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Thursday, March 3, 2022

In anticipation of Godot’s dollar

Has the US dollar run out as a reserve currency?

This is one of several conclusions from the growing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The shock of heavy sanctions isolates Moscow and can still ricochet into the world economy in unexpected ways (not least because of inflation caused by soaring energy prices and fears about Russian supplies).

The debate over the morality (and feasibility) of blocking Russia has intensified another debate that has been brewing for years. Namely, can the greenback maintain its superiority over other currencies as a reserve instrument of choice?

Some believe the international community’s reaction to Moscow could ignite a fuse that is causing other countries to finally throw away the dollar forever – as Russia itself has done for years, as its aggressive behavior has pushed governments to push its finances. The proposal was reinforced on Wednesday by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who raised his eyebrows, saying there may be more than one reserve currency.

Speaking to Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway of Bloomberg News this week, investor Zoltan Pozar warned that the loss of access from Russia to its reserves has sent a message that institutions cannot rely on dollars if geopolitical problems arise, making the dollar more a little attractive as a safe haven.

And Dylan Grice, founder of Calderwood Capital, warned this week that the pressure on sanctions represents a “turning point in monetary history: the end of [dollar] hegemony accelerating towards a bipolar monetary order. “

With well over $ 600 billion, Russia has one of the world’s largest foreign exchange and gold reserves, but that money is now pretty useless in the face of harsh sanctions that limit the country’s institutions’ ability to transact.

The story continues

So is the death of the dollar really as inevitable as it seems? Not quite – and maybe not at all.

It is worth repeating that a number of global crises – and the United States’ own fiscal baggage – have not yet taken down the greenback. It was once thought that China, one of the largest holders of dollar-denominated assets, was ready to sell them after former President Donald Trump’s trade war with Beijing. This has never happened and there are several good reasons why.

“I’m not buying it,” said Mark Chandler of Bannockburn Global Forex when asked by the Morning Brief whether the Russia-Ukraine crisis would lead to a complete abandonment of the dollar.

This is “the same problem as always, there is no clear convincing alternative,” he said in an email.

“Moreover, the Europeans have sanctioned Russia’s central bank so that the alternative is not the euro,” he added.

Cryptocurrencies are currently considered the most viable (or at least the closest) alternative. In recent days, digital tokens have been in high demand despite a reluctance to take risks, leading to speculation that both Russians and Ukrainians are migrating to cryptocurrency given the restrictions imposed on them by sanctions.

However, in a research note Wednesday, Citigroup downplayed the impact of Russian flows, suggesting that the cryptocurrency offer was largely speculative. Bannockburn’s Chandler was also skeptical that the crypto could eventually displace the dollar, even in the near future.

“Crypto to replace the role of government securities behind the dollar? Nowhere near, “said the analyst. “Getting out of bonds means giving up yields, liquidity, transparency and security for what exactly?”

Given the unanimity of the international consensus against Russian President Vladimir Putin, it seems unlikely that any major economy will abandon a global financial system based on dollar dominance, at least for now.

“Putin has done what several American presidents have failed to do: revitalize NATO, increase Germany’s defense spending and get multinational companies around the world involved in sanctions,” Chandler said.

“Pax Americana seems to be stronger after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Even Chinese banks continue to adhere to US sanctions, and there seems to be more space between Russia and China than before,” he added.

One of the options on the table is digital currency for central banking. The Fed’s initial moves toward creating the CBDC are unlikely to happen for some time. As early as January, Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Schönberger said the Fed saw the CBDC as one way to help preserve the dollar’s traditional role as a preferred reserve currency instead of undermining it.

The Fed’s gradual move toward the digital dollar is partly why bitcoin investor Anthony Pompliano wrote last week that America “needs to start thinking about what to do in a world where much of the world doesn’t use the dollar as its reserve currency.”

Given the growing divergence between the United States, China and Russia, the latter two may decide that “the cost [of] the use of the world’s current reserve currency has become too high. They are unlikely to use rubles or yuan as a new reserve currency. “There is not enough global participation, along with a common challenge to convince the world that these new nation-states will not repeat the mistakes of past nation-states,” Pompliano wrote.

Assuming that bitcoin was the “next best option,” he listed several ways the United States could encourage its use, suggesting that monetary authorities could start adding it to their books like any other reserve asset, and ” to treat it as a traditional currency. “

Yes, the use and attractiveness of cryptocurrency is certainly growing. But the sector is not nearly stable or well-established enough to touch dollar-denominated bonds, which every central bank and institutional investor in the world still wants – even with all the US debt and deficit costs.

