ECONOMY & MARKETS

Russia will offer only new series of OFZ government bonds and stop offering existing series of debt, the finance ministry said on Wednesday, after the United States prohibited buying Russian government bonds issued after March 1.

Uncertainty over sunflower oil supplies due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is spurring demand for rivals palm oil and soyoil, fuelling a red-hot vegetable oil market.

The International Monetary Fund told the Bank of England on Wednesday to be clear about its plans to withdraw stimulus for Britain's economy, following criticism of the central bank's communications in recent months.

The Russian rouble slumped on Wednesday, diving around 3% to hit a near two-year low past 81 to the dollar as Ukraine declared a state of emergency, with sanctions and invasion fears hammering Russian bonds and stocks.

The Russian rouble weakened on Wednesday, sliding past 80 to the dollar and 90 to the euro as investors took stock of Western sanctions imposed on Russia for ordering troops into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine.

The Russian rouble weakened on Wednesday, reversing gains made the previous day and heading back towards 80 to the dollar as investors took stock of Western sanctions imposed on Russia for ordering troops into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine.

The Russian rouble slumped on Wednesday, hitting a near two-year low past 81 to the dollar as sanctions and invasion fears hammered Russian assets, with bonds and stocks feeling the force of investor jitters.

The United States on Wednesday kicked off its biggest ever sale of offshore wind development rights in an area covering nearly half a million acres off the coasts of New York and New Jersey.

It never gets completely dark in Colonia El Carmen, home to Mexico's largest natural gas processing center, in the poor southern state of Chiapas.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Wednesday there were clear risks that inflation could again overshoot the central bank's forecasts but markets should not get carried away about the likely scale of interest rate rises.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Wednesday a risk "very clearly" existed that inflation, which is running at a 30-year high, gets embedded in Britain's economy if a cycle of higher prices keeps pushing up wages.

Separatists in Ukraine asked Moscow to help repel "aggression" on Wednesday and explosions rocked the breakaway eastern city of Donetsk as the United States warned everything is in place for a major attack by Russia on its neighbor.

The new year is proving unkind to the global investor consensus yet again and low visibility now becomes a major problem.

German utility Uniper is assessing whether the suspension of Gazprom's Nord Stream 2 will trigger impairments on its 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) exposure to the gas pipeline, the company said on Wednesday, sending its shares to a 7-month low.

The United States is poised to unleash a wider array of sanctions against Russia if Moscow escalates the conflict in Ukraine, denying key Russian financial institutions and companies access to U.S.

Thailand's economy would continue to recover in 2022, but a rebound would remain fragile and uneven, as an Omicron outbreak puts less pressure on activity than earlier COVID-19 waves, according to minutes of the central bank's last policy meeting.

Investors around the world lost their appetite for risk on Wednesday, with stocks selling off and the U.S.

Global stocks broke a four-day slide on Wednesday and demand for safe-haven assets waned, with investors waiting to see Russian President Vladimir Putin's next move after he sent troops into separatist regions of Ukraine.

Asian stocks steadied on Wednesday and demand for safe-havens waned a little as investors regarded Russian troop movements near Ukraine and initial Western sanctions as leaving room to avoid a war, while a rate hike lifted New Zealand's dollar.

Investors around the world lost their appetite for risk on Wednesday with stocks selling off and the U.S.

Investors around the world lost their appetite for risk shortly after the U.S.

The U.S. government broadened restrictions on trading of Russian government debt on Tuesday in a bid to punish Moscow for ratcheting up its conflict with Ukraine, a move that analysts said might have a moderate impact near-term but could be a step toward harsher measures.

Inflation will have the biggest impact on global markets in 2022, traders said, while liquidity was the top daily trading challenge for a sixth year, according to an annual survey of institutional trading clients by JPMorgan published on Wednesday.

Directors at three regional Federal Reserve banks voted in January to increase the interest rate charged to commercial banks for emergency loans by a quarter of a percentage point, minutes of their discount rate meetings showed on Tuesday.

As the S&P 500 hovers near correction territory, Wall Street is gauging the further effect of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on asset prices, with some strategists warning investors to keep their cool and focus on longer-term market trends.

Global stock markets were already headed for a volatile year with modest gains even before the latest escalation of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, according to a Reuters poll of around 120 equity market analysts and brokers around the world.

The United States, the European Union and Britain announced new sanctions on Russia on Tuesday after Moscow's recognition of two separatist regions in Ukraine as independent entities.

Russian banks will be "totally" excluded from Britain's financial system, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday, as the UK unveiled the first set of tougher Western sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Western countries are set to unveil coordinated and tough sanctions on Russia on Thursday - with banks likely to be first in line - after Russia began an invasion of Ukraine.