KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Twitter’s stock plummeted 18% in premarket trading following the initial announcement, but trimmed some losses after the second tweet.</li><li>Musk announced last month that he intends to buy Twitter for $44 billion.</li><li>He’s tweeted that one of his main priorities would be to remove “spam bots” from the platform.</li></ul>



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/elon-musk/">Elon Musk</a>&nbsp;announced Friday that his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/TWTR" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a>&nbsp;deal is on hold until he receives more information about how many fake accounts there are on the social media platform.



In a follow-up tweet around two hours later, Musk added that he was “still committed to the acquisition.”



Twitter’s stock plummeted 18% in premarket trading following the initial announcement, but trimmed some losses after the second tweet. A spokesperson for the social media company did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/TSLA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tesla</a>&nbsp;CEO Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/14/elon-musk-offers-to-buy-twitter-for-54point20-a-share-saying-it-needs-to-be-transformed-as-private-company.html">announced last month</a>&nbsp;that he intends to buy Twitter for $44 billion and he’s previously tweeted that one of his main priorities would be to remove “spam bots” from the platform.



Even before Friday’s announcement, the company’s market value had fallen to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/twitter-market-cap-has-dropped-to-9-billion-below-musk-purchase-price.html">$9 billion beneath the offer price due to concerns about the deal.</a>



Musk, who is <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/05/elon-musk-expected-to-serve-as-temporary-twitter-ceo-after-deal-closes.html">expected to serve as Twitter’s temporary CEO</a> if the deal goes ahead, would have to pay a $1 billion breakup fee should <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/26/elon-musk-will-owe-twitter-1-billion-if-he-cant-secure-financing.html">he choose to walk away</a>. Musk is worth more than $220 billion.



Twitter estimated in a filing earlier this month that fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily active users during the first quarter were bots or spam accounts.



Musk, who is the world’s richest person on paper, now wants the company to confirm this before he continues with the deal, which is being partly funded by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.



The San Francisco-headquartered social media company said in the filing that it had 229 million users in the first quarter who were served advertising.



On Tuesday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/10/elon-musk-says-he-would-lift-twitter-ban-on-donald-trump-after-deal-closes.html">Musk said</a>&nbsp;that he would lift Twitter’s ban on former President&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/donald-trump/">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;if he takes over the company.



“Permanent bans should be extremely rare and really reserved for accounts that are bots, or scam, spam accounts … I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump,” Musk said at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/50d2861e-fdeb-487c-b052-f2021558e87d" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FT Live’s Future of the Car conference</a>. “I think that was a mistake, because it alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”



Earlier this month,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/05/bill-gates-says-elon-musk-could-make-twitter-worse.html">Bill Gates warned</a>&nbsp;that Musk could make&nbsp;Twitter&nbsp;“worse.” Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Summit, Gates said it’s unclear how Musk will change Twitter if he takes ownership, while also raising concerns about the spread of misinformation on social media platforms.



Gates went on to question what Musk’s goal is with Twitter and whether his drive to promote free speech is sensible. “What are his goals for what it ends up being? Does that match this idea of less extreme falsehoods spreading so quickly [and] weird conspiracy theories? Does he share that goal or not?” Gates said.



Before Musk made his bid to buy Twitter outright, he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/04/elon-musk-thumbs-his-nose-at-the-sec-again-with-twitter-stake.html">failed to disclose</a>&nbsp;a more than 9% stake in the company within the SEC’s mandatory 10-day window.



<a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/elon-musks-early-twitter-purchase-under-ftc-scrutiny" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Information reported</a>&nbsp;that the Federal Trade Commission is probing the timing of Musk’s disclosure.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-05/musk-faces-ftc-antitrust-review-on-twitter-alongside-stock-probe" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg later said</a>&nbsp;the FTC is separately reviewing the acquisition itself, though many experts don’t expect the deal to raise antitrust concerns.



The FTC doesn’t disclose ongoing investigations, and an FTC spokesperson declined to comment.



Tesla’s share price climbed nearly 7% in premarket trading Friday.



Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said some are likely to query whether fake accounts are the real reason behind this delaying tactic.



“The $44 billion price tag is huge, and it may be a strategy to row back on the amount he is prepared to pay to acquire the platform,” she said in a statement.



Additional reporting by CNBC’s Lauren Feiner.

Elon Musk At SpaceX Headquarters

Elon Musk says Twitter deal on hold pending details on fake accounts; shares sink 11%

EM FX, stocks down amid broader risk-off



Indian rupee at record low; inflation data due 1200 GMT



Yuan at 20-month low



Czech crown bounces from eight-week lows



S. Africa gold, mining March data due 0930 GMT



By Anisha Sircar



May 12 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Emerging market currencies slipped on Thursday as the greenback hit its highest&nbsp;level in two decades&nbsp;after hotter U.S. inflation data, while regional shares tumbled to&nbsp;fresh 22-month lows on pressure from&nbsp;stock markets in India and China.



MSCI&#8217;s index of emerging market (EM) currencies&nbsp;.MIEM00000CUS&nbsp;resumed a descent that began in&nbsp;early-April, falling 0.6% to return to its weakest level since November 2020 after a breather in its last two sessions.



Inflation pressures in parts of EM are rising, even though U.S. inflation might have peaked, said Natalia Gurushina, EM Fixed Income economist at VanEck.



Data on Wednesday&nbsp;showed U.S. consumer price growth is likely to stay hot for a while. Higher-than-expected inflation lifted&nbsp;the dollar&nbsp;=USD&nbsp;and dragged stocks as it suggests a more robust Federal Reserve response this year.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2X315F&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



&#8220;Some EM central banks will have to keep on hiking – in a sense &#8216;matching&#8217; the Fed&#8217;s hikes – even though EM inflation is driven by exogenous factors, but the problem is that global supply shocks are feeding into core inflation, and this passthrough might be higher than in normal pre-COVID years,&#8221; Gurushina added.



Stocks&nbsp;.MSCIEF&nbsp;plunged 2.3% to a 22-month low, dropping eight out of its nine previous sessions.



Indian shares&nbsp;.NSEI,&nbsp;.BSESN&nbsp;dropped nearly 2% and the rupee&nbsp;INR=IN&nbsp;hit an all-time low for a second time this week ahead of domestic retail inflation numbers, with a Reuters poll expecting it to surge to an 18-month high.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL3N2X40XW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL3N2WY21A&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



China stocks&nbsp;.SSEC,&nbsp;.CSI300&nbsp;pared gains to close upto 0.4% lower, while the yuan&nbsp;CNY=&nbsp;slipped 0.9% to a 20-month low.



The South African rand&nbsp;ZAR=&nbsp;fell 0.8%, ahead&nbsp;of mining data and after new COVID-19&nbsp;cases crossed 10,000 for first time since January, stoking fears of a fifth wave.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AJ8N2WE008&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



In Central Europe, the Czech crown&nbsp;EURCZK=&nbsp;bounced 0.2% a day after plumbing two-month lows after Czech Republic President Milos Zeman appointed Ales Michl, a central bank board member who has opposed policy tightening, as the bank&#8217;s new governor, signalling a likely end to rate hikes.&nbsp;CEE/



For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2022, see&nbsp;<a href="http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh</a>



For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2022, see&nbsp;<a href="https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX</a>



For TOP NEWS across emerging markets&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3ATOPEMRG&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see&nbsp;CEE/



For TURKISH market report, see&nbsp;.IS



For RUSSIAN market report, see&nbsp;RU/RUB



(Reporting by Anisha Sircar and Lisa Pauline Mattackal in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)

Stock market exchange graph price drop with red numbers investment lose of business financial digital background – Candle stick charts stock crash crisis fall risk decreasing arrow down trend sell

EMERGING MARKETS – FX returns to 18-month lows as dollar gallops higher

Bitcoin dropped below the $27,000 level as a recent sell-off in the cryptocurrency space continues.



The price of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/BTC.CM=">bitcoin</a>&nbsp;was last down 8.76% to $26,848.20 as of 1:47 a.m. ET Thursday, according to data from Coin Metrics.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/ETH.CM=">Ether</a>&nbsp;fell more than 13% to $1,832.33.



Cryptocurrencies fell with stocks after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported consumer prices for the month of April&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/11/cpi-april-2022.html">jumped 8.3%, which was slightly higher than expected</a>&nbsp;by economists polled by Dow Jones.