By Javier E. David, editor at Yahoo Finance. Follow him in @Teflongeek

What to watch today

Economics

• 7:30 a.m. ET: Job cuts in Challenger, on an annual basis, February (-76.0% in the previous month)

• 8:30 a.m. ET: Non-agricultural productivity, fourth quarter final (6.6% expected, 6.6% before)

• 8:30 a.m. ET: Unit labor costs, fourth quarter final (0.3% expected, 0.3% before)

• 8:30 a.m. ET: Initial unemployment applications, week ended February 26 (225,000 expected, 232,000 in previous week)

• 8:30 a.m. ET: Ongoing claims, week ended February 19 (1.4 million is expected, 1.476 million in the previous week)

• 9:45 AM ET: Markit US Services PMI, February final (expected 56.7, before 56.7)

• 9:45 AM ET: Markit US Composite PMI, February final (56 ago)

• 10:00 AM ET: ISM Services Index, February (expected 61.1, 59.9 in the previous month)

• 8:30 a.m. ET: Orders for durable goods, January final (1.6% ago)

• 8:30 a.m. ET: Orders for durable goods, except transport, January final (0.7% ago)

• 8:30 a.m. ET: Orders for capital goods without defense, except aircraft, January final (0.9% ago)

• 8:30 a.m. ET: Capital goods consignments without defense, except aircraft, January final (1.9%)

Profit

Preliminary market

• 6:00 AM ET: Large batches (BIG) is expected to report adjusted earnings of $ 1.89 per share on revenue of $ 1.73 billion

• 6:30 a.m. ET: Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) is expected to report adjusted earnings of C $ 2.04 per share on earnings of C $ 10.17 billion

• 6:45 AM ET: BJ’s Wholesale Club (BJ) is expected to report adjusted earnings of 76 cents per share on revenue of $ 4.42 billion

• 7:00 AM ET: Best Buy (BBY) is expected to report adjusted earnings of $ 2.72 per share on revenue of $ 16.59 billion

• 8:00 AM ET: Kroger (KR) is expected to report adjusted earnings of 72 cents per share on revenue of $ 32.98 billion

Post-market

• 4:05 PM ET: Marvell Technology (COM)MRVL) is expected to report adjusted earnings of 48 cents per share on revenue of $ 1.32 billion

• 4:15 PM ET: Broadcom (COM)AVGO) is expected to report adjusted earnings of $ 8.13 per share on revenue of $ 7.61 billion

• 4:15 PM ET: Costco (COM)PRICE) is expected to report adjusted earnings of $ 2.58 per share on revenue of $ 51.47 billion

• 4:15 PM ET: gap (GPS) is expected to report adjusted losses of 14 cents per share on revenue of $ 4.49 billion

• 4:05 PM ET: Vision (VZIO) is expected to report adjusted losses of 18 cents per share on revenue of $ 691.46 million

• After closing the market: sweet green (DV) is expected to report adjusted losses of 66 cents per share on revenue of $ 84.68 million

politics

• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell faces second day questions from MPs. He will be before the Senate Banking Committee at 10:00 a.m. ET. On Wednesday, before a committee in the House of Representatives, he said the Fed would “proceed carefully” to raise interest rates amid the conflict in Ukraine.

• in the White House, President Biden will hold a cabinet meeting at 14:00 ET.

Top news

European markets are rising as the London Stock Exchange blocks trading in Russian stocks [Yahoo Finance UK]

Oil reached a 10-year high and approached $ 120 a barrel [Yahoo Finance UK]

Britain excludes Russian companies from the insurance market [Yahoo Finance UK]

Russian companies are rushing to open accounts in Chinese banks as sanctions impose [Reuters]

Yahoo Finance Highlights

Why the stock market refuses to plunge into the Russia-Ukraine crisis

Airbnb CEO for the future in Russia: “Everything is on the table”

Why the conflict between Russia and Ukraine can turn crypto donations into a “game change”

–

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

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The baby powder formula could be linked to at least five baby diseases, including possibly two deaths, the Food and Drug Administration warned earlier this week. But there may be more cases than reported, CBS News has learned.

