Aurelia Butler

The official said the licenses, previously extended for a year at a time and set to expire on Wednesday, were being extended for only 90 days.”These authorizations were extended for a shorter time period given the current situation with Russia; further extension will be informed by Russia’s behavior,” the official said.Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine’s borders. It denies planning an invasion but NATO said it was putting forces on standby and reinforcing eastern Europe — moves that Moscow described as “hysteria”.The United States has warned that Russia will face massive consequences if it invades Ukraine.The licenses authorize certain activities involving the van maker and transactions necessary to divest or transfer debt, equity or other holdings in GAZ.The Treasury imposed sanctions in 2018 against billionaire Oleg Deripaska and eight companies in which he is a large shareholder, including automaker Gaz, citing “malign activities” by Russia.FBI agents in October raided Washington and New York City homes linked to Deripaska, a metals industry magnate with Kremlin ties. More

A morning skid in the small-cap Russell 2000 index put it down more than 20% from its record closing high on Nov 8, before it reversed to move higher. If ends down 20% on a close to close basis it would meet the official criteria for a bear market. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 15.6% from it’s Nov 19 record close, but was briefly 18.5% below it. The S&P 500 also moved off its lows but was still 9.9% below it’s record close on Jan 3. If it closes 10% below it would mean it has been in a correction since that date.[.N] MARKET REACTION:* STOCKS: Dow down 1.81%, S&P 500 down 1.92%, Nasdaq down 1.73%, Russell 2000 up 0.36%* BONDS: The yield on benchmark 10-year notes fell to 1.6746 [US/]* FOREX: The dollar index rose 0.241% [FRX/]* VIX: The VIX was up 16% and touched its highest level since Oct 2020COMMENTS:MEGAN HORNEMAN, DIRECTOR OF PORTFOLIO STRATEGY, VERDENCE CAPITAL ADVISORS, HUNT VALLEY, MDInvestors are accepting the harsh reality that the end of the ultra easy monetary policy is upon us. This week the Federal Reserve meets and while we expect no changes at this meeting, the market is pricing in a full quarter point increase in March.Tech (is) taking the brunt of weakness: Excess liquidity and ultra easy monetary policy have fueled speculation, euphoria and excessive pricing in some investments. What we have seen is these are the areas of the market getting hampered the most in the recent volatility. Technology, which saw valuations reach dotcom like levels, is down 14% from its high with more than 70% of the stocks in the NASDAQ Index 20% or more below their 52-week high.KEVIN MAHN, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, HENNION & WALSH ASSET MANAGEMENT, PARSIPPANY, NEW JERSEY“Today’s slide is part of the continuation of the market reacting to the more hawkish pivot that the Fed took at the end of 2021. That hawkish pivot kind of met the excessive stock market valuations that we saw due in large part to that record three-year run of the S&P 500, which was the best three-year run for that stock index since 1999. So I think a large portion of this pullback is due to people taking profits, people having concern that the Fed may go too far and perhaps derail this economic recovery.”MARC CHANDLER, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, BANNOCKBURN GLOBAL FOREX“Given people have lost money, whether it’s in crypto or the stock market, people want to find a culprit and I think that people are torn between two possible candidates: the Federal Reserve and Russia. “I’m skeptical that all of this is Russia driven. But it doesn’t mean when the first shots are fired, there won’t be a dramatic market reaction.  “Gold has rallied but it’s coming off its highs after peaking last Thursday. Oil prices also are reversing. Oil is having what they call an outside down day. It traded on both sides of Friday’s range, and now is below Friday’s low.”BURNS MCKINNEY, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, NFJ INVESTMENT GROUP, DALLAS“It seems that we get this every time we go through a Fed tightening cycle, but this just seems more of the same as the stock market is starting to price in the Fed basically concluding its taper and beginning interest rate hikes.”“You have seen more and more with inflation continuing to prove to be more resilient than had previously been anticipated. Last year, the key word was transitory, transitory, transitory … Everything ends, but I think people weren’t really pricing in inflation being as sticky as it has.”“Poll numbers have shown that Americans are more concerned about inflation than they are about jobs. You don’t see that very often. As such, the talk has gone from the market pricing in the Fed starting to maybe hike one or two times this year, to hiking three or four times this year, and now it’s looking like it is even pricing in an outside chance of five hikes this year, and there has been some discussion about whether you can have a double boost in March. Each of those steps along the way, the market has kind of pulled back a little bit to price that in.”DAVID MADDEN, MARKET ANALYST, EQUITI CAPITAL, LONDON”Traders continue to be in selling mode as fears mount surrounding the Russia-Ukraine situation. Also playing into the mix are the concerns the Federal Reserve will issue a hawkish update on Wednesday. The growing Russian military presence on the Ukrainian border is adding to the speculation there will be an invasion, and those fears have been fueled by the news that UK and US embassy staff in Ukraine have been instructed to leave the country. Dealers are worried about the prospect of a war in Eastern Europe as the human and economic cost would be huge.””Its déjà vu in the US as worries about several interest rate hikes from the Fed this year is hammering stocks. The NASDAQ 100 is once again the underperformer of the bunch as its large exposure to the technology sector is acting like a millstone around its neck. The US central bank is due to make their latest interest rate decision on Wednesday, and even though rates are likely to be lifted, the language used will be in focus. Dealers will be trying to decipher the commentary to try and figure out how rate hikes can we expect in 2022.”PETER CARDILLO, CHIEF MARKET ECONOMIST, SPARTAN CAPITAL SECURITIES, NEW YORK”In the past half hour, panic selling is moving into the marketplace based on a bad combination of factors. The two factors that are really weighing on investor sentiment are the geopolitical situation as winds of war surface and fears that the Fed up may be overly aggressive this week.””Today’s sharp drop is due to the geopolitical reasons because if you look at two markets that are going opposite of the other markets, you have the U.S. dollar which is moving higher and you have yields that are moving lower, so that means people are moving into safety trade.” More

