Russia is returning some troops to their bases after military exercises were completed, the defence ministry said on Tuesday, signalling some de-escalation of the military build-up on Ukraine’s eastern border.
European equities and US stock futures rose while the oil price fell on news that units from Russia’s southern and western military districts were heading back to base following the completion of drills.
“The units of the southern and western military districts, which have completed their tasks, have already started loading on to rail and road transport and will start moving to their military garrisons today. Individual units will march on their own as part of military columns,” said Igor Konashenkov, defence ministry spokesman.
Yesterday, the US had damped hopes that Moscow wanted to find a diplomatic route out of the Ukraine crisis.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is due to speak with Russian president Vladimir Putin today after meeting Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday, stressed that Ukraine’s Nato membership was “not on the agenda”, a potential attempt to assuage Moscow’s security concerns. Scholz should go into the meeting with clear goals and messages, writes our editorial board.
News in-depth: US intelligence has shared fresh claims of a Moscow coup plot for Ukraine.
Global Insight: Neighbouring Poland has begun mending fences with Washington and Brussels over its judicial reforms and clampdown on independent media.
Share your thoughts on Ukraine-Russia with me at firstft@ft.com. They may be featured in a future edition of the newsletter. Thanks for reading FirstFT Americas — Yasemin
Five more stories in the news
1. Buyout groups’ pay ‘dwarfs’ investment bankers Top private equity groups set aside more than twice as much to pay each employee last month — $2mn including benefits — than leading investment banks, according to calculations by the Financial Times, underscoring a shift towards the less regulated corner of Wall Street.
“It’s a different landscape than five or 10 years ago, when the banks were rocking and rolling” — Alan Johnson, Johnson Associates
2. Donald Trump’s accountant says financial statements should ‘no longer be relied upon’ The US general counsel of Mazars has told the Trump Organization it no longer stood behind a decade of financial statements it helped prepare for the former president. The letter was included in a court filing by the New York attorney-general Letitia James.
3. TikTok poaches Big Tech content moderators The short-form video app owned by China’s ByteDance has poached hundreds of content moderators in Europe from outsourcing companies that serve social media rivals such as Facebook, as it seeks to tackle harmful content.
More on social media: Texas is suing Facebook parent Meta for billions of dollars, accusing it of harvesting and exploiting citizens’ biometric data through its since-shut facial recognition system without proper consent.
4. Warren Buffett bought stake in Activision weeks before Microsoft deal Berkshire Hathaway purchased a nearly $1bn stake in Activision Blizzard in the fourth quarter of 2021, weeks before the video game maker agreed to sell itself to Microsoft for $75bn. The investment stood out in a quarter in which the sprawling industrials conglomerate made relatively minor adjustments to its holdings.
5. Glencore sets aside $1.5bn to settle UK, US and Brazil probes Glencore expects to resolve bribery and corruption investigations in the three countries this year and has set aside $1.5bn to cover potential fines and costs. News of the provision came as the London-listed miner and commodity trader announced record earnings and said it would return $4bn to shareholders.
Coronavirus digest
Top US banking regulators flagged mounting vulnerabilities across a number of sectors hardest hit by the pandemic, warning that risks associated with the leveraged loan market are still “high”.
US growth and stimulus measures drove record remittances to Mexico and northern Central American countries last year, rising more than 25 per cent.
The Canadian province of Ontario will end its proof of inoculation requirement at public venues, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has invoked emergency powers to quell anti-vaccine requirement protests.
Hong Kong will set aside up to 10,000 hotel rooms to isolate Covid-19 patients as medical facilities get overwhelmed. French spirits maker Pernod Ricard has asked top executives to temporarily relocate outside the city as authorities tighten restrictions.
Almost £1.4bn of cheap debt issued by the Bank of England to help big UK companies survive has not been repaid, with the scheme to close next month.
The day ahead
Economic data US releases the producer price index for January, which is projected to have notched another large monthly gain. The Senate banking committee is expected to vote on Federal Reserve nominees.
Corporate earnings Accommodation specialist Airbnb, games platform Roblox and entertainment group ViacomCBS report quarterly results.
Dubai trade talks Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, will speak with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, about doubling bilateral trade on the sidelines of the Expo 2020 world fair.
What else we’re reading
Democratic donors cross party lines Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger received donations from thousands of grassroots supporters who helped fund Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, according to FT analysis. The data reveal how Democrats are willing to back Republican lawmakers that have broken with Donald Trump over the January 6 riots.
Emerging markets: all risk and few rewards? The difference between the pace of growth in developing and advanced economies is set to narrow to its lowest level this century, raising a problem for emerging market investors who seek greater yields and markedly quicker growth. Is it still worth it?
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Why the infancy of NFTs may last a long time Measured in financial terms, the market looks big: about $24bn worth of non-fungible tokens have been traded to date, according to Cryptoslam.io. Yet when you count users instead of dollars, the NFT world is tiny, writes the FT’s global tech correspondent Tim Bradshaw.
You can’t hide from the jerks at work Never mind hybrid versus working from home, the real issue is how you feel about the people you will have to spend time with. Are co-workers: a) great because you can bounce ideas as you head to a well-ventilated, sanitised bar for drinks? b) an inevitability to be tolerated? Or c) total jerks?
French election polls The country will vote over two rounds in April on whether to give Emmanuel Macron a second five-year term or entrust a different candidate with the presidency, in an unpredictable election that could mark a shift to the right in French politics. View our tracker here.
Food
Food is both personal and universal, so River Café owner Ruth Rogers does not have to work hard to get her celebrity subjects to open up on her podcast River Café Table 4 for conversations that are intimate, revealing and real. Read Fiona Sturges’ review here.
Source: Economy - ft.com