That spooked investors, leading them to exit risk assets including crypto. Cryptocurrencies remain highly correlated with the S&amp;P 500 and, more recently, the Nasdaq Composite.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bitcoin-stays-under-30-000-wednesday">Bitcoin stays under $30,000 Wednesday</h2>



“The crypto market has been under pressure for some time now,” said Michael Rinko, venture associate at AscendEx. “The Fed keeps hiking, so equities keep going down and crypto’s been going down along with it. Generally that’s created a lot of fear in the market.”



This is the second time this week bitcoin has fallen into the $29,000 range. Analysts have called $30,000 a key level for the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, and said it could fall even further if it can’t hold there.



This time last week bitcoin&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/04/bitcoin-jumps-to-40000-after-fed-chair-powell-rules-out-bigger-rate-hikes.html">touched a recent high of $40,000</a>&nbsp;but quickly reversed the next day and has been steadily hitting new lows since.



Investors also digesting big news from the Terra project, whose suddenly popular stablecoin&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/UST.CM=">TerraUSD</a>&nbsp;crashed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/11/terra-ust-stablecoin-dives-below-1-peg-luna-cryptocurrency-down-80percent.html">almost 100% at one point</a>&nbsp;in the past week, breaking its $1 peg. The decentralized, algorithmic stablecoin is meant to be backed by a combination of digital assets, including bitcoin.

106885587-16214575182021-05-19t203912z_144465080_rc28jn9cpt2v_rtrmadp_0_crypto-currency-bitcoin

Bitcoin drops below $27,000 level as crypto sell-off continues

KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>UST, a so-called stablecoin that’s meant to maintain a $1 peg, was trading at less than 50 cents Wednesday.</li><li>Sister token luna dived more than 80%.</li><li>Terra creator Do Kwon said Tuesday he was “close to announcing a recovery plan” for UST.</li></ul>



The two main tokens from embattled crypto project Terra are now in free fall.



TerraUSD, or UST, is a so-called stablecoin that’s meant to maintain a 1-to-1 peg with the U.S. dollar. But the cryptocurrency plunged to as low as 31 cents Wednesday morning. It was last trading at less than 50 cents, according to CoinGecko data.



Sister token luna dived 95% to just $1.69. The latest plunge means luna has erased more than 98% of its value in the last seven days.



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/BTC.CM=">Bitcoin</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/ETH.CM=">ether</a>&nbsp;saw more muted moves. Bitcoin fell about 1% to $31,378 while ether slipped 0.6% to $2,393.



Stablecoins are akin to bank accounts for the crypto economy, offering a sound store of value to avoid the kind of volatility cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have become notorious for — in theory, at least.



UST is what’s known as an “algorithmic” stablecoin. It uses a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/09/what-is-terrausd-ust-and-how-does-it-affect-bitcoin.html">complex system of minting and burning tokens</a> to adjust supply and stabilize prices. UST’s price has crumbled under the pressure of a sell-off in cryptocurrencies recently, resulting in further panic in the market.



Do Kwon, the coin’s creator, has amassed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/10/bitcoin-btc-investors-panic-as-terrausd-ust-sinks-below-1-peg.html">billions of dollars’ worth of bitcoin</a>&nbsp;through his Luna Foundation Guard fund to support UST in times of crisis. The fear now is that Luna Foundation Guard dumps those bitcoins onto the market, resulting in an even bigger sell-off.



Bitcoin&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/10/bitcoin-dips-below-30000-drops-more-than-56percent-from-its-all-time-high.html">briefly slumped below $30,000</a>&nbsp;late Monday, its lowest price since July 2021. The world’s biggest digital coin is now hovering slightly above that level. It’s fallen over 50% since setting an all-time high of nearly $69,000 in November.



David Moreno Darocas, a research analyst at CryptoCompare, said the situation highlights the “fragility” of algorithmic stablecoins like UST.



“UST has grown to be both an integral and controversial piece of the crypto ecosystem,” he said.



The phenomenon is still relatively new. But UST has grown to become a major player in the crypto economy, with a circulating supply of 16 billion tokens.



Investors are now closely watching for how Luna Foundation Guard responds to prop up its ailing stablecoin. Kwon said Tuesday he was “close to announcing a recovery plan” for UST. “Hang tight,” he tweeted.



Elsewhere, crypto traders were also rattled by concerns over&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/COIN" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coinbase’s</a>&nbsp;financial health.



CEO Brian Armstrong clarified Tuesday that there was “no risk of bankruptcy” for the crypto exchange even as digital currency prices slide.



“For our retail customers, we’re taking further steps to update our user terms such that we offer the same protections to those customers in a black swan event,” he said in a series of tweets. “We should have had these in place previously, so let me apologize for that.”



Coinbase shares were down 19% in pre-market trading Wednesday after the company reported a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/10/coinbase-coin-earnings-q1-2022.html">27% slide in first-quarter revenue</a>.

51008793946_8a23be8a2d_k

Controversial stablecoin UST — which is meant to be pegged to the dollar — plummets below 50 cents

CHICAGO, May 10 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Why are food prices rising?



Global food prices started to rise in mid-2020 when businesses shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, straining supply chains. Farmers dumped out milk and let fruits and vegetables rot due to a lack of available truckers to transport goods to supermarkets, where prices spiked as consumers stockpiled food. A shortage of migrant labor as lockdowns restricted movement impacted crops worldwide.



Since then, there have been problems with key crops in many parts of the world. Brazil, the world&#8217;s top soybean exporter, suffered from severe drought in 2021. China&#8217;s wheat crop has been among the worst ever this year. Concerns about food security, heightened during the pandemic, have led some countries to hoard staples to ward off future shortages, limiting supplies on the global market.



Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine in late February dramatically worsened the outlook for food prices. The U.N. food agency said prices hit an all-time record in February and again in March. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat and barley, and two-thirds of the world&#8217;s export of sunflower oil used for cooking. Ukraine is the world&#8217;s No. 4 corn exporter. The conflict has damaged Ukraine&#8217;s ports and agricultural infrastructure and that is likely to limit the country&#8217;s agricultural production for years.



Some buyers are avoiding buying grains from Russia due to Western sanctions.



Indonesia banned most exports of palm oil in late April to ensure domestic supplies of cooking oil, cutting off supplies from the world&#8217;s largest producer of the edible oil used in everything from cakes to margarine.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2WK0MX&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



What food prices are rising the most?



Throughout the pandemic, high vegetable oil prices have helped drive up broader food costs. Cereal prices also hit a record in March, a result of limited shipments of corn and wheat during the Ukraine war.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2W60EX&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Dairy and meat prices reached a record in April, according to the U.N. food agency, reflecting continually increasing global demand for protein and high prices for animal feed – mainly corn and soybeans. In addition, bird flu in Europe and North America impacted egg and poultry prices.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N2WY2BD&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2WA1YB&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



In U.S. inflation data for March, the index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs increased 14% from a year ago while beef rose 16%.



When will food prices come down?



It is hard to say, given that agricultural production depends on hard-to-predict factors like weather. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in early May the problem of global food security could not be solved without restoring Ukrainian agricultural production and Russian food and fertilizer output to the world market.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2WW202&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



The World Bank forecasts wheat prices could rise more than 40% in 2022. The Bank expects agricultural prices to fall in 2023 versus 2022. But that depends on increased crop supplies from Argentina, Brazil and the United States &#8211; by no means guaranteed.



The sharp rise in fertilizer prices, as countries avoid buying from major producers Russia and its ally Belarus, could discourage farmers from applying adequate crop nutrients to their fields. That could bring down yields and result in lower production, prolonging the crisis. As the climate warms, extreme weather is becoming more common &#8211; posing another risk to crop production.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2VI30O&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N2V30V8&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Who is most affected?



Food prices in March accounted for the greatest share of U.S. inflation since 1981, according to Fitch Ratings, while shop prices in Britain surged in April at the fastest rate in more than a decade. But the people most impacted by higher food prices live in the developing world, where a larger percentage of incomes is spent on food.



