The rouble pared losses seen in the first half of April and firmed to a two-week high on Wednesday after a phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin helped to ease fears of imminent new sanctions.
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LONDON (Reuters) - Just as long-dormant inflation finally rears its head again, there are some signs that financial markets may already have overestimated the impact - or at least the response.
FILE PHOTO: A U.S. dollar note is seen in front of a stock graph in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
One of the biggest fears of the year for global investors has been that a policy-supercharged, post-pandemic recovery of major economies seeds an inflation surge that spooks central banks into tightening credit well before they currently suggest.
While there’s some argument for holding stocks during an inflation scare, the worry is central banks get spooked - lifting borrowing costs and dragging on growth and earnings estimates and rethinking discounted valuations for growth and technology stocks.
By Reuters Staff
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BUDAPEST, April 14 (Reuters) - Hungary will allow restaurant terraces to reopen once 3.5 million people are inoculated against COVID-19, a target expected to be hit sometime next Wednesday or Thursday, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.
Orban also said schools can be reopened gradually, meaning kindergartens will reopen from next Monday, while classroom teaching will resume only in the first four grades of primary schools, with other years to go back to school on May 10. (Reporting by Anita Komuves and Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
By Reuters Staff
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WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve will reduce its bond purchases before it commits to an interest rate increase, Fed chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday.
“We will reach the time at which we will taper asset purchases when we have made substantial further progress towards our goals from last December,” Powell said in comments to the Economic Club of Washington. “That would in all likelihood be before, well before, the time we would consider raising interest rates. We have not voted on that order but that is the sense of the guidance.” A decision on whether the balance sheet would subsequently be allowed to shrink has not been made yet, Powell said. (Reporting by Howard Schneider Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
By Reuters Staff
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April 14 (Reuters) - Australian buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) firm Zip Co said on Wednesday it will raise A$400 million ($307.48 million) through senior unsecured convertible notes to fund its growth and expansion plans.
On Tuesday, the BNPL firm reported a record quarterly earnings and unveiled plans to expand into Canada and Southeast Asia.
“The additional capital from this offering will support the active pursuit of both core and international growth opportunities,” Chief Operating Officer Peter Gray said in a statement.
BNPL firms, which allow users to pay for their purchases over several installments, have seen a boom in transaction volumes and active customers as the pandemic changed consumer behaviour drastically, moving more towards the online space.