Ukraine tensions flare at G-20 finance meetings in India

Ukraine tensions flare at G-20 finance meetings in India

BENGALURU, India — Tensions more than Russia’s war on Ukraine flared Friday at meetings of fiscal chiefs of the Group of 20 main economies, where geopolitics afflicted the atmosphere if not the agenda of the accumulating in the Indian technologies hub of Bengaluru.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen condemned the “illegal and unjustified war in opposition to Ukraine” at a session attended by Russian officials and reiterated calls for G-20 nations to do more to support Ukraine and hinder Moscow’s war effort and hard work.

“I urge the Russian officials listed here at the G-20 to have an understanding of that their ongoing work for the Kremlin would make them complicit in Putin’s atrocities,” Yellen stated. “They bear accountability for the life and livelihoods being taken in Ukraine and the hurt prompted globally.”

As the meetings convened on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, such troubles ended up sure to crop up, despite host India’s reluctance to be caught in between allies of Ukraine and Russia and other nations around the world supporting Moscow, these kinds of as China.

In kicking off the meetings Friday, Indian Primary Minister Narendra Modi avoided mention of Ukraine.

Assembly on the G-20 sidelines, Yellen and British Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt condemned the war and explained they have been functioning jointly to deal with the disaster.

Hunt praised initiatives to help Ukraine, according to remarks delivered by U.S. Treasury officers.

“We are happy that there is these unity among democracies that this can not be permitted to come about. We never think the job is by any implies completed,” he claimed.

“There is no option among regardless of whether we concentrate on Ukraine or focus on other critical global issues like local climate transform. In the close if we never resolve world-wide safety threats, there can be no progress on these other parts,” Hunt mentioned.

The wording of a communique owing to be issued Saturday when the talks wrap up was evidently nonetheless under dialogue, as other forums such as the Group of Seven ready to announce new sanctions in opposition to Russia.

At the final significant G-20 meeting, in Bali, Indonesia, G-20 leaders strongly condemned the war, warning that the conflict is intensifying fragilities in the world’s financial state. They finessed divisions among the them provided that the team involves Russia and also international locations like China and India that have major trade ties with Moscow and have stopped shorter of outright criticism of the war.

“In Bali, large amount leaders resolved on strong condemnation of the brutal assault by Russia and as finance ministers we have to stick to it,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters at a information conference. He explained he would walk out if the accumulating failed to evince a potent stance versus the war.

A senior Indian official, speaking on ailment they not be named simply because the talks have been private, claimed as hosts India was decided to do the job toward a consensus and appear out with a communique.

In welcoming the G-20 policymakers, Modi urged them to emphasis on encouraging the world’s most vulnerable persons.

“You represent the leadership of world wide finance and economic climate at a time when the earth is facing significant financial problems,” Modi explained in a online video deal with.

As international locations offer with slew of challenges in the aftermath of the pandemic, including unsustainable personal debt, conflict, inflation and eroding have faith in in global financial institutions, “It is up to you, the custodians of the main economies and market place units … to bring back again security, self-assurance and advancement to the world wide economic system,” he stated.

The meetings in Bengaluru had been thanks to contact on a large selection of issues together with digital currencies and payments, reform of institutions like the World Lender, weather change and money inclusion.

Numerous conferences among many leaders have been also taking location, like talks among India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, and her counterparts from France and Brazil.

The G-20 conferences offer a opportunity for leaders to contemplate how to coordinate their guidelines: numerous central banks which includes the U.S. Federal Reserve have been raising interest charges sharply to check out to rein in decades-significant inflation brought on by many factors together with the war and rebounding demand from customers for vacation, products and expert services pursuing the COVID-19 pandemic.

With will increase in profits lagging behind, growing prices for foods, housing, gas and fertilizer impose enormous burdens, in particular on the lousy and in creating nations, wherever debt burdens have surged the two at the nationwide and family concentrations.

As the G-20 host this calendar year, India is having the possibility to showcase its ascent as an economic power.

Modi instructed the gathering could “draw hope from the vivid Indian financial system,” which is forecast to increase at a extra than 6{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} once-a-year speed this calendar year, making it one particular of the fastest rising in the planet. He also pointed to the country’s electronic payments technological know-how as a design to be emulated.

