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    JPMorgan is winding down its Russia operations amid widening business exodus over Ukraine war

    JPMorgan Chase, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, is stepping away from Russia.
    “In compliance with directives by governments around the world, we have been actively unwinding Russian business and have not been pursuing any new business in Russia,” company spokeswoman Tasha Pelio said in an email.
    The bank’s dealings related to Russia were “limited” to “helping global clients address and close out preexisting obligations; managing their Russian-related risk; acting as a custodian to our clients; and taking care of our employees,” she added.

    JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon listens as he is introduced at the Boston College Chief Executives Club luncheon in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., November 23, 2021.
    Brian Snyder | Reuters

    JPMorgan Chase, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, is stepping away from Russia.
    “In compliance with directives by governments around the world, we have been actively unwinding Russian business and have not been pursuing any new business in Russia,” company spokeswoman Tasha Pelio said in an email.

    The bank’s dealings related to Russia were “limited” to “helping global clients address and close out pre-existing obligations; managing their Russian-related risk; acting as a custodian to our clients; and taking care of our employees,” she added.
    The Russian invasion of Ukraine has prompted global technology, payments and retail companies to recoil from Russia amid U.S. sanctions aimed at applying economic pressure on the country. JPMorgan’s move, reported earlier by Bloomberg, follows the announcement earlier Thursday that Goldman Sachs was exiting its business in the country.
    JPMorgan has fewer than 200 employees in Russia, working mostly in the firm’s corporate and investment bank, according to the company.
    Watch: PIMCO stands to lose billions if Russia defaults on its debt

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    Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Amazon, CrowdStrike, Micron and more

    A worker sits on a wall dividing an informal settlement from the new Amazon fulfillment center, which is under construction at RMSG Alamar Industrial Park, in Tijuana, Mexico September 7, 2021.
    Jorge Duenes | Reuters

    Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
    Amazon — Amazon shares jumped 5.4% after the company said its board of directors has approved a 20-for-1 stock split, telling investors on Wednesday that they’ll receive 20 shares for each share they currently own. The board also approved a $10 billion share buyback program.

    CrowdStrike — Shares for the cybersecurity company gained 12.5%, after it disclosed strong quarterly profit and revenue in its earnings report Wednesday. CrowdStrike also has an upbeat forecast for the 2023 fiscal year, saying it will pursue market share as cybersecurity concerns rise.
    Asana — The collaboration software company’s stock cratered 22.1%. On Wednesday, Asana forecast losses that were greater than analysts’ expectations for the first quarter. The firm also announced a narrower-than-expected loss for its most recent quarter, as well as revenue that exceeded analysts’ estimates.
    Genesco – Genesco shares soared 7.4%, as the footwear retailer reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and profit. Same-store sales for the firm rose 10% and online sales spiked 36%, compared with the same year-ago period.
    Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Chevron— The three energy companies rose together as a group, boosted by demand for greater energy production after the U.S. banned Russian oil. The number of oil rigs working dropped to 250 last year, from 1,077 in 2018, according to industry data from Baker Hughes. Oil field services companies Baker Hughes and Halliburton rose 8.7% and 8.9%, respectively. Chevron gained 2.7%.
    SolarEdge Technologies, Sunrun, Enphase — The three solar stocks declined as a group, after the sector rallied earlier in the week from rising oil and gas prices. SolarEdge slid 6.3%, Sunrun dipped 1.7%, and Enphase declined 0.6%.

    Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Devices — Some semiconductor stocks dropped together. Micron Technology’s stock tumbled 4.7%, and Advanced Micro Devices dropped 4.1%. Despite strong demand, chipmakers are facing supply chain issues for key materials stemming from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
    — CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel contributed reporting.

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    Burger King halts corporate support for its 800-plus franchised locations in Russia

    Burger King announced Thursday it has halted corporate support for its 800-plus franchised restaurants in Russia.
    The Restaurant Brands International chain said it will refuse approvals for any investment or expansion.
    Burger King’s announcement comes after several other U.S. fast-food chains — including rival McDonald’s — suspended business in Russia.

    A man holds meals from the Burger King restaurant on May, 15, 2020 in Dedovsk, Russia.
    Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images

    Burger King announced Thursday it has halted corporate support for its 800-plus franchised restaurants in Russia.
    The Restaurant Brands International chain said it will refuse approvals for any investment or expansion. The suspension also includes pausing operations, marketing and its supply chain.

