Busy day, from US CPI and ECB meeting, to PIMCO's big bet on Russia
US INFLATION HITS 40-YR HIGH
US inflation has risen to 7.9% in February, a 40-year high. This is BEFORE the impacts of Russia and Ukraine and the surge in commodity prices. It also marks the last inflation print before the FOMC meeting on Wednesday 16th March.
ECB ACCELERATE POLICY WITHDRAWAL
The European Central Bank unexpectedly accelerated its wind-down of monetary stimulus in spite of the war in Ukraine which has damped growth expectations in the Eurozone. The Bank revised its inflation outlook for this year to 5.1% from 3.2% given the surge in energy prices.
5-MIN LESSON OF THE DAY
Last night Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced a 20-for-1 stock split, its first split since 1999 and fourth since Amazon’s IPO in 1997. But what does that mean? Watch this 4-minute video to find out with our Head of Trading Piers Curran.
GO BIG OR GO HOME
Asset manager PIMCO has $1bn in credit default swap exposure - essentially betting that Russia will not default. Not only that, they have doubled down and also have $1.5bn in Russian sovereign debt exposure (More).