___

AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok and AP reporter Krutika Pathi in New Delhi contributed.

Stocks renew declines as Russia-Ukraine tensions ramp

Stocks renew declines as Russia-Ukraine tensions ramp

Stocks extended declines Friday to close a second straight week in negative territory with geopolitical tensions intensifying to contribute to a further risk-off tone in markets.

The S&P 500 fell 0.71{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 4,348.97, building on a 2{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} loss in the previous session, while the Dow Jones index closed down 0.68{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 34,079.12 after erasing 1.8{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} Thursday for its worst day in nearly three months. The Dow also closed at its lowest level since September. The Nasdaq Composite shed 1.23{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 13,548.07 — its lowest level since January. Meanwhile, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), or “fear gauge,” spiked back to hover near 28 Friday.

The souring in sentiment came after U.S. officials said they estimated Russia had built up around 190,000 military personnel near Ukraine, raising the specter of a near-term attack. And this came a day after President Joe Biden told reporters on Thursday that the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine was “very high” in the coming days. Crude oil prices fell Friday morning to pause a recent run-up even as Russia-Ukraine tensions resurged.

“The two things we’re most concerned about right now in terms of headwinds for the market and causes for volatility, are clearly tensions with Russia-Ukraine … and then clearly, our concern over not just inflation but what the monetary policy response to that inflation is going to be,” Art Hogan, National chief market strategist, told Yahoo Finance Live on Thursday. “And those headlines have changed quite a bit too.”

“We’ve gone from thinking the Fed would be very, very deliberate in their actions starting in March and telegraph everything … to having some outliers on the committee talking about being very aggressive, a lot more aggressive than what’s priced into the market,” he added. “Every day the story changes a bit.”

Treasury yields fell further after dropping across the curve on Thursday, with the 10-year yield holding back below 2{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}. This came as markets priced in a lower probability of a front-loaded 50 basis-point interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve in March, with investors looking past hawkish commentary from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard calling for a more aggressive path on interest rates.

Other strategists also underscored the dual concerns around Russia and Ukraine and on the Fed for markets in the near-term.

“Really, it’s about Russia and Ukraine, and it’s about the Fed. And on the geopolitical side, I think the challenge for investors is that geopolitical risk is just really hard to weigh,” James Liu, Clearnomics founder and CEO, told Yahoo Finance Live on Thursday. “Our view is that we’re not yet in a situation where it makes sense to make any real portfolio moves based on this. I mean, first of all, diplomatic channels are still open, so the situation is still evolving on a regular basis.”

“The challenge is that even if the worst case scenario were to happen, it’s hard to gauge exactly what the impact long-term would be on the markets,” he added.

4:00 p.m. ET: US stocks mark second straight losing week amid Russia-Ukraine turmoil

Here were the main moves in markets at the end of Friday’s session:

  • S&P 500 (^GSPC): -31.29 (-0.71{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 4,348.97

  • Dow (^DJI): -232.91 (-0.68{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 34,079.12

  • Nasdaq (^IXIC): -168.65 (-1.23{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 13,548.07

  • Crude (CL=F): -$0.18 (-0.20{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $91.58 a barrel

  • Gold (GC=F): -$4.70 (-0.25{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $1,897.30 per ounce

  • 10-year Treasury (^TNX): -4 bps to yield 1.9320{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}

10:52 a.m. ET: ‘Underlying inflation appears to be well-anchored’: Evans

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans suggested on Friday that absent pandemic and supply chain disruptions, underlying price pressures were still consistent with the Federal Reserve’s targets and did not warrant an extreme policy response.

“By my reading underlying inflation appears to still be well anchored at levels consistent with the Fed’s average 2{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} objective,” Evans said during a University of Chicago Booth School of Business conference on Friday.

“I see our current policy situation as likely requiring less ultimate financial restrictiveness compared with past episodes and posing a smaller risk” to economic activity, he added.

