The geopolitical morass in Ukraine drove stocks down on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 hitting correction territory—down more than 10% from its January peak. Much of that action today was driven by newly unveiled sanctions against Russia by European nations and the U.S., including Germany’s announcement that it was halting the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline that would link Germany and Russia - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Some context on markets during times of war - NYTimes
Also, as widely forecast, oil prices jumped near $100/barrel—the “highest in more than seven years”—and European gas futures spiked as the world continues to digest Russia’s moves in Ukraine and what appears to be inevitable conflict in Eastern Europe - NYTimes and WSJ
Don’t sleep on grain prices, though. The disruption of growing operations in Ukraine and Russia dedicated to wheat, corn, and sunflowers due to the conflict shook commodities markets this week and raised the prospect of shortages and price hikes across the world - Marketplace and NYTimes
Federal Reserve officials added more detail to their plans for a planned March liftoff of interest rates and concurrent balance sheet tapering, with Treasurys and MBS purchases expected to cease entirely next month after two years of an open spigot of central bank support - NYTimes
Despite a loud activist campaign urging otherwise, Macy’s announced on Tuesday that it would not separate “its e-commerce business from its bricks-and-mortar stores.” Company execs cited strong holiday quarter sales as a sign that staying the course in 2022 made sense—this despite significant “headwinds, including inflation and a tight labor market that is pushing up costs” - WSJ and NYTimes
Hedge fund Standard General as struck a $5.4 billion deal to buy Tegna Inc. Tegna “owns 64 U.S. TV stations in 51 different markets” as well as the “True Crime, Twist and Quest networks.” Apollo Global, which owns “a majority stake in Tegna rival Cox Media Group,” is backing the deal and will hold “an unspecified amount of nonvoting shares in the Standard General-owned entity buying Tegna” - WSJ and Bloomberg
Hoping to take a bite out of TikTok’s short-video dominance, Meta said that it will launch its Reels product “for all global Facebook users on Tuesday,” a sign that it views TikTok as a serious threat to Facebook and to Instagram, which TikTok “overtook . . . in popularity among coveted young users” in 2021 - WSJ and TechCrunch
Soaking up this piece (and the accompanying pics) on the increasingly difficult quest for Dark Sky - NYTimes
Stay safe, and get boosted,
MDR
