Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Putin's all alone

The Western world, some allies in Asia and a growing number of companies have responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine through sanctions, divestments and a suspension of operations. Finance as a weapon of war has hit Moscow’s ability to access foreign reserves and the SWIFT bank messaging system, and forced the Moscow stock market to shut. Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose own propaganda machine isn’t working, is “isolated and in his own mental world,” Andreas Kluth writes for Bloomberg Opinion. Putin’s economic isolation is a stark reminder to the world that the U.S. still pulls the financial strings.

The idea of $5-a-gallon gas across the U.S. once seemed far-fetched. But oil prices haven’t been this volatile since the financial crisis. “The situation calls for emergency measures” to overcome the supply shock, writes Bloomberg’s Javier Blas. The spike also means all forms of energy, including nuclear, are being considered by countries including Germany and South Korea.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress the central bank is on track to raise interest rates this month, eyeing a quarter-point hike to curb the highest inflation in decades. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means the Fed will move “carefully,” he said. Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers warned that the U.S. economy faces a 1970s-style risk of stagflation.

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is selling London’s Chelsea Football Club after scrutiny intensified over his links to Vladimir Putin. Politicians around the world are talking tough about targeting Russia’s wealthy elite but actually seizing their assets isn’t nearly so straightforward.

The Amore Vero superyacht in La Ciotat, France, on March 4.

Photographer: Theo Giacometti/Bloomberg

For those who are EV curious, Hertz’s move to add Tesla vehicles to its rental fleet can be a good place to start. Consumers get to try out an electric vehicle before actually buying one. Hertz, for its part, made a “smart move” with its bet on electric cars, especially as business travel picks back up from pandemic lows, writes Bloomberg’s Dana Hull in Hyperdrive. 

“It doesn't get bigger than this,” Sotheby's tweeted of its first-ever, standalone, live and in-person auction devoted to NFTs — 104 of them, part of the famous CryptoPunk series. The auction carried an estimate of $20 million to $30 million. An expectant crowd of would-be bidders flocked to the Manhattan salesroom, then, 20 minutes after the auction was supposed to begin, the event took an unexpected turn.

Sotheby’s auction for a single lot of 104 CryptoPunks NFTs oon Feb. 23, 2022, in New York.

Photographer: Dolly Faibyshev for Bloomberg Markets

 What you’ll need to know next week

• EU leaders meet in France to discuss pooling military resources.
• U.S. data will show how painful U.S. inflation is getting. 
• China's National People's Congress  takes place in Beijing.
• The CERA Week energy conference kicks off in Houston.
• South Korea picks a new president with Covid cases surging.

The Era of the Oligarch Is Nearing the End

Tainted Russian money is entrenched in Western economies, from penthouses in New York to townhouses in London and seaside mansions in the south of France. Oligarchs who made their fortunes with the Kremlin’s blessing are now facing penalty for Putin's invasion of Ukraine, and the move has rattled the Russian president. Putin's miscalculation with the war could also signal the end of an era. 

The EU has penalized some of the wealthiest oligarchs, including (from bottom left) Petr Aven, Alexei Mordashov, Oleg Deripaska, Roman Abramovich, Mikhail Fridman, and Alisher Usmanov. Photo illustration: 731. Photos: Alamy; Getty; Zuma Press

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