Natalie Coseli and Tyler Rowland say their son Hayes suddenly had a fever and blood in his diaper before turning pale and lethargic in late October. The 2-month-old was admitted to a children’s hospital in Texas and is related to IV.

“The doctors didn’t know what was going on,” Rowland, the baby’s father, told CBS News. “It was unreal. Very, very scary.”

Eventually, his doctors diagnosed him with a salmonella infection.

“I just said to myself, how’s this going?” said the Goats.

Four months later, there was a potential answer – the Similac formula that Hayes’ parents fed him is among the four recently launched brands of baby powder formula. All were made by Abbott Labs at the Sturgess, Michigan plant.

In February, the FDA announced that five babies – all of whom had now consumed the withdrawn formula, according to their parents – had contracted Salmonella or Cronobacter, which could cause meningitis or sepsis. Two of the babies have died.

“We have information that suggests that as early as September 2021, there were complaints to the FDA about an outbreak of the Cronobacter food pathogen at the facility in Sturgess, Michigan,” lawyer Scott Schlesinger, representing Coselli and Rowland, told CBS News. “So, when you have such outbreaks, you need a trusted manufacturer on whom consumers depend to act quickly, responsibly, without hesitation.

Schlesinger and his law firm have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of another family whose child has also been diagnosed with salmonella. So far, he represents eight families with babies who are said to have consumed withdrawn Abbott products that are not included in the number of FDA cases, he said.

Abbott told CBS News in a statement that stored samples from the withdrawn batches were negative for Cronobacter and Salmonella and that “the cause of the babies’ infections is currently unknown.”

Schlesinger said an investigation into the company’s testing practices should begin.

“Unfortunately, we often find that there have been shortcuts, there has been inattention, there has been supervision, there has been an inadequate assessment of food safety. And so things go public, and consumers are the ones who pay the price, “said a lawyer.

During an FDA inspection of the Sturgis plant in September, the agency issued five citations, including inadequate hand washing and improper maintenance of a building used to produce and package baby food.

During another inspection, the FDA found “several positive results from Cronobacter from environmental samples.” An FDA review of Abbott’s internal documents also showed that Abbott had previously destroyed the formula due to this contamination.

The FDA deputy commissioner said the agency was still investigating complaints.

“Recent childhood illnesses and deaths from exposure to certain withdrawn powdered infant formulas produced at the Abbott plant are tragic and of great concern to all of us. Our first and foremost priority is to ensure that every product withdrawn is released and to work with the USDA and manufacturers to ensure that parents have access to an alternative, safe formula for infants, “said Frank Janas, Deputy Commissioner. of the FDA on Food Policy and Response, in a statement to CBS News.

Janas added that “the investigation is ongoing”.

Hayes is now 6 months old and doing well, but his family says his body is still healing.

“It’s horrifying to hear that this has happened,” Koseli said. “There are two babies who have died. It’s really sad.”

Abbott has created a web page where you can check if the batch number of your powder formula is included in the download: https://www.similacrecall.com/us/en/product-lookup.html. Users can get more information at www.similacrecall.com on how to get a refund or replacement, or call Similac customer service at 1-800-986-8540.

Current news

Nicky Batiste

Nicki Batiste is a New York-based CBS News correspondent.

Ten major car and motorcycle groups have announced factory closures or frozen sales to Russia as the industrial consequences of the country’s invasion of Ukraine spread on Wednesday.

Porsche and BMW became the last carmakers to close European plants due to a lack of parts in Ukraine, while Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai, one of Russia’s largest brands, said they would stop production in the country. Ford, Renault and BMW have already closed Russian plants.

In addition, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Honda, Bentley, Aston Martin, Harley-Davidson and Rolls-Royce froze sales to Russia, joining a growing list of brands from Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover to Volkswagen.

Only a handful of brands, including Hyundai and Nissan, were still importing cars into the country as of Wednesday night. Avtovaz, which is owned by Renault, was also still selling its Lada brand. Renault has suspended sales while its Moscow plant has closed due to difficulties in supplying parts of Europe.

On Tuesday, Carlos Tavares, head of Stellantis (which owns brands from Jeep and Peugeot to Fiat), said he was determined to continue selling in Russia “as long as sanctions allow it.”

As the Russian invasion began on its seventh day, major parts of Ukraine’s closed plants began to dry up, forcing carmakers across Europe to cut production as they sought new supplies.

