The US labor market hits records again, new sanctions against Russia

The number of new jobless claims in the US was 187,000, while analysts expected 210,000, the lowest value since 1969. The US PMI business activity index for March increased to an eight-month high.

Yesterday, US President Joe Biden indicated at the summit of EU leaders that the consequences of sanctions against Russia will also affect European countries. Biden wants to exclude Russia from the G20 and, if that is impossible, suggests inviting Ukraine to the summit. The US also imposed sanctions on dozens of Russian defense companies and 328 State Duma deputies. Thus, the number of individuals and legal entities affected by the latest sanctions has reached 600. At the same time, any gold transactions related to the Bank of Russia will also fall under the current US sanctions.

The NATO summit took place yesterday. NATO leaders urged China not to provide military support to Russia and not help it circumvent sanctions. At the same time, French President Macron called on everyone to prepare for a food crisis because this year, only 10% of agricultural land will be sown in Ukraine, which used to supply many agricultural products to Europe.

The UK has imposed sanctions against Oleg Tinkov, as well as against the head of Sberbank, Herman Gref. Japan also announced another extension of sanctions against Russia. Under restrictive measures fell 25 individuals and 80 legal entities. Among the first are Russian Alexei Mordashov, VEB head Igor Shuvalov and Dmitry Peskov’s wife, Tatiana Navka.

The German Ministry of Economy wants to halve the country’s dependence on Russian oil by the summer and stop importing Russian hard coal by the fall.

Nord Stream 2 AG intends to file for bankruptcy in the coming days.

Crude oil prices fell nearly 3% on Thursday as Europe abandoned the idea of banning supplies from Russia. At the same time, the United States was talking about another coordinated release of its reserves and those of its allies to reduce the oil shortage. The G7 countries called on oil and gas producing countries to increase production, believing that OPEC should play a key role. EU leaders also said they would not comply with Moscow’s demand to buy oil and gas for rubles.

Asian stock indices were trading without a single dynamic yesterday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 (JP225) gained 0.25%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (HK50) decreased by 0.94%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 (AU200) added 0.12%. The Hong Kong stock exchange decline occurred against the background of profit-taking after growth during the week.