Axios with the report of the latest (confirmed) developments (there are plenty of unconfirmed rumours doing the round this weekend).

Presidents Biden and Putin spoke for just over an hour

Via a senior administration official:
Biden said

U.S. and allies will „respond decisively and impose

European Central Bank Governing Council member Olli Rehn, governor of the Finnish central bank, is looking beyond current inflation levels in policy-setting:

“If we reacted strongly to inflation in the short term, we would probably cause economic growth to stop,”
“It’s better to look beyond

The US major indices are closing sharply lower with the Nasdaq leading the way. The final numbers are showing: Dow fell -503.53 points or -1.43% at 34738.07 S&P fell -85.42 points or -1.90% at 4418.65 Nasdaq fell -394.48 points or -2.78% at 13791.16 Russell 2000 fell -21.01 points

US believes Putin told Russian military he plans to invade Ukraine – report
White House: We are not saying Putin has made a final decision
The reports continue: Biden indeed told leaders that Putin decided to attack next week
Biden and Putin to talk on the phone on Saturday
US F

Gold has been consolidating around $1800 for more than a year but there’s a series of higher lows that’s been building since the start of 2021 and now it’s threatening to break out of the long-term wedge.It’s way too early to say today’s $35 rally and push through the top is a breakout but i

This will be a weekend to keep a close eye on the news.

In reality, Biden is the much taller man.

USDRUB runs higher on invasion talk

The USDRUB has indeed moved higher (lower ruble) on the back of the Russian escalation and expectations that an invasion is imminent. 
Looking at the daily chart the price rise has seen the price move up from 74.94 at the close yesterday to the curren

To implement market-oriented policy tools to support small enterprisesTo maintain steady optimisation of credit structureWill step up cross-cyclical adjustmentsTo deepen market-based interest rate reformWill meet reasonable and effective financing demand while not resorting to flood-like stimulusThe

It was quite the spectacular rout in the bond market yesterday following the US CPI data release, as traders rushed to price in a 50 bps rate hike move by the Fed for March. Yields shot up dramatically and that is leaving for a couple of things to think about going into the weekend. Let’s take a loo

Cryptocurrencies
were under the pressure of strong data on inflation in the United States on
Thursday, which has updated 40-year highs. Such values can force the Fed to
raise interest rates faster, which is negative for all risky assets, including
cryptocurrencies.

 

Bitcoin
showed high volatili