Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Zelenskiy comes to America

US President Joe Biden welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskiy to the White House Wednesday in the Ukraine leader’s first trip abroad since Russia attacked last February. “Three hundred days, it’s hard to believe,” Biden told Zelenskiy in the Oval Office, remarking on the length of time that has elapsed since Vladimir Putin started his war, one in which Russian forces have killed potentially tens of thousands. Biden voiced hope for a “just peace,” but the visit comes at a critical stage of the war: Ukraine has faced a barrage of missile and drone attacks targeting civilians and energy infrastructure in recent weeks, leading to power and water cuts in brutal winter weather. Zelenskiy has pleaded for more advanced weapons systems to blunt Russian attacks and for additional energy and economic support. His arrival in America also coincides with the Republican Party’s preparations to take control of the House of Representatives, with many of its members publicly skeptical of the level of US assistance to Kyiv. As for Putin, who has called up hundreds of thousands of untrained recruits to reanimate his stalled attack, he contends Russia has “no limitations” on military spending, and urged his army, which has repeatedly failed to deliver on his declared goals, to continue the war. —David E. Rovella 

That’s not what they want to hear in Beijing it seems. Russia has at times been labeled a “junior partner” when mentioned in the same breath as China. Well, the senior partner just made clear that it wants peace talks held over the war on Ukraine. China, along with India, has been backing away from Russia of late due to the conflict. Now Xi Jinping has told former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he’s been “actively promoting peace,” and that the two sides should “conduct comprehensive talks.”

But that isn’t to say Putin has no friends. Russia and Iran are building a new transcontinental trade route stretching from the eastern edge of Europe to the Indian Ocean, a 3,000–kilometer (1,860–mile) passage that’s beyond the reach of any foreign intervention. Key to this new route is the Caspian Sea.

Construction is underway at the port of Chabahar, Iran, at the Gulf of Oman. Satellite image: ©2022 Maxar Technologies

It’s been a tough year for Cathie Wood. The founder of Ark Investment Management, who could seemingly do no wrong during the early pandemic run-up in asset values, has seen her ETFs crushed by high inflation and elevated interest rates. The flagship Ark Innovation ETF has tumbled more than 65% this year. Now her billionaire critics are piling on.

The largest US maker of memory chips gave a lackluster revenue outlook, indicating the slump in demand for computer components will drag on. Micron Technology also announced that it would slash 10% of its employees over the next year. Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Mehrotra said the industry is experiencing its worst imbalance between supply and demand in 13 years.

South Korea’s Posco International is one of the last foreign companies with a significant stake in Myanmar’s oil and gas sector, despite the industry’s ties to a military junta that has killed thousands of civilians since perpetrating a coup in 2021. The subsidiary of steelmaker Posco Holdings is the majority shareholder of one of Myanmar’s largest natural gas fields, which annually generates as much as $400 million for a state-owned enterprise. Posco also remains a holding in nearly a dozen ESG-focused funds, including those run by BlackRock, State Street and Samsung Asset Management. 

A Posco steel mill in Pohang, South Korea  Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

Dozens of audit triggers litter Donald Trump’s now public tax returns, according to Congress’s top non-partisan tax lawyers: questionable private jet expenses, large unsubstantiated charitable deductions and dubious payments to the former president’s children, among others. Yet none of them have been seriously audited.

The tsunami of Covid-19 cases that are taking hold across China is spurring concern that a dangerous new variant could emerge for the first time in more than a year, just as genetic sequencing to catch such a threat is dwindling. 

Bloomberg continues to track the global coronavirus pandemic. Click here for daily updates.

• Bloomberg Opinion: I’ve seen Trump’s tax returns. Now you can, too.
• S&P 500 faces a historical warning sign after this year’s slump.
• QuickTake: Why Bank of Japan’s bond yield tweak was big news.
• Another one down: Crypto miner Core Scientific declares bankruptcy.
• Russia’s war has turned neighboring currencies into the world’s best.
• How Zelenskiy made his secret, high-security trip to Washington.
• With a near $18 billion haul, this was the best auction year ever.

Heather Morgan and Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein are the now-famous New York City couple accused of stealing billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin in the historic 2016 Bitfinex heist. They are an unlikely pair of masterminds. Morgan, who in a rapping persona calls herself “Razzlekhan,” has broadcast her life online with a flood of posts and quirky music videos, sometimes with Dutch playing the foil. And that’s only the half of it. It is true that, in the crypto world, lack of experience appears to be no barrier to fortune or notoriety. But could this pair have really pulled off the biggest theft in history?

Heather Morgan, aka Razzlekhan Source: Bloomberg

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