10:02 a.m. ET: Existing home sales post surprise jump in January, inventory sinks to record low

Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. posted an unexpected jump at the beginning of 2022, reversing declines from the prior month.

Existing home sales rose at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 6.5 million in January, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). This represented a 6.7{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} month-on-month increase, following a 3.8{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} drop in December. Still, sales were down 2.3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} from the same month last year, when low interest rates stoked demand for purchases.

Housing inventory slid by 16.5{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} over last year to 860,000, marking a record low since NAR began tracking the data in 1999. Tight supplies pushed prices higher, and the median existing-home price rose 15.4{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} over last year to $350,300.

10:46 a.m. ET: ‘Underlying inflation appears to still be well-anchored: Evans

Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans suggested Friday that the Federal Reserve’s current monetary policy setting was “wrong-footed against the current, sharp increases in inflation,” and suggested price pressures would subside without extreme moves by the Fed.

“I see our current policy situation as likely requiring less ultimate financial restrictiveness compared with past episodes and posing a smaller risk” to economic growth, Evans said during a University of Chicago Booth School of Business conference. He noted that in absence of pandemic and supply chain impacts, “underlying inflation appears to still be well-anchored at levels consistent with the Fed’s average 2{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} objective.”

Evans’. —

9:30 a.m. ET: Stocks mixed amid mounting Russia-Ukraine concerns

Here’s where markets were trading shortly after the opening bell:

  • S&P 500 (^GSPC): +4.64 (+0.11{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 4,384.90

  • Dow (^DJI): -43.35 (-0.16{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 34,258.30

  • Nasdaq (^IXIC): +23.65 (+0.17{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 13,740.37

  • Crude (CL=F): -$2.53 (-2.76{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $89.23 a barrel

  • Gold (GC=F): -$3.20 (-0.17{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $1,898.80 per ounce

  • 10-year Treasury (^TNX): -3.2 bps to yield 1.942{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}

8:50 a.m. ET: Stocks turn negative as officials signal Russian military build near Ukraine

Stock futures erased earlier gains to trade in negative territory with just over 30 minutes until the opening bell.

Contracts on each of the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq turned lower. Investors turned into safe haven assets, and Treasury yields fell as prices were bid higher. The Vix spiked back above 28 after falling below 27 earlier Friday morning.

News that Russia had amassed some 190,000 military personnel near Ukraine contributed to the decline, erasing earlier optimism that diplomatic talks would lead to a deescalation of the tensions in the region. Earlier, the U.S. State Department had said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken would meet next week.

7:24 a.m. ET Friday: Stock futures point to a higher open

Here’s where markets were trading Friday morning:

  • S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +21 points (+0.48{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), to 4,395.50

  • Dow futures (YM=F): +124.00 points (+0.36{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), to 34,355.00

  • Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): +91 points (+0.64{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 14,255.75

  • Crude (CL=F): -$1.92 (-2.09{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $89.84 a barrel

  • Gold (GC=F): -$9.10 (-0.48{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $1,892.90 per ounce

  • 10-year Treasury (^TNX): -0.2 bps to yield 1.972{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}

6:10 p.m. ET Thursday: Stock futures extend declines after rout

Here were the main moves in markets Thursday evening:

  • S&P 500 futures (ES=F): -5.25 points (-0.12{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), to 4,369.25

  • Dow futures (YM=F): -24 points (-0.07{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), to 34,207.00

  • Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): -24.75 points (-0.17{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 14,140.00

Photo by: NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx 2022 2/11/22 People walk past the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wall Street on February 11, 2022 in New York.

Photo by: NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx 2022 2/11/22 People walk past the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wall Street on February 11, 2022 in New York.

Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter

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Tensions Grow Over Ukraine With the Trading of Threats | Business News

Tensions Grow Over Ukraine With the Trading of Threats | Business News

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met face-to-face with his Russian counterpart on Thursday to demand Russia pull back troops from the border with Ukraine, as tensions and suspicions grow in a confrontation over Ukraine’s increasingly close ties with NATO and the West.