The Global Network Against Food Crises, set up by the United Nations and the European Union, said in an annual report that Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine poses serious risks to global food security, especially in countries facing a food crisis including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2WW0JG&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Reporting by Caroline Stauffer in ChicagoEditing by Matthew Lewis)

Concept of healthy food- fresh vegetables

Why are food prices going up? Key questions answered￼

KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Crypto investors are keeping a close eye on UST, a controversial stablecoin, as the organization that supports it is sitting on billions of dollars in bitcoin.</li><li>Terra’s UST token sank below 70 cents late Monday, as holders continued to flee the controversial stablecoin.</li><li>Traders worry the project might have sold, or will sell, a large portion of its bitcoin to prop up UST.</li></ul>



Investors in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/BTC.CM=">bitcoin</a>&nbsp;are in panic mode as the controversial terraUSD stablecoin slips further from its intended $1 peg.



TerraUSD, or UST, sank below 70 cents for the first time late Monday, as holders continued to flee the token in what some have described as a “bank run.” The token fell as low as 62 cents before regaining ground to trade at 90 cents Tuesday, according to Coinbase data.



Created by Singapore-based Terraform Labs in 2018, UST is what’s known as an “algorithmic” stablecoin. Part of the Terra blockchain project, it’s meant to track the value of the dollar, like fellow stablecoins tether and USDC.



However, unlike with those cryptocurrencies, Terra doesn’t have cash and other assets held in a reserve to back its token. Instead, it uses a complex mix of code — alongside a sister token called luna — to stabilize prices.



UST is important for bitcoin investors as Luna Foundation Guard, an organization supporting the Terra project, is sitting on billions of dollars in bitcoin that could potentially be dumped onto the market at any point.



″Every professional investor in crypto has one eye on UST today, watching to see if it can maintain its peg to the dollar,” said Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management. “There’s clearly significant risk in the market.”



In simple terms, the Terra protocol&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/09/what-is-terrausd-ust-and-how-does-it-affect-bitcoin.html">destroys and creates new units of UST and luna</a>&nbsp;to adjust&nbsp;supply.&nbsp;When the price of UST falls&nbsp;below the dollar,&nbsp;it can be&nbsp;taken out of circulation and exchanged for luna, making&nbsp;UST’s supply more scarce and boosting its price&nbsp;— at least, that’s how it should work in theory.



To further complicate things, Terra’s creator, Do Kwon, bought $3.5 billion worth of bitcoin to provide a backstop for UST in times of crisis. The theory was that UST could eventually be redeemed for bitcoin instead of luna, but this is untested and hasn’t yet been put into practice.



Deposits into Anchor, Terra’s flagship lending protocol, have declined from 10.3 billion tokens on May 6 to just 6.4 billion Tuesday, according to data from blockchain analytics platform Nansen. Anchor offered users an almost 20% annual percentage yield on their UST holdings, a rate many analysts believe was unsustainable.



On Monday, Kwon’s Luna Foundation Guard said it would lend $750&nbsp;million worth of bitcoin to trading firms to “help protect the UST peg,” while a further 750 million UST will be lent out to buy more bitcoin “as market conditions normalize.”



In a follow-up tweet, the organization said it had withdrawn 37,000 bitcoins — worth more than $1 billion at current prices — to lend out. “Very little” of the borrowed bitcoins have been spent, Luna Foundation Guard said, but it is “currently being used to buy” UST.



Several crypto investors are worried that Luna Foundation Guard might have sold, or will sell, a large portion of its bitcoin to prop up UST — analysts pointed out that the group’s bitcoin wallet is now <a href="https://www.oklink.com/en/btc/address/bc1q9d4ywgfnd8h43da5tpcxcn6ajv590cg6d3tg6axemvljvt2k76zs50tv4q" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">completely empty</a>.



Amid all of this uncertainty, UST’s decline has sent shock waves throughout the crypto market.



Bitcoin, the world’s largest digital currency,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/10/bitcoin-dips-below-30000-drops-more-than-56percent-from-its-all-time-high.html">briefly fell below $30,000</a>, hitting its lowest price since July 2021. As of 7:00 a.m. ET, bitcoin was trading at $31,324, down around 5% in the last 24 hours. It’s now down more than 50% from its November all-time high.



Luna, UST’s counterpart, has roughly halved in value in the past 24 hours. It was last trading at a price of $32.



Adding to UST holders’ woes, Binance, the largest crypto exchange by market volume,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/dc02bedd65be40f7b10022f26bc06879" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">temporarily suspended</a>&nbsp;withdrawals of both UST and luna “due to a high volume of pending withdrawal transactions,” citing network congestion.



Binance has since resumed withdrawals, and says it “will continue to monitor” network conditions.



“I think the market is expecting some forced selling here on the part of Terra and the reserve,” Nic Carter, co-founder of Coin Metrics, told CNBC. “It is a calamity but very expected. No algorithmic stablecoin has ever succeeded and this is no exception.”



He added that the problem with UST is that it’s largely “backed by faith.”



“It’s not fully guaranteed, it’s certainly not fully backed by reserves,” he told CNBC. “It was really just backed by faith in the issuer effectively.”



Terraform Labs did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

106914167-1626861873395-gettyimages-1234061399-sindeyev-notitle210719_npeAJ

Bitcoin investors are panicking as a controversial crypto experiment unravels

Price rises sparked by war worsening food crisis in Africa



Ukraine, Russia are major suppliers of wheat, fertilizers



Aid agencies hit by rising costs and drop in donor funding



By Nelson Banya



HARARE, May 10 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zimbabwean security guard Edwin Dapi was already struggling to provide for his wife and four children before a conflict 11,000 km (6,800 miles) away in Ukraine sent global prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer soaring.



Now his monthly pay of 18,000 Zimbabwe dollars, worth roughly $55 at the black market rate used at many informal markets, is stretched to breaking point.



At a supermarket in Mabvuku, one of the poorest neighbourhoods of the capital Harare, the 46-year-old was fretting over his family&#8217;s next meal.



He reached for a 2-litre (0.5 gallon) bottle of vegetable oil, but at 990 Zimbabwean dollars it was more than he could afford. So was a 2 kg (4.4 lb) bag of flour for 390 Zimbabwean dollars.



&#8220;I keep hearing it&#8217;s because of Ukraine, but I don&#8217;t know what that has to do with us,&#8221; he said, scratching oil and flour from his grocery list.



United Nations agencies are warning that price hikes sparked by Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine will worsen a food crisis in Africa, where tens of millions of people have already been plunged into extreme poverty by the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts, climate shocks and economic turmoil.



Last year, Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for nearly two-thirds of the 193 million people considered to be acutely food insecure worldwide, a report by the Global Network Against Food Crises, set up by the United Nations and the European Union, said this month.



Once-prosperous Zimbabwe has struggled to feed itself since the seizure of thousands of white-owned farms to resettle black families, a policy championed by Zimbabwe&#8217;s late president Robert Mugabe during the 2000s.



More recently, its economy has been throttled by drought and cyclones, rolling electricity cuts, foreign currency shortages and runaway inflation.



The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) estimates that some 5.3 million Zimbabweans – around a third of the population &#8211; are food insecure.



To make ends meet, Dapi said he was making plans to move his family to his home village of Mutoko, some 140 km (87 miles) northeast of Harare. &#8220;I must reduce my rent and school fees because everything is going up, except my salary,&#8221; he said.



Across Africa, food insecurity is on the rise. More than 2 million children are at risk of starving to death in the Horn of Africa, where parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are facing their driest conditions in more than 40 years, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths told donors in Geneva on April 26.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2WO1H3&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



In Ethiopia, a civil war has pushed hundreds of thousands of people into famine conditions. Millions more are at risk in South Sudan, where a war that ended in 2020 caused widespread destruction, compounded by some of the worst flooding in generations.&nbsp;L3N2NW2JD



West Africa is facing its worst food crisis on record, driven by Islamist insurgencies that have forced millions of people off their land in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. The region has also seen worsening floods and droughts linked to global warming.&nbsp;L5N2W23Z3



The conflict in Ukraine is making a dire situation even worse.



The war has disrupted shipping in the Black Sea, a major artery for grains and other commodities, throttling exports from Russia and Ukraine to markets including Africa. Ukraine has said the area sown with grains could fall by around a fifth this year because of the war.



Abebe Haile-Gabriel, assistant director-general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and its representative for Africa, said nearly half of the continent&#8217;s 54 countries rely on Russia and Ukraine for wheat imports. Russia is also a major supplier of fertilizer to at least 11 countries.



&#8220;This Ukraine war&#8217;s impact is overlapping with a crisis that has already been unfolding in some African countries,&#8221; Abebe told Reuters. &#8220;We have a very grim outlook going forward.&#8221;



&#8216;DOUBLE JEOPARDY&#8217;



Even before the conflict in Ukraine, food inflation was pushing many African families to the brink. Global food commodity prices climbed over 23% last year, the fastest pace in more than a decade, according to the FAO.



