NEWSLETTER
Thursday / September 29Sep 29
Thursday / April 7
Russian ship hit in Black Sea
Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed Wednesday that its Moskva missile cruiser was badly damaged in a fire — hours after Ukrainian forces claimed they'd struck the vessel in the Black Sea.
The Moskva is the most essential and led ship in the Russian Black Sea fleet.
Odessa Gov. Maksym Marchenko claimed in a Telegram that Ukrainian missiles "guarding the Black Sea caused very serious damage to the Russian ship."
Russia's Defense Ministry said in a brief statement that "ammunition detonated as a result of a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser."
Fresh Russian offensive imminent
Ukraine warned on Wednesday that Russia was ramping up efforts in the South and East as it seeks full control of Mariupol, in what would be the first major city to fall, while Western governments committed more military help to bolster Kyiv.
Russia's defence ministry on Wednesday said 1,026 soldiers from Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade, including 162 officers, had surrendered in Mariupol, which has been besieged for weeks, and that the port was fully under its control.
Capturing its Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, would give the Russians full control of Ukraine's main Sea of Azov port, reinforce a southern land corridor and expand its occupation of the country's East.
"Russian forces are increasing their activities on the southern and eastern fronts, attempting to avenge their defeats," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Wednesday night video address.
NATO expansion
Finland will make its decision on applying to join NATO within weeks, its prime minister said Wednesday, with Sweden evaluating whether to do the same. The presidents of NATO member countries Poland, Estonia and Lithuania headed to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv to show support for their Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Russia’s appointment of Army General Alexander Dvornikov, who directed bombings of Syria, to lead the war in Ukraine “represents an attempt to centralise command and control,” as Moscow focuses on a larger fight in the country’s east following weeks of slow progress for Russian forces, the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence said.
US Producer Prices
The prices that goods and services producers receive rose in March at the fastest pace since records have been kept, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.
The producer price index, which measures the prices paid by wholesalers, increased 11.2% from a year ago, the most in a data series going back to November 2010. On a monthly basis, the gauge climbed 1.4%, above the 1.1% Dow Jones estimate and also a record.
PPI is considered a forward-looking inflation measure as it tracks prices in the pipeline for goods and services that eventually reach consumers.
US stocks
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 344.23 points, or 1.01%, to 34,564.59, accelerating gains in the final hour of trading. The S&P 500 gained 1.12% to 4,446.59, and the Nasdaq Composite rallied 2.03% to 13,643.59.
Waller comments
Getting inflation under control will require raising interest rates at a faster pace than normal even though the pace of price increases probably has peaked, Federal Reserve board member Christopher Waller said Wednesday.
That means the central bank likely will hike short-term rates by half a percentage point, or 50 basis points, at its meeting in May, and possibly follow it up with similar moves in the next several months, Waller told CNBC. The Fed normally increases in 25-basis-point increments.
