The ruble is surging

The Russian ruble is surging.

The currency is up by 0.8% at 64.5873 per dollar as of 7:34 a.m. ET.

Meanwhile, Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, is up 1.3% at $46.37 per barrel.

Separately, the ruling United Russia party has secured about 54% of the votes in the latest elections, and will take over roughly three-quarters of the 450 seats in the parliament.

Notably, turnout was at a record low of 47.8%, a significant drop from 2011’s turnout of 60%, according to figures cited by the BBC.

"The sweeping victory for United Russia inSunday'sparliamentary vote reinforces the view that President Putin's grip on power hasn't been shaken by two years of recession," says Capital Economics analysts Liza Ermolenko and William Jackson. "From an economic perspective, the key point is that while the deep structural reforms needed to boost growth prospects are unlikely, economic policymaking should remain fairly prudent. We expect fiscal and monetary policy to stay relatively tight."

As for the rest of the world, here's the scoreboard as 7:45 a.m. ET:

The US dollar index is down by 0.2% at 95.89 ahead of the NAHB Housing Market Index, which will be released at 10 a.m. ET. Separately, Fed fund futures data compiled by Bloomberg shows just a 20% chance that the Federal Reserve will raise its benchmark interest rate at Wednesday's meeting. The data suggests a 55.2% probability of at least one rate hike by the end of 2016.TheBritish poundis up by 0.4% at 1.3047 against the dollar. Separately, it seems more likely that London will lose its "passporting rights" with a Brexit. Jens Weidmann, the president of Germany's central bank, says London-based banks will lose their right to operate in the European Union if Britain leaves the EU because they are "tied to the single market and would automatically cease to apply if Great Britain is no longer at least part of the European Economic Area."The Australian dollar is up by 0.7% at 1.3166 per dollar. Notably, Australia's stock market opened 90 minutes late. The euro is little changed at 1.1160 against the dollar. TheJapanese yen is up by 0.4% at 101.86 per dollar.