    Burger King’s announcement comes after a flurry of other U.S. fast-food chains — including its rival McDonald’s — suspended their corporate support to their Russian locations earlier this week as the Kremlin’s forces continued attacks on Ukraine.

    McDonald’s has the largest exposure to Russia since the majority of its restaurants there are owned by the company. CFO Kevin Ozan said Wednesday that the company is currently estimating that temporarily shuttering its Russian locations and pausing operations will cost it $50 million per month.
    Other U.S. restaurant companies won’t be as hurt by their symbolic step backs. Restaurant Brands, for example, receives less than 1% of its total revenue from Russia, according to FactSet. Starbucks, Yum Brands and Papa John’s have all announced plans to pause Russian operations, but most of those chains’ locations in the country are run by local franchisees.
    Restaurant Brands had previously committed to redirect any profits from Russian-franchised locations to humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees.

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    Major League Soccer reaches a deal to support Black banks, aiming to help close the racial wealth gap

    Major League Soccer has taken out a $25 million loan from a syndicate of eight Black banks.
    The interest and fees will be paid in advance creating what’s called Tier 1 capital.
    Such a deal will almost immediately allow the Black banks to offer more loans and lines of credit in Black and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

    New York City FC forward Valentín Castellanos (11) passes the ball forward against Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Chara (21) during the MLS Cup Final between the Portland Timbers and New York City FC on December 11, 2021 at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon.
    Brian Murphy | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

    Major League Soccer has taken out a $25 million loan from a syndicate of eight Black banks, which will these financial institutions increase lending power with the goal of helping reduce the racial wealth gap.
    The terms of the loan are not being disclosed in Thursday’s announcement. But the interest and fees will be paid in advance creating what’s called Tier 1 capital, which will almost immediately allow the Black banks to offer more loans and lines of credit in Black and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

    “Major League Soccer’s partnership with the National Black Bank Foundation (NBBF) is a tangible step in the efforts to close the racial economic gap in the United States, and it’s the right business decision for us,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber in a release. “In order to make a genuine impact, economic justice must be part of the equation. It is our hope this will raise awareness of the importance of Black-owned banks and their impact on the economy.”
    “They are not just talking about the solution for racial inequality, they are being part of the solution,” Cynthia Day, CEO of Citizens Trust Bank told CNBC. “MLS is providing access to capital for minority businesses and they are the lifeblood for the communities they serve.”
    Atlanta-based Citizens Trust Bank and New York-based Carver Federal Savings Bank led the deal that was facilitated by the National Black Bank Foundation. Other Black banks in the deal, include Alamerica Bank, Carver State Bank, Columbia Savings & Loans, Mechanics & Farmers Bank, and Unity National Bank.
    “Major League Soccer has raised the bar for corporate America with this transformative partnership,” NBBF co-founder and general counsel Ashley Bell, said. “If other leagues and major corporations follow the MLS model, lives of Black families all across this country will change for the better because their local Black bank will have the capital resources to approve historic numbers of home and small business loans.”
    The racial wealth gap, the disparity between the net worth of Black families and white families in America is more than $11 trillion dollars, according to Dr. William Darity of Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. But he says the pandemic has likely deepened the disparity. According to the Federal Reserve, 82% of Black families have less wealth than the typical White family.

    Major League Soccer launched a number of programs to increase Black representation in the sport and to promote racial equality, including creating a diversity committee for the league in October of 2020.
    Black Players for Change — a coalition of more than 100 players, coaches, and staff in MLS, which has members on the diversity committee — applauded the deal.
    “Through securing deals like the one we celebrate here today we directly address and establish a platform to overcome the undervaluing of Black participation in the economic ecosystem.” Black Players For Change Founder Quincy Amarikwa said in a release. “Creating opportunities like this demonstrates that we are moving in the right direction. We welcome the opportunity to continue this positive forward momentum in partnership with MLS.”

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    Crypto poses serious 401(k) risks, Biden administration warns

    Cryptocurrencies and other related investments like NFTs pose “significant risks” to 401(k) investors, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.
    The agency warned employers to proceed with extreme care before adding them to a retirement plan, since doing so may breach their legal obligations.
    Financial companies have been marketing crypto to 401(k) plans in recent months, the bureau said.