Many of the most vulnerable depend on handouts from the WFP, which buys half the wheat it distributes around the world from Ukraine. Rising food and fuel prices have increased its monthly operating costs by $71 million – a 50% rise &#8211; since 2019, said Tomson Phiri, a global spokesman.



&#8220;WFP faces a double jeopardy: our costs are going up as the numbers of hungry rise,&#8221; he told Reuters.



Prior to the Ukraine war, the WFP faced a funding shortfall that forced it to cut rations in 17 African countries &#8211; including Zimbabwe, Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia – and the gap has widened as donors turn their attention to the conflict in Europe, Phiri said.



Experts say the impact of grains shortages could be particularly harsh in North Africa, where countries like Egypt import up to 80% of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine.



But even African countries that import little from them are being hurt by higher world prices for key commodities.



Kenya, East Africa&#8217;s biggest economy, was shielded from early impacts because millers there had turned to other suppliers after Russia increased taxes on its wheat exports last year, said Kennedy Nyaga, chairman of the United Grain Millers Association.



Kenya has sufficient wheat reserves to last until September but has already run out of reserves of maize &#8211; its staple &#8211; due to the drought, Nyaga said.



The association is pressing the government to allow millers to import 360,000 tons of maize duty free, saying prices leapt from around 2,800 shillings ($24.17) per 90 kg bag to 4,500 shillings since December.



Kenya&#8217;s Ministry of Agriculture did not respond to requests for comment. Finance minister Ukur Yatani said on May 5 he was yet to receive a request from the millers for duty free imports.



STRUGGLING FOR BASICS



In Zimbabwe, households are already feeling the pain. About half its 15 million people survive on less than $1.90 per day, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency.



Households’ struggles to afford food were compounded when the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe hiked prices for wheat flour and the staple maize meal by about 15% in March, citing surging global prices linked to the Ukraine war.



The FAO says that Zimbabwe imports the bulk of its wheat from the Black Sea and Baltic regions, with Russia and Ukraine accounting for nearly one-fifth of imports last year.



Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said in March the government had purchased sufficient maize and wheat stocks from local farmers in the 2021-21 agricultural year to cushion the poor against any food shortages this year.



But the millers association imposed even bigger price increases in April of 31% for wheat flour and 52% for maize meal.



The group says it is seeking alternative suppliers for at least 155,000 tonnes of imports needed until the next harvest in October.



As fuel prices rose and the currency rapidly devalued, Zimbabwe&#8217;s annual inflation jumped to 96% in April, up from 61% in January.



And with fertilizer prices soaring due to the disruption of exports from Russia, many farmers in Zimbabwe are struggling to afford it just as dry weather is affecting crop yields in parts of the country.



Fertilizer prices are up 30% over the past year, according to the Zimbabwe Farmers Union.



&#8220;If fertilizer prices remain at their record high levels, it will also dim crop yield prospects for the 2022/23 agricultural year,&#8221; WFP&#8217;s Zimbabwe spokeswoman Maria Gallar Sanchez said.



Officials at Zimbabwe&#8217;s information, agriculture and trade ministries did not respond to requests for comment.



Fertilizer firm Omnia Holdings&nbsp;OMNJ.J, which operates in many African countries, said prices of potash, ammonia, urea and other key soil nutrients have gone up by 200%-400% since January 2021.



Small-scale farmers, who account for more than 70% of fertilizer consumption in the region, have been hardest hit, Omnia Chief Executive Seelan Gobalsamy told Reuters.



Boniface Mutize, who grows maize and soybeans just outside Harare, said he has started making his own fertilizer by mixing cow dung or chicken waste with zinc. But he said he needs ammonium nitrate, which is not produced in large quantities in Zimbabwe.



&#8220;Many smallholder farmers will not be able to come back next season to grow their own food,&#8221; he said.



($1 = 115.8500 Kenyan shillings)



(Additional reporting by Duncan Miriri and Ayenat Mersie in Nairobi; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Daniel Flynn)

Z63TKZLGTFLOXPFQ45DXM3R5TE

Ukraine war fuels food crisis in distant Africa

NEW YORK, May 9 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Economic growth in emerging markets is set to slow &#8220;sharply&#8221; this quarter weighed by China, Russia and the spread of tighter monetary conditions, JPMorgan analysts said on Monday.



&#8220;China’s adherence to its zero-COVID policy, Russia&#8217;s recession and tightening global financial conditions are set to pull EM growth sharply lower this quarter,&#8221; wrote Luis Oganes, head of currencies, commodities and EM research, and Jonny Goulden, head of EM local markets and sovereign debt strategy at JPMorgan.



Emerging market currencies are likely to underperform as U.S. dollar strength continues and there is risk to EM economic growth, they said.



The dollar on Monday hit a 20-year high against a basket of developed market currencies&nbsp;=USD&nbsp;and an index of EM currencies&nbsp;.MIEM00000CUS&nbsp;touched its lowest since November 2020.



On local market debt the U.S. bank retains an underweight as inflation in the region is revised higher, as are expectations for higher rates as central banks continue to focus on inflation.



They remain neutral on foreign debt with a market weight on the EMBI global diversified index &#8220;as EM sovereigns remain at the mercy of rates but cushioned by a combination of front-loaded pain and cleaner technicals.&#8221;



On EM corporate credit, they keep a market weight on the CEMBI as &#8220;the uncertain market environment and macro risks are mitigated by strong standalone fundamentals and supportive technicals.&#8221;



(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

(Photo: Flickr/QuoteInspector.com)

EM economic growth to slow sharply this quarter -JPMorgan

KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The euro zone faces concurrent economic shocks from the war in Ukraine and a surge in food and energy prices exacerbated by the conflict, along with a supply shock from China’s zero-Covid policy.</li><li>Stefan Hartung, CEO of German engineering and technology giant Bosch, told CNBC that the company sees “a big recession in the making.”</li></ul>



LONDON — The CEOs of several European blue chip companies have told CNBC that they see a significant recession coming down the pike in Europe.



The continent is particularly vulnerable to the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/28/europe-faces-recession-if-putin-fully-shuts-off-the-gas-taps.html">associated economic sanctions and energy supply concerns</a>, and economists have been downgrading growth forecasts for the euro zone in recent weeks.



The euro zone faces concurrent economic shocks from the war in Ukraine and a surge in food and energy prices exacerbated by the conflict, along with a supply shock arising from China’s zero-Covid policy. That has prompted concerns about “stagflation” — an environment of low economic growth and high inflation — and eventual recession.



“For sure, we see a big recession in the making, but that’s exactly what we see — it’s in the making. There is still an overhanging demand because of the Covid crisis we just are about to leave,” said Stefan Hartung, CEO of German engineering and technology giant&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/BOSCHLTD-IN" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bosch</a>.



“It’s still there and you see it heavily hitting us in China, but you see that in a lot of areas in the world, the demand of consumers has already even been increased in some areas.”



In particular, Hartung noted lingering consumer demand for household appliances, power tools and vehicles, but suggested this would dissipate.



“That means for a certain amount of time, this demand will still be there, even while we see the interest increase and we see the pricing increase, but at some point in time, it won’t be just a supply crisis, it will also be a demand crisis, and then for sure, we are in a deep recession,” he added.



Inflation in the euro zone hit a record high of 7.5% in March. So far, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/european-central-bank/">European Central Bank</a>&nbsp;has remained more dovish than its peers, such as the Bank of England and the U.S. Federal Reserve, both of which have begun hiking interest rates in a bid to rein in inflation.



However, the ECB now expects to conclude net asset purchases under its APP (asset purchase program) in the third quarter, after which it will have room to begin monetary tightening, depending on the economic outlook.



Berenberg Chief Economist Holger Schmieding said in a note Friday that near-term risks to economic growth are tilted to the downside in Europe.



“Worsening Chinese lockdowns and cautious consumer spending in reaction to high energy and food prices could easily cause a temporary contraction in Eurozone GDP in Q2,” Schmieding said.



“An immediate embargo on gas imports from Russia (highly unlikely) could turn that into a more serious recession. If the Fed gets it badly wrong and catapults the U.S. straight from boom to bust (unlikely but not fully impossible), such a recession could last well into next year.”