At the same time, a growing number of car brands that import into Russia are canceling their sales due to sanctions, non-payment or damage to the reputation of an activity in a country that risks becoming a pariah.

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Bentley and Rolls-Royce’s decision to suspend sales for the country followed a similar announcement by Aston Martin late Tuesday night.

Bentley said the Russian market accounted for about 2% of its business, while Aston said Russia accounted for 1% of sales.

McLaren and Lotus, two other luxury British sports brands, have no business in Russia, the companies told the Financial Times.

Honda, which canceled sales on Wednesday, already said in December 2020 that it plans to leave the Russian market this year.

Porsche, which was still supplying cars to the country on Wednesday, will close its plant in Leipzig, Germany, by the end of next week, the VW-backed sports car brand has announced.

This comes after BMW said late Tuesday night that factories in Munich and Dingolfing in Germany and the Mini plant in the UK will be forced to close next week.

VW, which owns Porsche, has already closed two facilities in Europe and warned of further cuts due to difficulties in supplying parts.

As the flow of components from Ukraine dries up, carmakers are appreciating the best ways to keep their European facilities running.

Another major car brand in Europe told the Financial Times that it had enough parts to keep its factories running until next week, but could be forced to close after that.

Tavares said on Tuesday that the impact on the company’s plants – which include sites in France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom – is currently “very limited” because it supplies fewer parts than Germany’s competitors in Eastern Europe.

Ukraine is a key producer of cable bundles that hold electronic cables in the car. Factories in the country were closed last week.

While other sites in Eastern Europe and North Africa produce similar components, supply chain experts say it will take time for car plants to provide the parts they need, which could include moving some of the equipment from Ukraine.

The Aptiv parts group, which has two Ukrainian facilities, has already moved some kits abroad to other sites to try to maintain production.

© 2022 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved Do not distribute, copy or change in any way.

Image of the list by Monty Rakusen Getty Images

Greg Kelly was found guilty of helping former Nissan CEO Carlos Gon to hide his pay from financial regulators.

A Tokyo court on Thursday sentenced Greg Kelly, a former executive director of Nissan Motor, for helping former CEO Carlos Gon to hide the pay he was supposed to reveal to financial regulators.

In a court ruling, the judge told Kelly that he helped Gon hide about 9.3 billion yen ($ 80 million) in payments that had not been disclosed in the financial statements for a decade.

The judge found that Kelly was unaware of all the 9.3 billion yen ($ 80.46 million) hidden payments during the period, blaming Toshiaki Onuma, an official who monitors Gon’s compensation details, for some of the erroneous reports. Onuma, who was a key prosecution witness, was not tried in exchange for his cooperation.

“The court finds there is unpaid remuneration” and non-disclosure of the “total amount” constitutes “false” reporting, Kelly’s judge told the court.

The judge sentenced the former American executive director of Nissan to six months in prison, suspended for three years. The ruling means Kelly, who has the right to appeal, will be able to return to the United States immediately.

“Although it was a long three years for the Kelly family, this chapter is over. He and Dee (his wife) can start their next chapter in Tennessee, “said US Ambassador to Japan Ram Emmanuel in a statement.

Kelly’s legal team claimed during the Tokyo District Court trial that Kelly was looking for legal ways to pay Gon to stop him from leaving for a competitor.

Prosecutors have demanded that Kelly be sentenced to two years in prison. They claim that Gon, Kelly and Nissan did not include Gon’s compensation in the submitted documents for eight years until 2018.

The verdict – at the end of an 18-month trial and more than three years after his arrest along with Gon – may be the closest a Japanese court will decide on the former Nissan boss’s guilt.

Gon, who has declared his innocence and sharply criticized the Japanese judiciary for its near-perfect sentencing rate, is beyond the reach of Japanese prosecutors after fleeing to Lebanon in 2019, hidden in a box on a private plane.

Elon Musk has invited the United Auto Workers (UAW) union will vote for a union at Tesla’s Fremont, California plant.

Musk tweeted the challenge after President Joe Biden, speaking in his address on the state of the union, mentioned rival carmakers Ford and General Motors – both of which have a strong union presence, a key component of Biden’s political base – but not Tesla.

Gene Simmons, bassist and singer of the iconic rock band Kiss, said on Twitter that pro-union Biden’s disregard may have been “because Tesla is not a union and has moved to Texas, a state with a ‘right to work.’

