BERLIN (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted Thursday that the country’s natural gas must be paid for with rubles, a demand apparently intended to help bolster the Russian currency but one that European leaders say they will not comply with because it violates the terms of contracts and sanctions. Putin said Russia will start…
LONDON (Reuters) – S&P Global sees losses in the speciality insurance market of $16-35 billion from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the ratings agency said on Thursday. This includes possible aviation insurance losses totalling $6-15 billion, S&P said in a report. Other speciality lines likely to be affected by the conflict include cyber, political risk and marine…
By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Raising the drawbridge has been a response to war and pestilence throughout human history, and the tumultuous winter of 2022 has similarly led trading nations to turn inward – though talk that the era of globalisation may be winding down seems premature. The damage to international commerce stemming from…
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs remain at historic lows. Jobless claims rose by 14,000 to 202,000 for the week ending March 26, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The previous week’s tally of 188,000 claims was the fewest since 1969. First-time applications for jobless aid generally track the…
WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge that is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve jumped 6.4% in February compared with a year ago, with sharply higher prices for food, gasoline and other necessities squeezing Americans’ finances. The figure reported Thursday by the Commerce Department was the largest year-over-year rise since January 1982. Excluding volatile prices…
(Reuters) – U.S. stock futures were subdued on Thursday as investors focused on the raging conflict in Ukraine and the outlook for U.S. interest rate hikes, with the main indexes on course for their worst quarterly performance since the pandemic crash in 2020. Much of the optimism seen earlier this week around the peace talks…
A surge in demand for COVID-19 tests and vaccines helped Walgreens deliver a better second quarter than Wall Street expected. But that boost from the ongoing pandemic isn’t expected to last, and the drugstore chain stuck to a 2022 outlook issued earlier. Company leaders also told analysts that Walgreens’ big shift into delivering more care…
By Tushar Goenka BENGALURU (Reuters) – Global fund managers maintained a cautious stance in March, increasing recommended bond holdings and cash reserves and suggesting reduced equities exposure, a Reuters poll found. The March 21-31 survey captured this defensive strategy many fund managers adopted after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out. The February survey was taken partly…
By Stefano Rebaudo (Reuters) -The euro edged lower on Thursday on caution about developments in Ukraine and limited progress in peace talks, while the Norwegian crown fell sharply after the central bank decided to buy foreign currency. Russian forces prepared for new attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, while no quick resolution is expected from…
LONDON (AP) — OPEC and allied oil producers including Russia decided Thursday to stick to a modest increase in the amount of crude they pump to the world, a step that supports higher prices even as the Biden administration plans to try to lower them by releasing oil from strategic reserves. The group, known as…