Yet Schmieding suggested that the euro zone is likely to enter recession only “if worse came to worst,” and that it isn’t a base expectation.



Mark Branson, president of German financial regulator BaFin, said any military escalation in Ukraine or further energy supply disruption could pose serious risks to growth in Europe’s largest economy, with industrial sectors particularly vulnerable.



“We’re already seeing that growth is down to around zero in many jurisdictions, including here, and it’s vulnerable. It’s also vulnerable from the ongoing Covid-related shocks,” he said.



“We’ve got inflation that’s going to need to be tackled, and it’s going to need to be tackled now, so that’s a cocktail which is difficult for the economy.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-challenging-business-environment">‘Challenging business environment’</h3>



Slawomir Krupa, deputy CEO at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/GLE-FR" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Societe Generale</a>, told CNBC on Thursday that the French lender is monitoring the macroeconomic picture closely.



“It’s obviously a fundamental piece of news for the macroeconomic context and the triggered inflation feedback loop between the energy shock – which was already going on before the war in Ukraine – you have the inflation expectation rising and the risk of a final, fundamental impact on the macroeconomy into a recession,” he said, adding that this would potentially affect “the entire system, and (SocGen) as well.”



Ola Kallenius, CEO of <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/MBG-DE" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mercedes-Benz</a>, also told CNBC last week that the situation in China and the Ukraine war are making for a “challenging business environment” for the German luxury automaker in three distinct ways.



“On the one hand, we have the ongoing shortages mainly associated with semiconductors. On top of that, there are now new lockdowns in China, our biggest market, which will affect us in China but also can affect supply chains across the world, and in addition to that, of course, the Ukraine war, so the business environment is challenging,” he explained.



His comments were echoed by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/VOW3-DE" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Volkswagen</a>&nbsp;CEO Herbert Diess, who told CNBC on Thursday that the company also faced a “challenging environment” from Covid, the chip shortage and the war in Ukraine in the first quarter.



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/MAERSK.B-DK" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Maersk</a>&nbsp;CEO Soren Skou said Thursday that the world’s largest shipping company is also keeping an eye on recession risks, particularly in the United States, but does not expect those to come to the fore until late 2022 or early 2023.

KGJLDHJ75ZNCHLECJOATMMUGCY

‘We see a big recession in the making’: Top CEOs are fearing the worst in Europe

KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The Oscar-winning actor, producer and screenwriter co-founded nonprofit Water.org in 2009 with former civil and environmental engineer-turned-global water and sanitation expert, Gary White.</li><li>Together they have already helped more than 43 million people access safe water and sanitation through WaterCredit, an affordable financing program which empowers those in need to help themselves through small loans.</li></ul>



Hollywood superstar Matt Damon told CNBC that a visit to rural Zambia in 2006 first opened his eyes to the impact of a global water crisis that nobody was talking about.



The Oscar-winning actor, producer and screenwriter co-founded nonprofit Water.org in 2009 with former civil and environmental engineer-turned-global water and sanitation expert, Gary White.



Together they have already helped more than&nbsp;<a href="https://water.org/our-impact/all-stories/story-watercredit/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">43 million people access safe water</a>&nbsp;and sanitation through&nbsp;<a href="https://water.org/solutions/watercredit/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WaterCredit</a>, an affordable financing program which empowers those in need to help themselves through small loans.



Damon was speaking in early April following the release of their new book, “The Worth of Water: Our Story of Chasing Solutions to the World’s Greatest Challenge.” The globally acclaimed star of the “Jason Bourne” blockbuster movie franchise told CNBC he first understood the enormity of the crisis on the visit which was&nbsp;<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2006/05/178212-actor-matt-damon-visits-un-anti-poverty-project-advocacy-tour-zambia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">arranged by advocacy organization DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa)</a>, co-founded by U2 frontman Bono.



“I found myself &#8230; waking up at 35 years old with this bizarre platform and really wanted to do something positive with it and was really on that trip trying to investigate all these issues of extreme poverty and to try to understand how I could be useful,” he said.



“And this was just an issue that was so enormous and underpinning everything, and yet nobody was talking about it, and that really kind of sparked my interest at first.”



A 14-year-old local girl took Damon on her daily mile-long walk after school to collect clean water pumped from a well. As they walked and talked, she told him through an interpreter that when she was older, she was going to the Zambian capital Lusaka to become a nurse.



“And I just really connected to this kid because she reminded me of how I felt when I was 14 and Ben Affleck and I were going to go to the big city of New York, and we were going to be actors, and, you know that feeling that all 14-year-old’s should have, that the world is kind of their oyster,” Damon said.



He told the latest episode of CNBC’s “Sustainable Future” that the Zambia trip made him realize that the water crisis was not only responsible for the “senseless” deaths of millions of children who don’t have access to clean water, but it was also stopping millions more from realizing their full potential.



“Had it not been for somebody having the foresight to sink a borewell near this girl’s house, she wouldn’t be in school, she would be spending her entire day collecting water for her family,” he said.



“So that really got me, that kind of really landed with me and, you know, the enormity of this issue and how deeply it affects so many people, beyond the sickness and death.”



According to the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef),&nbsp;<a href="https://washdata.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/jmp-2021-wash-households.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">one in 10 people in the world lack access to safe water</a>, with one in four lacking access to a toilet.&nbsp;



Internationally recognized water and sanitation expert and CEO of Water.org, White, told CNBC the Covid-19 pandemic had been a challenging time for the organization, with donations going down.



He said it also “drove home” the disparity between those with and without water around the world.



“This crisis .. with Covid, started with us being told to wash our hands with soap and water and to do that frequently and vigorously and to stay at home,” he said.



“And what I knew was the people that we were helping needed us more than ever, because one, they didn’t have access to water to wash their hands, they didn’t have access to soap, they couldn’t choose to stay home, they had to go out and find water. You know, every morning when you wake up, nothing else matters until you find water. It’s that simple.”

shutterstock_318371045

How a trip to rural Zambia, backed by U2 singer Bono, led Matt Damon to campaign for clean water

OPEC+ likely to agree 432,000 bpd increase in June



OPEC says Chinese lockdowns hitting demand



Formal talks start at 1100 GMT



Updates with analyst



By Maha El Dahan, Ahmad Ghaddar and Alex Lawler



LONDON, May 5 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;OPEC+ is likely stick to its plan for modest oil output increases on Thursday, arguing that the producer group cannot be blamed for global supply disruptions and saying China&#8217;s coronavirus lockdowns threaten the outlook for demand.



Five OPEC+ delegates said the group was set to agree to increase its June output target by 432,000 barrels per day, in line with its existing plan to unwind output curbs made during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.



The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, which together make up OPEC+, hold formal ministerial talks at 1130 GMT after a meeting of the advisory Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee.



The meeting comes against a backdrop of surging oil prices, which hit their highest since 2008 at more than $139 a barrel in March after Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine exacerbated supply concerns that were already fuelling a price rally.



&#8220;I do not think a new decision will be made,&#8221; one of the delegates said. Another said it was &#8220;highly expected&#8221; that the meeting would be short and stick to the plan.



The OPEC+ meeting comes a day after the European Union proposed a phased embargo on Russian oil in its toughest measures yet over the war in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a &#8220;special military operation&#8221;.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N2WW23E&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



The embargo will likely force Russia to reroute flows to Asia and cut production steeply, while the EU will compete for the remaining available supply &#8211; both factors likely to support elevated crude prices.



&#8220;OPEC+ continues to view this as a problem of the West’s own making and not a fundamental supply issue that it should respond to,&#8221; said Callum Macpherson from Investec.



He said only Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had capacity to lift supply significantly, adding: &#8220;If they were to do so, the ensuing falling out with Russia could bring an end to OPEC+.&#8221;



OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said on Wednesday it was not possible for other producers to replace Russian exports of more than 7 million bpd. &#8220;The spare capacity just does not exist,&#8221; he said.



The Brent crude oil benchmark rose on Thursday to trade above $111.&nbsp;O/R



The United States has repeatedly asked OPEC to raise production, but the Saudi-led organisation has resisted the calls amid strained relations with Washington.



The West&#8217;s energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency, agreed last month to release record volumes of oil stocks to help to cool prices and offset supply disruptions from Russia.



(Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar, Alex Lawler, Maha El Dahan and Rowena Edwards; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by David Goodman and Edmund Blair)

Silhouette of oil pump jack on rig

OPEC+ set to stick to modest oil output rise amid price rally

KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The Federal Reserve increased its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, in line with market expectations.</li><li>In addition, the central bank outlined a program in which it eventually will reduce its bond holdings by $95 billion a month.</li><li>The rate move is the largest since 2000 and is in response to burgeoning inflation pressures.</li><li>Fed Chairman Jerome Powell underlined the commitment to bringing inflation down but indicated that raising rates by 75 basis points at a time “is not something the committee is actively considering.”</li></ul>



WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, the most aggressive step yet in its fight against a 40-year high in inflation.



“Inflation is much too high and we understand the hardship it is causing. We’re moving expeditiously to bring it back down,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said during a news conference, which he opened with an unusual direct address to “the American people.” He noted the burden of inflation on lower-income people, saying, “we’re strongly committed to restoring price stability.”



That likely will mean, according to the chairman’s comments, multiple 50-basis point rate hikes ahead, though likely nothing more aggressive than that.



The federal funds rate sets how much banks charge each other for short-term lending, but also is tied to a variety of adjustable-rate consumer debt.



Along with the move higher in rates, the central bank indicated it will begin reducing asset holdings on its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/20220428" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$9 trillion balance sheet</a>. The Fed had been buying bonds to keep interest rates low and money flowing through the economy during the pandemic, but the surge in prices has forced a dramatic rethink in monetary policy.



Markets&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/02/fears-of-a-fed-mistake-grow-as-this-weeks-anticipated-interest-rate-hike-looms.html">were prepared for both moves</a>&nbsp;but nonetheless have been volatile throughout the year. Investors have relied on the Fed as an active partner in making sure markets function well, but the inflation surge has necessitated tightening.



Wednesday’s rate hike will push the federal funds rate to a range of 0.75%-1%, and current market pricing has the rate rising to 2.75%-3% by year’s end, according to CME Group data.



Stocks leaped higher following the announcement while Treasury yields backed off their earlier highs.



Markets now expect the central bank&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/03/the-fed-is-expected-to-raise-rates-by-a-half-point-investors-wonder-if-it-will-get-more-aggressive.html">to continue raising rates aggressively</a>&nbsp;in the coming months. Powell, said only that moves of 50 basis points “should be on the table at the next couple of meetings” but he seemed to discount the likelihood of the Fed getting more hawkish.



“Seventy-five basis points is not something the committee is actively considering,” Powell said, despite market pricing that had leaned heavily towards the Fed hiking by three-quarters of a percentage point in June.



“The American economy is very strong and well-positioned to handle tighter monetary policy,” he said, adding that he foresees a “soft or softish” landing for the economy despite tighter monetary policy.WATCH NOWVIDEO03:04A 75 basis point increase is not something we’re actively considering, says Fed Chair Powell



The plan outlined Wednesday will see the balance sheet reduction happen in phases, with the Fed allowing a capped level of proceeds from maturing bonds to roll off each month while reinvesting the rest. Starting June 1, the plan will see $30 billion of Treasurys and $17.5 billion on mortgage-backed securities roll off. After three months, the cap for Treasurys will increase to $60 billion and $35 billion for mortgages.



Those numbers were mostly in line with discussions at the last Fed meeting, as described in minutes from the session, though there were some expectations that the increase in the caps would be more gradual.



Wednesday’s statement noted that economic activity “edged down in the first quarter” but noted that “household spending and business fixed investment remained strong.” Inflation “remains elevated,” the Fed statement said.



Finally, the statement addressed the Covid outbreak in China and the government’s attempts to address the situation.



“In addition, Covid-related lockdowns in China are likely to exacerbate supply chain disruptions. The Committee is highly attentive to inflation risks,” the statement said.



“No surprises on our end,” said Collin Martin, fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab. “We’re a little bit less aggressive on our expectations than the markets are. Do think another 50 basis point increase in June seems likely. … We think inflation is close to peaking. If that shows some signs of peaking and declines later in the year, that gives the Fed a little leeway to slow down on such an aggressive pace.”



Though some Federal Open Market Committee members had pushed for bigger rate increases, Wednesday’s move received unanimous support.



The 50-basis-point increase is the biggest increase the rate-setting FOMC has instituted since May 2000. Back then, the Fed was fighting the excesses of the early dotcom era and the internet bubble. This time around, the circumstances are quite a bit different.



As the pandemic crisis hit in early 2020, the Fed slashed its benchmark funds rate to a range of 0%-0.25% and instituted an aggressive program of bond buying that more than doubled the size of its balance sheet. At the same time, Congress approved a series of bills that injected more than $5 trillion of fiscal spending into the economy.



Those policy moves were followed by clogged supply chains and surging demand as economies reopened. Inflation over a 12-month period&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/12/consumer-prices-rose-8point5percent-in-march-slightly-hotter-than-expected.html">rose 8.5% in March</a>, as gauged by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index.



Fed officials for months dismissed the inflation surge as “transitory” then had to rethink that position as the price pressures did not relent.



For the first time in more than three years, the FOMC in March&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/16/federal-reserve-meeting.html">approved a 25-basis-point increase</a>, indicating then that the funds rate could rise to just 1.9% this year. Since then, though, multiple statements from central bankers&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/05/feds-brainard-sees-balance-sheet-reduction-soon-and-at-a-rapid-pace.html">pointed to a rate well north of that</a>. Wednesday’s move marked the first time the Fed has boosted rates at consecutive meetings since June 2006.



Stocks have tumbled through this year, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average off nearly 9% and bond prices falling sharply as well. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield, which moves opposite price, was around 3% Wednesday, a level it hasn’t seen since late 2018.



When the Fed was last this aggressive with rate hikes, it took the funds rate to 6.5% in early 2000, but was forced to retreat just seven months later. With the combination of a recession already underway plus the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Fed rapidly cut, eventually slashing the funds rate all the way down to 1% by mid-2003, shortly after the Iraq invasion.



Some economists worry the Fed could face the same predicament this time — failing to act on inflation when it was surging, then tightening in the face of slowing growth. GDP fell 1.4% in the first quarter, though it was held back by factors such as rising Covid cases and a slowing inventory build that are expected to ease through the year.

106999520-16419153682022-01-11t153007z_1471999278_rc23xr9k3c5b_rtrmadp_0_usa-fed-senate-powell

Fed raises rates by half a percentage point — the biggest hike in two decades — to fight inflation

KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Imposing measures that could reduce, or fully cut, Russian energy supplies to the EU have been a complicated task for the bloc.</li><li>This is because the region is reliant on Russia for several sources of energy, including oil.</li><li>In 2020, Russian oil imports accounted for about 25% of the bloc’s crude purchases, according to the region’s statistics office.</li></ul>



The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, on Wednesday put forward new sanctions against the Kremlin which will include a&nbsp;six-month&nbsp;phase out of Russian crude imports.



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/04/russia-ukraine-live-updateshtml.html">Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine</a>, and evidence of war crimes, has pushed the EU to take bolder steps on energy sanctions. But imposing measures that could reduce, or fully cut, Russian energy supplies to the EU have been a complicated task for the bloc.



This is because the region is reliant on Russia for several sources of energy, including oil. In 2020, Russian oil imports accounted for about 25% of the bloc’s crude purchases, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Extra_EU_imports_of_petroleum_oil_from_main_trading_partners,_2020_and_first_semester_2021.png" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">region’s statistics office.</a>



“Let us be clear: it will not be easy,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a speech at the European Parliament Wednesday.



“Some member states are strongly dependent on Russian oil. But we simply have to work on it. We now propose a ban on Russian oil. This will be a complete import ban on all Russian oil, seaborne and pipeline, crude and refined.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-exemptions"><a></a>Exemptions</h2>



The ban had been a highly controversial topic within the EU, but the move gained more momentum after Germany backed the idea. Two EU nations —&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/03/russia-sanctions-eu-nears-oil-embargo-hungary-and-slovakia-want-exemptions.html">Slovakia and Hungary which are both highly dependent on Russian energy — have been demanding exemptions</a>.



Von der Leyen chose not to give any details on exemptions during her speech, but three EU officials, who did not want to be named due to the sensitive nature of the issue, confirmed to CNBC that the commission’s proposal includes this flexibility — giving Hungary and Slovakia a longer period of time to phase out Russian oil.

