VTB CEO Andrei Kostin has approached Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin with a proposal to merge two more banks into a common group with the bank – Crimea’s RNKB, controlled by the Federal Property Management Agency, and the Central Bank’s subsidiary Otkritie, Kommersant reported, citing its sources. All three banks are under US, UK and EU […]

In today’s trading, the U.S. dollar is getting cheaper against the Japanese yen and the euro amid data on the contraction of the U.S. economy in Q1. The dollar-euro exchange rate stood at $1.0543 as of 9:17 Moscow time, compared to $1.0499 at market close on Thursday. The Japanese yen rose at the same time […]

Wall Street posted gains on Thursday; with technology stocks leading the way as investors ignored concerns over unfavorable economic growth numbers. Meta Platforms Inc* led the sector, helping push the NASDAQ Composite index up 3%. Shares of the social media company surged 18% after it had more users than expected last quarter and beat low […]

Western Union’s expenses in connection with the suspension of work in Russia and Belarus amounted to $11 million, the company said in its statements for the first quarter of 2022. Western Union announced the suspension of operations in Russia and Belarus on March 10 due to the situation in Ukraine. The company had been operating […]

US billionaire Elon Musk has sold 4.4 million shares of the company he founded, Tesla Inc, according to regulatory filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Musk made the trades on the stock exchange on Tuesday and Thursday – that is, two days after the Twitter Inc. deal. The price of sold shares […]

Consumer prices in the euro area in March 2022 increased by 7.5% in annualized terms, according to preliminary data from the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat). This is the maximum figure in the history of the introduction of calculations. In March, annual inflation in the eurozone was 7.4%. Analysts surveyed by Trading Economics, […]

The Bank of Russia has decided to lower the key rate by 3 points to 14% per annum, the regulator said. The decision to lower the rate was expected. However, most analysts surveyed by Bloomberg (18 out of 21) predicted a reduction to 15%. Also, the Central Bank forecasts that annual inflation in Russia in […]

China’s top leadership gave no indication this Friday of any imminent relaxation of its zero-tolerance policy for the spread of the omicron strain COVID-19, CNBC writes. Against this backdrop, some businesses have resumed production in Shanghai and northern China. But the country’s capital, Beijing temporarily closed a major luxury shopping mall and minor businesses in […]

Germany is ready to stop buying oil from Russia, according to the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal. According to the newspaper, representatives of Germany in the EU have withdrawn the country’s objection to a full embargo on Russian oil, provided that Germany is given enough time to find sources of alternative supplies. German Economy […]

Members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Legal Affairs are likely to vote next week to approve a bill opening the door for Washington to sue oil-exporting countries, U.S. media reported. According to them, both Democrats and Republicans will vote in favor of the document at the vote, which is scheduled for next week. The […]

The stock market is expected to end April on a negative note as disappointing news from Amazon, Apple and Intel weigh on sentiment. The Chinese currency and stocks jumped as the Politburo promised more support for economic policy ahead of the long weekend. The U.S. will release personal income and spending data for March, while […]

Retailer “Magnit” in Q1 2022 received 10.905 billion net profit against 10.875 billion a year earlier (IAS 17 figures). EBITDA of “Magnit” increased by 36.1% to 37.662 billion rubles, the profitability of this indicator amounted to 6.9% against 7% a year earlier. Revenue increased by 37.7% to 547.708 billion rubles, Magnit said in a statement. […]

The U.S. stock market fell seriously on Friday. The three major stock indexes lost between 2.7% and 4.2%, ending the week and the entire month in decline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 938 points, or 2.8%. The ongoing selloff in technology-related stocks sent the S&P 500 Index down 3.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index […]

Bloomberg said Gazprom’s gas exports fell to a three-month low, and Oleg Tinkov spoke about the bank’s sale – these and other important news for Monday morning, May 2, in our daily review. Tinkoff Bank founder Oleg Tinkov said he was forced to sell his stake in the bank “for pennies” after he made a […]

Pfizer’s COVID-19 treatment pill showed no significant statistical benefit when used to prevent the disease, according to the company’s press office. “In this study, compared to placebo, Pfizer observed a 32% and 37% reduction in the risk of coronavirus infection in adults who received Paxlovid for five and ten days, respectively, to prevent infection. These […]

Economists of the Russian Academy of Sciences named the risks for the labor market due to sanctions, and the EU announced the disconnection of new Russian banks from SWIFT – these and other important news for Tuesday morning, May 3, in our daily review. The EU is going to intensify cooperation with African countries to […]

Quotes of gold futures declined during Asian trading on Tuesday. On COMEX, a division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for delivery in June are trading at $1.00 per troy ounce, down 0.07% at the time of writing this commentary. The low of the session was at $ per troy ounce. At the […]

The volume of gas production in Russia in January-April 2022 decreased by 0.4% compared to the same period of 2021 and amounted to 261.42 billion cubic meters, according to the operational summary of the Central Dispatch Department of the Fuel and Energy Complex. In April, the Russian Federation produced 61.15 billion cubic meters of gas […]