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday accused conservative politicians of stoking fear that COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truck drivers are exacerbating supply chain disruptions and fueling inflation.The United States imposed a mandate, meant to aid the fight against the fast spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus, on Jan. 22, while Canada’s started on Jan. 15. The trucking industry has warned the measure will take thousands of drivers off the roads during what is already a dire labor shortage in the industry.Alberta’s conservative provincial leader, Jason Kenney, called for a pause of the mandate last week, and on Monday posted pictures on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) of empty shelves in supermarkets, calling for “immediate action” by both the U.S. and Canadian federal governments.”This is turning into a crisis,” Kenney wrote.”I regret that the Conservative Party and conservative politicians are fear mongering to Canadians about the supply chain, but the reality is that vaccination is how we’re going to get through this,” Trudeau told reporters when asked about supply chain disruptions resulting from the policy.Pierre Poilievre, finance critic for the main federal opposition Conservative Party, last week called the requirements a “vaccine vendetta against our hardworking truckers” that will drive up inflation and result in “empty shelves” at stores.Trudeau has resisted industry pressure to delay the mandate, saying everyone should be vaccinated and Canada is aligned with the United States, its largest trading partner. More than two-thirds of the C$650 billion ($521 billion) in goods traded annually between Canada and the United States travels on roads.Canada’s inflation rate hit a 30-year high of 4.8% in December and economists said the vaccine mandate may contribute to keeping prices higher for longer. In the United States, inflation surged 7% on a year-on-year basis in December, the largest rise in nearly four decades.Canadian Manufactures & Exporters President and Chief Executive Dennis Darby said he and other manufacturing lobbies spoke with Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne on Friday about problems caused by the vaccine mandate.Manufacturers are already seeing delays and price increases, Darby said.”Our supply chain in North America is a very, very efficient supply chain, but it’s not very resilient,” Darby said in an interview on Monday. “It doesn’t have a lot of slack.”After the meeting with Champagne, Darby’s group and some 30 other trade associations called for concrete action to tackle supply chain problems, including reversing the trucker inoculation mandate.A convoy of truckers started off from Vancouver on Sunday on its way to protest the mandate in the capital city of Ottawa. More

He’ll meet with a group of Cabinet secretaries and regulators the White House calls his “Competition Council” to promote the group’s progress on an executive order he signed in July to combat excessive business consolidation.His administration has also worked with ports, truckers and labor unions to ease supply-chain bottlenecks that have contributed to rising prices, though the president’s top economic advisers concede the government can’t do much to influence the basic forces of supply and demand.In-person participants for Monday’s meeting at the White House include Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler and Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Jonathan Kanter, according to a White House official.Inflation emerged last year as Biden’s topmost economic and political concern, with rising prices for everyday needs  — including energy, food, homes and cars — weighing heavily on his approval ratings. His administration has struggled to respond, and spiraling prices are poised to help deliver control of one or both chambers of Congress to Republicans in November’s midterm elections. The White House official pointed to several accomplishments that stem from Biden’s July order, including a Department of Health and Human Services’ proposed rule that would require hearing aids be sold without a prescription. The agency estimates the rule will cut prices for the devices from thousands of dollars to hundreds. The health department is also implementing the No Surprises Act, signed into law by former President Donald Trump which requires hospitals as of Jan. 1 to more conveniently disclose their prices to consumers or face dramatically increased federal fines.The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission announced last week that they are joining forces to modernize rules on mergers and prevent anticompetitive deals, and Justice is also examining guidelines for bank mergersThe Transportation Department has secured refunds for tens of thousands of travelers who weren’t able to get their money back during the pandemic, the official noted. It’s also working on regulations that would require airlines to refund fees for baggage that’s delayed or for services that aren’t successfully delivered, such as WiFi and seat selection. The executive order asked the Federal Trade Commission to consider regulating against what it described as “unfair anticompetitive restrictions on third-party repair or self-repair of items.” The agency voted unanimously to step up its enforcement of repair restrictions and, in turn, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL). and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced modifications to their strict repair policies. The administration estimates more flexible policies mean Americans could save tens of millions of dollars on repairs and replacements, the official said.Biden agencies are also working to block the merger of Aon (NYSE:AON) Plc and Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ:WTW) Plc, two of the three largest U.S. insurance brokers, and of two major North American railroads, Canadian National Railway (TSX:CNR) Co. and Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) Railway, the official noted.©2022 Bloomberg L.P. More