Musk apparently agreed and replied: “I would now like to invite the UAW to hold a union vote when it is convenient for them. Tesla will do nothing to stop them. ” Musk’s argument is that because the Gulf region has such a competitive labor market, Tesla needs to “treat and compensate our (great) people well,” which makes unions unattractive.

Our real challenge is that Bay Area has negative unemployment, so if we don’t treat and compensate our (great) people well, they have many other offers and will just leave!

I would like to hereby invite the UAW to hold a trade union vote when it is convenient for them. Tesla will do nothing to stop them.

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2022

Although Musk says he welcomes a fair vote for unionization, he and other Tesla executives have been found guilty in the past of sabotaging union efforts. In September 2019, a California judge found the company’s management guilty of a number of illegal tactics against unions. As Vox reported at the time:

Administrative Judge Amita Tracy identified 12 actions by the company that violate U.S. labor laws. These included security guards harassing workers handing out union brochures in the car park, banning employees from wearing union T-shirts and buttons, repeatedly questioning union organizers and eventually firing one of them.

As one worker told The Guardian in 2018: “Elon Musk says he is neutral with the union […] They were anything but neutral. Anything that is union or pro-union closes very quickly. “Musk himself was also ordered to delete tweets that the National Labor Council (NLRB) found to be a threat to union workers. Tesla is currently appealing the order.

London Stock Exchange: Stock price information is displayed on LSE screens in the City of London, England. Photo: Jack Taylor / Getty Images

European markets rose in positive territory on Thursday as the London Stock Exchange (LSE) blocked trading with 27 companies with close ties to Russia.

In London, the FTSE 100 (^ FTSE) rose 0.3% after opening, while the CAC (^ FCHI) rose 0.4% in Paris and the DAX (^ GDAXI) was 0.2% higher in Frankfurt.

The LSE said it was blocking trade with certain companies “in addition to recent sanctions in connection with the events in Ukraine” and “to maintain orderly markets”.

Some of those affected are EN +, Gazprom, Lukoil, Rosneft and Sberbank.

The move takes effect immediately and follows similar actions from other indices. On Monday, Deutsche Borse stopped trading with 16 companies with ties to Russia, while the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq followed suit.

Russian miners Polymetal (POLY.L) and Evraz (EVR.L) were also kicked out of the FTSE 100 after suffering heavy stock price losses following Western sanctions against Russia.

Read more: Russia’s Evraz and Polymetal will lose FTSE 100 status

After rebounding overnight, S&P 500 futures (ES = F) were down 0.8%, Dow (YM = F) was down 0.5% and Nasdaq futures (NQ = F) were down 1.2%. % lower when trade started in Europe.

Meanwhile, Brent crude oil (BZ = F), the global benchmark, exceeded $ 119 a barrel before falling slightly, and is now rising more than 20% for the week.

It was a jump to its nine-year high, meaning the figure has earned more than $ 118 in just one week since the Kremlin pushed troops into Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate (CL = F) traded above $ 115, the highest level since 2008.

Aluminum (ALI = F) reached another record high on Thursday, rising 2.3 percent to $ 3,650 on the London Metal Exchange, while nickel rose more than 4 percent to $ 26,935 a tonne. Russia is a major producer of both metals.

Read more: How Russia’s war against Ukraine affects stock prices

Overnight, Asian stocks managed to make a profit after soothing comments from the Federal Reserve helped Wall Street bounce back.

The story continues

In Japan, the Nikkei (^ N225) rose 0.7 percent, while the Hang Seng (^ HSI) rose nearly 0.6 percent and the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) lost 0.1 percent.

Rapid access to raw materials also boosted resource-rich stocks in Australia, while Indonesia was slightly above record highs.

Watch: Why are gas prices rising?

An exchanger holds banknotes in Turkish lira and US dollars at an exchange office in Ankara, Turkey, December 16, 2021.

Chagla Gurdogan | Reuters

Inflation in Turkey has risen to a new 20-year high, higher than expected by 54.44% in February as the pound continues to suffer and energy prices rise.

Consumer prices rose 4.81% from the previous month, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute on Thursday. The producer price index jumped 7.22% from the previous month, an annual increase of 105%.

Record energy imports in January helped increase Turkey’s trade deficit, and commodity prices continue to rise amid fears about supplies and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Brent oil has risen 53 percent since the beginning of the year.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has given priority to credit and exports, while consistently arguing – against any economic orthodoxy – that rising interest rates are actually exacerbating inflation, not taming it.