    Xinhua News Agency | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

    Cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and other digital assets like non-fungible tokens, pose “significant risks and challenges” to 401(k) investors, including fraud, theft and financial loss, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.
    The labor agency warned that employers that add crypto investments to their company 401(k) plans may easily run afoul of their legal obligations to workers who are plan participants.

    That counsel comes as financial services firms have begun marketing such investments as retirement-plan options in recent months, playing off growing popularity, the bureau said.
    More from Personal Finance:Here’s what to know about managing your debt in retirementRetirees likely shielded from inflation hit on some expenses’Nowhere to hide’ for consumers as inflation hits food, gas, housing
    “At this early stage in the history of cryptocurrencies … the U.S. Department of Labor has serious concerns about plans’ decisions to expose participants to direct investments in cryptocurrencies or related products, such as NFTs, coins and crypto assets,” Ali Khawar, acting assistant secretary at the Employee Benefits Security Administration, wrote Thursday.
    Employers who offer a 401(k) plan have a fiduciary duty relative to the investments they make available. That legal duty requires them to prudently select investments and monitor them on an ongoing basis.
    This duty has been the crux of a flurry of 401(k) lawsuits filed over the past decade or so, which have alleged workers lost money due to excessive costs and losses from unwise fund choices.

    Relative to crypto in 401(k) plans, the Labor Department outlined several risks and challenges in a compliance memo on Thursday.

    Crypto is speculative, volatile and hard to value, and it may be challenging for investors to make an informed investment decision, according to the bureau. Other properties — like losing the asset forever in the event of forgetting a password — also pose hazards, the agency said.
    Regulation may also change swiftly, the Labor Department said. President Joe Biden on Wednesday issued an executive order calling on the government to examine crypto’s risks and benefits. However, many crypto proponents viewed the order positively.
    “The big question coming into the executive order was whether it was going to be balanced, whether it was going to talk about both the risks and the opportunities of crypto,” Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, told CNBC. “It’s pretty close to the outcome we were all hoping for.”

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    Pimco faces potential losses over exposure to more than $1 billion in Russian debt

    PIMCO headquarters in Newport Beach, California
    Scott Mlyn | CNBC

    Pimco’s billion-dollar exposure to Russian debt came under pressure as the country, which invaded its neighbor Ukraine amid international outrage, faces risk of a sovereign default.
    The asset manager’s $140 billion Pimco Income Fund (PIMIX) held $1.14 billion worth of Russia government international bonds as of the end of 2021, according to the fund’s annual report. The fund, co-run by chief investment officer Dan Ivascyn, also had written $942 million of credit-default swaps protection on Russia by the end of last year.

    These CDS enable investors to swap credit risk and Pimco, who sold these securities, will have to pay out should Russia default on its debt.
    The fund is off by 5.1% so far this year, slightly more than a Bloomberg benchmark bond index.
    Pimco’s Total Return bond fund and Emerging Markets bond fund also held similar positions tied to Russia.
    The Financial Times first reported on Pimco’s Russia exposure earlier Thursday. Pimco declined to comment.
    These positions could inflict huge losses on Pimco as Russia could be edging closer to a sovereign debt default amid massive sanctions by the U.S. and other countries over the war in Ukraine.

    Earlier this week, rating agency Fitch downgraded Russia’s sovereign rating by six notches further into junk territory to a C grade, saying a default is “imminent.”
    Moody’s and S&P have also slashed the country’s sovereign rating to “junk” status, saying Western sanctions could undermine Russia’s ability to service its debt.