KYOIC7PHVNMEBMT2WPSIUAHK6U

EU proposes gradual ban on Russian oil in sixth round of sanctions against Moscow

BE2FA7DW6VJP3AYQ5S5CUCMQO4

Africa’s most vulnerable hit by Russia’s war in Ukraine, says IMF￼

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="429" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ICHFR6GZT5ORNAJCT2C3IKACWY-820x429.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-416767" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ICHFR6GZT5ORNAJCT2C3IKACWY-820x429.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ICHFR6GZT5ORNAJCT2C3IKACWY-300x157.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ICHFR6GZT5ORNAJCT2C3IKACWY-160x84.jpg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ICHFR6GZT5ORNAJCT2C3IKACWY-768x402.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ICHFR6GZT5ORNAJCT2C3IKACWY.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>FILE PHOTO: Sung Kook (Bill) Hwang exits the Manhattan federal courthouse in New York City</figcaption></figure>



WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Bill Hwang spent 25 years building his career, but his downfall took just four days.



The now-notorious owner of Archegos Capital Management took extraordinary risks by leveraging stock positions and artificially inflating their prices, prosecutors alleged on Wednesday. When the private fund ran out of borrowed money a year ago, it imploded and left global banks with losses of $10 billion.



&#8220;Over the course of less than a week in late March 2021, the house of cards collapsed,&#8221; the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a complaint against Hwang.



Hwang was arrested early on Wednesday and was hit with 11 criminal charges including racketeering, market manipulation and fraud.



Wearing a green turtleneck and beige slacks, Hwang later pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court and was released on a $100 million bail bond. His lawyer said he was &#8220;entirely innocent.&#8221;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL3N2WP2WL&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



It was the second fall from grace for Hwang, who was punished by U.S. and Asian regulators in 2012 for violations at his former hedge fund, Tiger Asia.



Hwang, who has said he is inspired by his Christian faith, later restored his fortunes, revived his Wall Street relationships and had been making big money.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N2LU1L8&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



But in March 2020 he embarked on an aggressive investment strategy that would ultimately destroy everything he had worked to rebuild, according to the indictment.



Operating from his Manhattan apartment as COVID-19 swept New York, Hwang began amassing huge positions in a handful of securities using a derivative known as a total return swap.



In these trades, banks promised Archegos a return based on the performance of a handful of stocks. The strategy allowed Hwang to accumulate leveraged positions in the stocks without owning them and without having to disclose his stakes.



By late March 2021, Archegos had positions exceeding $10 billion in Baidu Inc&nbsp;9888.HK&nbsp;and Tencent Music Entertainment Group&nbsp;TME.N&nbsp;and more than $20 billion in ViacomCBS Inc&nbsp;VIAC.O. Archegos derivatives&#8217; position was equal to more than 50% of ViacomCBS.



The fund used as many as nine banks, making it appear that different parties were behind the activity. This allowed Archegos to accumulate leverage of as much as 1,000%.



When asked by banks about Archegos&#8217; positions with other dealers, the fund misled them, obscuring its true exposure and enabling it to borrow and trade more, prosecutors said.



Viacom &#8220;held up pretty well today&#8230;Would you say that is a sign of strength?,&#8221; one analyst texted Hwang after he had loaded up on shares to avert a major sell-off. &#8220;No. It is a sign of me buying,&#8221; he replied.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">COMEBACK KID?</h2>



The son of a Korean pastor, Hwang moved to the United States as a child and earned several U.S. business degrees.



He honed his stock-picking skills from 1996 to 2000 at Tiger Management, billionaire Julian Robertson’s pioneering hedge fund. In 2001, Hwang launched his own hedge fund business, Tiger Asia Management, with seed money from Robertson.



Tiger Asia grew quickly to more than $8 billion in assets after generating a dazzling 40% annualized return, according to a 2011 Institutional Investor article.



But losses and regulatory issues in Hong Kong and the United States led the firm to shut in 2012. Hwang pleaded guilty to wire fraud related to illegal trading of Chinese stocks and paid $44 million to settle U.S. insider trading charges.



Hwang turned Tiger Asia into a family office, renaming it Archegos Capital Management in early 2013. Wall Street banks were initially wary of Hwang due to his regulatory issues, but eventually Japan&#8217;s Nomura gave him a second chance.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N2LU1L8&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cards-collapse">CARDS COLLAPSE</h2>



On March 22, 2021 Hwang&#8217;s house of cards started to teeter. Viacom CBS announced a secondary stock offering that day, and its share price sank the next day, dragging down the value of Archegos&#8217; portfolio.



Hwang mounted a massive offensive to boost Viacom, attempting to overpower the deteriorating market, according to the indictment. The $2 billion in trading consumed Archegos&#8217; cash and it would not be able to meet its margin calls if the offensive failed.



But Viacom continued to fall.



Over the next two days, Hwang and his team scrambled to stall the banks from calling in their margin loans, prosecutors said. But on March 26, Hwang ran out of time. The banks began unwinding the trades, sending the shares tumbling.



&#8220;The bubble burst,&#8221; said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. &#8220;The prices dropped. And when they did, billions of dollars of capital evaporated nearly overnight.&#8221;



(Additional reporting by John McCrank, Cohen Luc, Lawrence Delevingne; editing by Megan Davies and Cynthia Osterman)

ICHFR6GZT5ORNAJCT2C3IKACWY

The rise and fall of Bill Hwang’s ‘house of cards’

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1240217326-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-416667" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1240217326-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1240217326-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1240217326-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1240217326-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1240217326-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1240217326-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Emmanuel Macron, France&#8217;s president, speaks to supporters following the second round of voting in the French presidential election in Paris, France, on Sunday, April 24, 2022. Macron defeated far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election on a pro-business, pro-European Union platform, bolstering the bloc in the midst of its worst security crisis in decades. Photographer: Benjamin Girette/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



France’s Emmanuel Macron looks set to comfortably beat his far-right rival Marine Le Pen in Sunday’s election, securing a second term as president on his pro-business and pro-EU agenda.



Centrist Macron of the La République En Marche party looks set to gain around 58% in the second and final round of voting, according to a flurry of exit polls and projections, with Marine Le Pen of the nationalist and far-right National Rally party on 42%. Estimates in France are usually accurate but may be fine-tuned as official results come in.



Immediately after the exit polls, Le Pen spoke to her supporters in Paris and accepted defeat. She said her result was a “victory” for her political movement and pointed to parliamentary elections which take place in June.



“The French showed this evening a desire for a strong counterweight against Emmanuel Macron, for an opposition that will continue to defend and protect them,” she said, according to a Reuters translation.



Despite the predicted victory for Macron, the margin represents a smaller gap between the two candidates in comparison with the 2017 election, when Macron won with 66.1% of the vote.



Macron addressed his supporters later in the evening, saying the anger of those who voted for Le Pen must be addressed, as well as those who abstained. “I am no longer the candidate of a camp but the president of everyone,” he said, promising that “nobody will be left by the wayside.”



Riot police reportedly charged and sprayed teargas at demonstrators in central Paris on Sunday evening who were protesting Macron’s victory.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-voter-apathy"><a></a>Voter apathy</h2>



The 2022 campaign was set against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a cost of living crisis in France, a surge in support for the far-left among younger generations and suggestions of widespread voter apathy. Turnout on Sunday was 2 percentage points lower than the 2017 election, according to the Interior Ministry.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2022/conditions-no-longer-in-place-to-continue-mali-fight-france-says/">Conditions no longer in place to continue Mali fight, France says</a></h3>



At the start of the campaign trail, 44-year-old Macron benefitted from his attitude and diplomatic efforts toward the Russia-Ukraine war. But that support dissipated in the days prior to the first round of voting on Apr. 10, as French citizens focused heavily on domestic affairs and soaring inflation.



Marine Le Pen — who has now run for France’s presidency three times — chose to distance herself from her previous rhetoric on the European Union and euro integration and instead concentrate on the economic struggles of French voters.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-putin-links"><a></a>Putin links</h2>



Nonetheless, as the second round of voting approached, scrutiny over the two individuals and their policies intensified. In a two-hour TV debate Wednesday, Macron called out Le Pen’s previous ties with Russia and President Vladimir Putin, accusing her of being dependent on Moscow.



Macron said Friday that Le Pen’s plans to ban Muslim women from wearing headscarves in public would trigger a “civil war.”