The Central Bank of Turkey cut interest rates by 500 basis points from September to 14%.

The Turkish lira has lost approximately 47% of its value in the last full year as a result of Erdogan’s refusal to raise interest rates as inflation continues to rise. The turbulence of the currency hit the Turks hard as their wages fell and living costs rose sharply. Sharp increases in electricity and gas tariffs have complicated the pain for consumers and businesses.

January inflation in the country is 48.7%, the highest in two decades. In mid-February, Erdogan vowed to “break the shackles of interest rates” and reduce inflation to single digits. He blamed Turkey’s currency problems on “foreign financial instruments”.

Erdogan’s government has instead promoted “permanent lyricization” and a “rescue plan” that will guarantee the Turkish central bank’s savings in pounds by intervening and compensating for losses on pounds in pounds if their value against hard currencies falls above interest rates banks.

Analysts say the plan is expensive and essentially represents a large hidden interest rate hike and is unlikely to be sustainable in the long run.

“Inflation will remain close to these highs until the last months of this year, but the central bank and, most importantly, President Erdogan do not seem to have an appetite to raise interest rates,” London-based Capital Economics said in a note Thursday.

The dollar rose just under 1% against the pound on Thursday morning in Istanbul, with the Turkish currency trading at 14.13 for the greenback.

LONDON, March 3 – Oil prices rose again on Thursday as Ukraine’s war spurred goods that may be in short supply as stock markets fell as investors worried about higher inflation. and slowing economic growth.

Brent crude rose more than 5 percent to $ 120 a barrel and is now rising nearly 20 percent during the week as everything from coal to natural gas and aluminum rises as Western countries tighten sanctions on Russia after its invasion in Ukraine. Russia calls its actions a “special operation.” Read more

“Russia supplies about 30% of Europe’s gas and oil imports and accounts for about 11% of world oil production,” said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Fund Manager. “In short, investors are worried about a stagflationary shock.”

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MSCI added to Russia’s financial isolation by deciding to exclude the country from its emerging markets index, while FTSE Russell said Russia would be removed from all its indices.

Fitch downgraded Russia’s sovereign credit rating by six notches to “garbage” status, saying it was unsure the country could service its debt, and Moody’s soon followed suit. Read more

European stocks fell in the open, failing to follow the late Wall Street rally after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank would raise interest rates by 0.25% this month, less than 0.5%. which some investors have pledged.

Not all investors are worried that inflation will remain higher in the medium term.

In terms of inflation, we believe that leading consumer prices are likely to peak in the next month or two, “said Mark Hefele, chief investment officer, UBS Global Wealth Management, which he said will allow the Fed to raise interest rates. at a pace that does not undermine economic recovery.

Euro STOXX fell 0.45% (.STOXX), while the FTSE 100 weakened 0.47% (.FTSE).

Wall Street futures showed a slightly weaker opening.

In Asia, the rush to commodities boosted resource-rich Australian stocks (.AXJO) by 0.49%, while Indonesia (.JKSE) was slightly above record highs.

Japan’s Nikkei (.N225) rose 0.7 percent, while MSCI’s broadest Asia-Pacific equity index outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) rose 0.42 percent.

In foreign exchange markets, the euro fell 0.3% to $ 1.1076, close to its 21-month low as investors dumped European assets fearing the impact of the war in Ukraine on the region’s economy.

The euro and gas prices

The dollar index rose 0.2% to 97,622.

Powell warned on Wednesday that the Fed may need to rise more aggressively if inflation continues to rise.

That pulled some of the asylum from government securities, and the 10-year yield returned to 1.87%, from Tuesday’s two-month low of 1.682%.

European bonds have also turned down some of their recent huge gains after data showed that eurozone inflation reached a record 5.8% in January, making it difficult for the ECB to keep policy super loose.

Inflation was also on the mind of the Bank of Canada when it started the tightening cycle on Wednesday, raising interest rates by a quarter to 0.5%. Read more

This move, combined with the strength of oil prices, briefly lifted the Canadian dollar to a five-week high of $ 1.2554. Other commodity-related currencies also benefited from the Australian dollar at a four-year peak against the euro.

Gold stood at $ 1,923 an ounce and is still up 2% from the week before thanks to the search for safe haven.

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Additional reports from Wayne Cole in Sydney. Edited by Jane Merriman

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