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    Russia will recover with a 'full bill of health,' says Lavrov, vowing to cut ties with the West

    Russia’s foreign minister on Thursday downplayed intensifying economic sanctions, saying his country would recover from the crisis with a “full bill of health.”
    Speaking to CNBC, Sergey Lavrov vowed Russia would never again rely on cooperation with Western partners, accusing them of betrayal.
    Russia’s economy is on its knees following unprecedented international sanctions intended to end its invasion of Ukraine.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives an annual press conference on Russian diplomacy in 2021, in Moscow on January 14, 2022.
    Dimitar Dilkoff | Afp | Getty Images

    Russia’s foreign minister on Thursday struck a defiant tone in the face of intensifying economic sanctions, saying that his country would recover from the crisis with a “full bill of health” and vowing never again to rely on Western partners.
    Sergey Lavrov told CNBC that Russia could handle its economy by itself as the pariah state becomes increasingly isolated by international powers seeking to stymie President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

    “Regarding our economic problems, we’ll sort them out,” Lavrov told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble in Turkey following his talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Lavrov noted that Russia has at various other points handled periods of economic isolation and difficulty.
    The longtime Russian minister added that he was no longer under any illusion that the West could be trusted, accusing it of betrayal.
    “I assure you: We will come out of this crisis with a full bill of psychological health and a full bill of health regarding our awareness. We will not be under the slightest illusion that the West could be a reliable partner,” Lavrov said via a translation.
    “We will do everything so as never, in any way, to be dependent on the West in those areas of our life which have a decisive significance for our people,” he said.

    It is unclear how Russia seeks to independently operate its economy moving forward.

    The Russian economy has fallen to its knees in the two weeks since the start of the Ukraine war as Western allies have sought economic means of pressuring Putin to end the conflict.
    The Russian ruble continued to tumble lower this week, reaching fresh record lows amid further financial exclusions, while trading on the Moscow stock exchange remains largely suspended. The Western sanctions are intended to collapse Russia’s economy, and many economists suggest that they’re likely to work.
    The Kremlin on Thursday said the country’s economy was in “shock” in the wake of “unprecedented” economic war.
    Meantime, the pressure on Putin’s elite inner circle continues to heat up, with Britain on Thursday adding Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich and six others to a growing list of oligarchs facing asset seizures under U.K., EU and U.S. sanctions.
    Lavrov said Thursday that the ongoing sanctions fly in the face of apparent Western democratic values, citing it as another example of untrustworthiness.
    “Whoever heard of private property rights being trampled over by a simple clicking of the fingers? Whoever heard of the presumption of innocence, the pillar of the legal system in the West, is simply ignored and violated most gravely?,” he said.

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    United Airlines will let unvaccinated employees return to their jobs this month

    United last year established the airline industry’s first and strictest Covid vaccine mandate.
    Workers who received an exemption on medical or religious grounds were placed on unpaid leave.
    More than 96% of United’s roughly 67,000 workers were vaccinated, United said last year.

    A United Airlines 737 Max 8
    Leslie Josephs | CNBC

    United Airlines, citing a steep decline in Covid-19 cases, told staff Thursday that it will allow unvaccinated workers to return to their jobs starting March 28, a shift from a company that had one of the country’s strictest inoculation mandates.
    Last August, United said it would require U.S. employees to be vaccinated against Covid or face termination. More than 96% of United’s roughly 67,000 U.S. workers were vaccinated, the company said.

    In January, CEO Scott Kirby said the company didn’t have any Covid deaths among unvaccinated workers over the past eight weeks, despite a surge in cases of the omicron variant, which has since subsided.
    United had said the roughly 2,200 workers who received exemptions on medical or religious grounds would go on unpaid leave or be moved to non-customer-facing roles. For example, unvaccinated flight attendants couldn’t work their regular jobs. Roughly 200 employees were fired for not being vaccinated or having an accommodation and will not be asked back.
    A federal judge in Texas upheld United’s vaccine mandate in November after six employees sued to block it two months earlier. But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month ruled that the federal judge must reconsider the injunction the workers sought.
    On Thursday, United sought to vacate that ruling and dismiss the appeal because of the lessening severity of the pandemic and its new policy.
    “In light of these changed circumstances, plaintiffs’ preliminary-injunction motion is moot, and this Court should vacate the panel opinion and dismiss the appeal,” it in a court filing.

    A drop in new Covid cases, hospitalizations and loosening of masking requirements in many cities “suggest that the pandemic is beginning to meaningfully recede,” Kirk Limacher, vice president of human resources, said in a staff note. “As a result, we’re confident we can safely begin the process” of returning staff with exemptions back to their jobs.
    “Of course, if another variant emerges or the COVID trends suddenly reverse course, we will reevaluate the appropriate safety protocols at that time,” Limacher said.
    The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that the company would change its policy.

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