By David Gaffen NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil relentlessly marched higher beyond $110 a barrel on Wednesday, responding to a flood of divestment from Russian oil assets by major companies and expectations that the market will remain short of supply for months to come. The market’s surge has been dramatic, with global benchmark Brent crude gaining…
By Devik Jain and Sabahatjahan Contractor (Reuters) -U.S. stock indexes rallied more than 1% on Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled the central bank would start raising rates this month, although at a steady pace in the wake of the ongoing Ukraine crisis. Powell’s comments, at a testimony to the U.S. House of…
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Annual consumer inflation in Russia accelerated to 9.05% as of Feb. 25 from 8.84% a week earlier, the economy ministry said on Wednesday, climbing further above an official 4% target. Weekly inflation rose to 0.45% from 0.24% in the preceding week, data from the statistics service Rosstat showed separately on Wednesday. Inflation…
By Howard Schneider and Lindsay Dunsmuir WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Federal Reserve will move forward with plans to raise interest rates this month to try to tame high inflation, but the outbreak of war in Ukraine has made the outlook “highly uncertain” for U.S. central bank policymakers as they plan their next steps, Fed Chair Jerome…
By Tom Wilson LONDON (Reuters) – Some of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges are staying put in Russia, breaking ranks with mainstream finance in a decision that experts say weakens Western attempts to isolate Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine. Western sanctions, which aim to squeeze Russia’s economy and sever it from the global financial…
By Karin Strohecker LONDON (Reuters) – With much of Moscow’s $640 billion reserves under lock and key in the West and sanctions crippling cross-border capital flows, investors fear Russia may be heading for its first ever default on sovereign hard currency debt. On Wednesday, foreign investors were effectively stuck with their holdings of rouble-denominated bonds…
By Noah Browning LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices surged on Wednesday as supply disruptions mounted following sanctions on Russian banks amid the intensifying Ukraine conflict, while traders scrambled to seek alternative oil sources in an already tight market. Brent crude futures rose by nearly $9, touching a peak of $113.94 a barrel, the highest since June…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that he supports a traditional quarter-point increase in the Federal Reserve’s benchmark short-term interest rate when the Fed meets later this month, rather than a larger increase that some of its policymakers have proposed. But Powell did open the door to a bigger hike in the event…
By David Henry and Noor Zainab Hussain NEW YORK (Reuters) -Citigroup Inc set new profitability targets on Wednesday at its first “investor day” in five years, aiming for a medium-term return on equity of 11% to 12%, an improvement from its recent performance. Analysts had been looking for a medium-term return on tangible capital equity…
(Reuters) – Shares of Nordstrom Inc soared more than 32% on a faster-than-expected recovery at the company’s off-price Rack outlets that raised hopes about the department store’s ability to stanch further marketshare losses to bigger rivals. The company wrestled with severe shortages of women’s apparel and shoes at Rack stores for most of last year,…
