as a result of what's going on. So the fact that markets have very quickly discounted what's been going on, the horror stories out of Gaza, the tragedy, stroke murder that we've just seen in Ukraine - markets are very quickly moving on to what the likely effects are going to be. And you would have felt with all this noise about sanctions against Russia. The Russian markets would be even lower than they are but no, they're not because the markets anticipate that the result, the final result will be less than people are expecting because Europe will not be able to form a common purpose together.'

JOURNALIST: 'And, Bill, is it also because markets think that this crisis will be contained?'

BILL BLAIN: 'I think that's very much what markets expect, that they expect to see Ukraine crisis bubble back down again and it to remain low threshold, proxy disagreement between Russia on one side and the EU and the Ukraine on the other.'

JOURNALIST: 'But let's say politicians can get their act together and we see a ramping up of sanctions from now on. How will that affect markets?'

BILL BLAIN: 'Well that's going to be very interesting because the pressure that is mounting on Merkel domestically in Germany I think may actually capture by surprise. I mean she has been very much playing Merkel the mother, don't worry about it, everything's going to be okay. Remember, Russia has an incredible amount of two-way trade with Russia. It's not just about importing energy, it's also exporting cars and lots of other industrial products. For the UK, our trade with Russia is a fraction of Germany's. So it's very easy for David Cameron to demand strong sanctions. It's far more difficult for Germany. However, I do think it's possible politically Europe will be forced to take stronger action. What will be the likely result of that happening? It will slow down European recovery which already is very, very thin and nervous. So there could be a negative effect from sanctions bounting. I don't think it will be as great as people fear, but it will still be negative. I think that's going to be countered though by the fact that we expect a very strong second half in the UK, the U.S. and even Japan which will lead the whole of the developed markets higher and will back some of the growth we're seeing in emerging markets.'