Macron’s win makes him the first French president in two decades to win a second term. He’ll now look to continue his reformist agenda, recently promising to help France reach full employment and change the country’s retirement age from 62 to 65.



Frederic Leroux, head of the cross asset team at French fund manager Carmignac, said Macron’s clear victory is likely to reassure markets.



“In the short term, the main logical beneficiary of this election could be the euro, which was still flirting last Friday with two-year lows against the dollar,” he said in a flash research note after the projections.



“The negative aspect for the markets of this rather comfortable election could however come from a quick decision in favour of a Russian oil embargo which would exacerbate inflationary pressures and economic slowdown (stagflation scenario) in Europe,” he added.



Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg, said the result was “among the best news for Europe since the European Central Bank stopped the euro crisis almost 10 years ago in July 2012.”



“As a second term for Macron has been widely expected, the result may not move markets much,” he said in a research note, adding that France will now “most likely remain an engine of growth and progress in Europe for the next five years.”

France Goes to The Polls

Macron beats far-right rival Le Pen in French presidential election

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106999520-16419153682022-01-11t153007z_1471999278_rc23xr9k3c5b_rtrmadp_0_usa-fed-senate-powell-820x547.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-416636" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106999520-16419153682022-01-11t153007z_1471999278_rc23xr9k3c5b_rtrmadp_0_usa-fed-senate-powell-820x547.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106999520-16419153682022-01-11t153007z_1471999278_rc23xr9k3c5b_rtrmadp_0_usa-fed-senate-powell-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106999520-16419153682022-01-11t153007z_1471999278_rc23xr9k3c5b_rtrmadp_0_usa-fed-senate-powell-135x90.jpeg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106999520-16419153682022-01-11t153007z_1471999278_rc23xr9k3c5b_rtrmadp_0_usa-fed-senate-powell-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106999520-16419153682022-01-11t153007z_1471999278_rc23xr9k3c5b_rtrmadp_0_usa-fed-senate-powell-1536x1025.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106999520-16419153682022-01-11t153007z_1471999278_rc23xr9k3c5b_rtrmadp_0_usa-fed-senate-powell-scaled.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Powell says taming inflation ‘absolutely essential,’ and a 50 basis point hike possible for May</figcaption></figure>



Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell affirmed the central bank’s determination to bring down inflation and said Thursday that aggressive rate hikes are possible as soon as next month.



“It is appropriate in my view to be moving a little more quickly” to raise interest rates, Powell said while part of an International Monetary Fund panel moderated by CNBC’s Sara Eisen. “I also think there is something to be said for front-end loading any accommodation one thinks is appropriate. &#8230; I would say 50 basis points will be on the table for the May meeting.”



Powell’s statements essentially meet market expectations that the Fed will depart from its usual 25 basis point hikes and move more quickly to tame inflation that is running at its fastest pace in more than 40 years. A basis point equals 0.01 percentage point.



However, as Powell spoke, market pricing for rate increases got somewhat more aggressive.



Expectations for a 50 basis point move in May rose to 97.6%, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool. Traders also priced in an additional hike equivalent through year’s end that would take the fed funds rate, which sets the overnight borrowing level for banks but also is tied to many consumer debt instruments, to 2.75%.



Stocks also fell, sending the Dow industrials down more than 400 points and the Nasdaq, with its rate-sensitive tech stocks, lower by more than 2%. Treasury yields pushed higher, with the benchmark 10-year note most recently at 2.9%.



At its March meeting, the Fed approved a 25 basis point move, but officials in recent days have said they see a need to move more quickly with consumer inflation running at an annual pace of 8.5%.



“Our goal is to use our tools to get demand and supply back in synch, so that inflation moves down and does so without a slowdown that amounts to a recession,” Powell said. “I don’t think you’ll hear anyone at the Fed say that that’s going to be straightforward or easy. It’s going to be very challenging. We’re going to do our best to accomplish that.”



“It’s absolutely essential to restore price stability,” he added. “Economies don’t work without price stability.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-bond-market-fireworks-highlight-recession-worries">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2022/bond-market-fireworks-highlight-recession-worries/">Bond market fireworks highlight recession worries</a></h3>



The Fed had resisted raising rates through 2021 even though inflation was running well above the central bank’s 2% longer-run target. Under a policy framework adopted in late 2020, the Fed said it would be content with letting inflation running hotter than normal in the interest of achieving full employment that was inclusive across income, racial and gender demographics.



Until several months ago, Powell and Fed officials had insisted that inflation was “transitory” and would dissipate as Covid pandemic-related factors such as clogged supply chains and outsized demand for goods over services abated. However, Powell said those expectations “disappointed” and the Fed has had to change course.



“It may be that the actual [inflation] peak was in March, but we don’t know that, so we’re not going to count on it,” he said. “We’re really going to be raising rates and getting expeditiously to levels that are more neutral and then that are actually tight &#8230; if that turns out to be appropriate once we get there.”



These will be Powell’s last remarks before the May 3-4 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates. He is the latest Fed official to say rapid action is needed to take down inflation.



Along with the rate hikes, the Fed is expected soon to start reducing the amount of bonds it is holding. The central bank’s balance sheet now stands at close to $9 trillion, primarily consisting of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities.



Discussions at the March meeting indicated the Fed eventually will allow $95 billion of proceeds from maturing bonds to roll off each month.



Powell noted that the other than pernicious inflation, the U.S. economy is “very strong” otherwise. He characterized the labor market as “extremely tight, historically so.”



Earlier in the day, he referenced former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, who battled inflation in the late 1970s and early ’80s with a series of rate hikes that ultimately led to a recession. Volcker “knew that in order to tame inflation and heal the economy, he had to stay the course,” Powell said.



The Volcker Fed ultimately took the benchmark rate to nearly 20%; it currently sits in a range between 0.25% and 0.50%.

International

Elon Musk says Twitter deal on hold pending details on fake accounts; shares sink 11%

EMERGING MARKETS – FX returns to 18-month lows as dollar gallops higher

Bitcoin drops below $27,000 level as crypto sell-off continues

Controversial stablecoin UST — which is meant to be pegged to the dollar — plummets below 50 cents

Why are food prices going up? Key questions answered

Bitcoin investors are panicking as a controversial crypto experiment unravels

Ukraine war fuels food crisis in distant Africa

EM economic growth to slow sharply this quarter -JPMorgan

‘We see a big recession in the making’: Top CEOs are fearing the worst in Europe

How a trip to rural Zambia, backed by U2 singer Bono, led Matt Damon to campaign for clean water

OPEC+ set to stick to modest oil output rise amid price rally

Fed raises rates by half a percentage point — the biggest hike in two decades — to fight inflation

EU proposes gradual ban on Russian oil in sixth round of sanctions against Moscow

Africa’s most vulnerable hit by Russia’s war in Ukraine, says IMF

The rise and fall of Bill Hwang’s ‘house of cards’

Macron beats far-right rival Le Pen in French presidential election

Powell says taming inflation ‘absolutely essential,’ and a 50 basis point hike possible for May

News Tips

Advertise With Us

International

Elon Musk says Twitter deal on hold pending details on fake accounts; shares sink 11%

EMERGING MARKETS – FX returns to 18-month lows as dollar gallops higher

Bitcoin drops below $27,000 level as crypto sell-off continues

Controversial stablecoin UST — which is meant to be pegged to the dollar — plummets below 50 cents

Why are food prices going up? Key questions answered￼

Bitcoin investors are panicking as a controversial crypto experiment unravels

Ukraine war fuels food crisis in distant Africa

EM economic growth to slow sharply this quarter -JPMorgan

‘We see a big recession in the making’: Top CEOs are fearing the worst in Europe

How a trip to rural Zambia, backed by U2 singer Bono, led Matt Damon to campaign for clean water

OPEC+ set to stick to modest oil output rise amid price rally

Fed raises rates by half a percentage point — the biggest hike in two decades — to fight inflation

EU proposes gradual ban on Russian oil in sixth round of sanctions against Moscow

Africa’s most vulnerable hit by Russia’s war in Ukraine, says IMF￼

The rise and fall of Bill Hwang’s ‘house of cards’

Macron beats far-right rival Le Pen in French presidential election

Powell says taming inflation ‘absolutely essential,’ and a 50 basis point hike possible for May

News Tips

Advertise With Us

Newsletters

Why are food prices going up? Key questions answered

Africa’s most vulnerable hit by Russia’s war in Ukraine, says IMF