Russia on one side and Ukraine, the U.S. and its NATO allies on the other traded fresh accusations and threats. The West, fearing that Moscow could invade Ukraine, threatened the Kremlin with the toughest sanctions yet if it launches an attack. Russia, seeing new U.S. and European support for Ukraine’s military, sternly warned that any presence of NATO troops and weapons on Ukrainian soil represents a “red line.”

Fears that Russia would invade its neighbor or seek to undermine the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have dominated Blinken’s travels this week to meet with European allies.

Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Thursday on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Stockholm, Sweden.

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“The United States and our allies and partners are deeply concerned by evidence that Russia has made plans for significant aggressive moves against Ukraine, including efforts to destabilize Ukraine from within and large-scale military operations,” Blinken told reporters.

During his meeting with Blinken, Lavrov charged that the West was “playing with fire” by denying Russia a say in any further NATO expansion into countries of the former Soviet Union. Zelenskyy has pushed for Ukraine to join the alliance, which holds out the promise of membership but hasn’t set a a timeline.

“I want to make it crystal clear: Turning our neighbors into a bridgehead for confrontation with Russia, the deployment of NATO forces in the regions strategically important for our security, is categorically unacceptable,” Lavrov said he told the OSCE meeting.

The United States and its European allies have struggled to warn Russia off any military action and reaffirm support for Ukraine without moving so forcefully as to give Russian President Vladimir Putin a pretext to invade.

American officials and their allies acknowledge the uncertainties, including whether Putin is prepared to invade Ukraine or is maneuvering to bring President Joe Biden into one-on-one talks on security concessions.

Putin said Wednesday that Moscow would seek Western guarantees precluding any further NATO expansion and deployment of its weapons near Russia’s borders. Lavrov followed up on Putin’s call for a new security arrangement, stating that reaching an agreement on a set of “long-term and legally binding security guarantees is imperative to prevent sliding into a confrontational scenario.”

Alexander Vershbow, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia and former deputy secretary general of NATO, said he sees little or no prospect of the U.S. or NATO providing Putin with such guarantees. “He’s simply not going to get” an agreement to rule out further NATO expansion, Vershbow told The Associated Press.

Vershbow also ruled out the U.S. or NATO agreeing to halt the kind of military assistance they have been providing to Ukraine since 2014, including arms, training and intelligence sharing.

Russia and Ukraine have remained locked in a tense tug-of-war since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 following the ouster of the country’s Kremlin-friendly president and threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 14,000.

Vershbow said Russia would not have an easy time if it chose to invade Ukraine, whose military is better equipped and more capable than it was in 2014. “It would be very costly for the Russians in terms of casualties,” he said.

Ukraine and the U.S. estimate that Russia has at least 90,000 troops on its border with Ukraine, while Russia charged this week that Ukraine has amassed about 125,000 troops, or about half its military, near the rebel-controlled areas in the east.

Addressing the OSCE meeting, Blinken urged Russia “to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity to de-escalate, reverse the recent troop buildup” and “return forces to normal peaceful positions.”

The Kremlin has voiced concern that Ukraine may use force to reclaim control of the rebel east. And adding to the tensions, the head of a Russian-allied, self-proclaimed separatist republic in the east appeared on Russian state television to say that he could turn to Moscow for military assistance if the region faced a Ukrainian attack.

Ukrainian officials have denied an intention to reclaim the rebel regions by force.

Blinken sought Thursday to pre-empt Russian claims that Ukraine was threatening Russian interests. “Ukraine is in no way posing a threat to Russia or seeking a confrontation that would justify a Russian military intervention,” the American secretary of state insisted.

Blinken also met separately with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Kuleba tweeted afterward that Ukraine and the United States “are closely working together on developing a comprehensive deterrence package, including severe economic sanctions, to demotivate Russia from further aggressive moves.”

John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said Thursday that Putin appeared to be “testing Ukraine. He’s testing the West.”

Herbst, in a discussion at the Atlantic Council think tank, argued the Biden administration’s response has been strong so far, leaving Putin “hoping now simply to get some sort of concession either from Ukraine or perhaps from the United States.”

“Putin is definitely as serious as he could be” in the standoff, countered Ukraine analyst Hanna Shelest.

Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Robert Burns in Washington, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

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