By Tyler Durden, Oil pushed higher ahead of high-level meetings that may result in fresh sanctions on Russia, and as a vital Black Sea terminal may be disrupted for weeks following storm damag. Overnight, Reuters reported that Russian and Kazakhstan oil exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) from the Black Sea may (read: will, now […]

By Tyler Durden, Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), President Joe Biden and other White House officials met with CEOs of leading companies on Monday to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and what can be done to mitigate the burden of increasing prices on Americans brought about by the war. Secretary of Treasury Janet […]

By Tyler Durden, By John Kemp, senior market analyst at Reuters For the second week in a row, investors trimmed bullish petroleum positions amid elevated volatility, with prices oscillating between the twin threats posed by sanctions-driven supply disruptions and a demand-destroying recession. Hedge funds and other money managers sold the equivalent of 36 million barrels in […]

By Tyler Durden, The US federal income tax deadline is fast approaching, and in a sign that US taxpayers are desperate for cash, the IRS has already received 45.4 million individual returns as of Feb. 25, a 0.3% increase from the prior season. Meanwhile, the newest LendingTree survey of more than 1,000 taxpayers showed that 46% of […]

By Tyler Durden, Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance It was just a couple of weeks ago that I wrote an article arguing that the economic sanctions we have cast upon in Russia, due to its invasion of Ukraine, likely mark the beginning of a period where China and Russia would bifurcate the global monetary system, leading them to […]

By Tyler Durden, After Wednesday concerns that holders of Russian government dollar bonds may be hosed amid a lack of confirmation that interest payments had been successfully made, Bloomberg reports that JPMorgan has indeed processed the funds, which have been forwarded to Citigroup, according to people familiar with the matter. Russia’s Central Bank JPMorgan was the correspondent bank Russia used […]

By Tyler Durden, Holders of Russian government dollar bonds with coupons due on Wednesday have not received confirmation of payment as of close of business in London, according to Reuters, raising fears that the Russian default we previewed last night – the first since 1998 – may be imminent (once the 30 day grace period expires). At issue are two […]

Tyler Durden, Beijing is learning the hard way that its “COVID Zero” approach toward combating the virus is having serious drawbacks. For example, while the US and Europe continue to roll back their tightening measures, a growing number of Chinese citizens are facing draconian lockdowns similar to the one imposed on Wuhan during the early […]

By Tyler Durden, The Russian war in Ukraine has very belatedly sent one lead NATO country into a defense spending spree. Before the Feb.24 invasion, Germany wouldn’t so much as let its weapons be transferred to Kiev via allies – wanting to present a sense of neutrality with Moscow – but now with all prior […]

By Tyler Durden, With Russia now officially cut off from both the USDollar and the euro, Russia’s VTB Bank is seeing a surge in Chinese Yuan deposits, attracted by the bank offering significantly higher interest rates as Putin shifts focus to ‘friendly’ nations. The state-owned bank is offering a Chinese yuan savings account with a maximum interest […]