Oil prices spiked to their highest levels since 2008 on Monday after Secretary of State Andrew Blinken said the U.S. and its European allies were considering banning imports of Russian oil. The Biden administration has been facing pressure from Congress to impose energy sanctions on Russia, a move that the White House has resisted, citing concerns over their impacts on oil prices.
That seemed to change over the weekend, when Blinken said on CNN that ...

Baidu, Inc. BIDU is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2021 results on Mar 1.For the fourth quarter, the company expects revenues between RMB 31 billion ($4.81 billion) and RMB 34 billion ($5.27 billion), suggesting a growth rate of 2-12% year over year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $5.15 billion, indicating growth of 11.1% from the year-ago reported figure.Further, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $1.49 per share, sugges...

A decision by Western allies on Saturday (Feb 26) to block "selected" Russian banks from the SWIFT payments system will inflict a crippling economic blow, but also cause much pain to their own companies and banks. And the allies still have room to do more. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is a secure messaging system to ensure rapid cross-border payments which has become the principal mechanism to finance international trade.
Russian banks ...

The Hang Seng Tech Index fell 1.9% on Tuesday to the lowest close since its inception in 2020. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. was among the biggest losers following a Bloomberg report that authorities have begun another round of checks on its fintech business arm. The rout weighed on the broader Hong Kong market, with the Hang Seng Index slipping 2.7%, struggling to shake off the impact of China’s sweeping crackdown on private enterprise. The gauge was a...

Online food delivery group Meituan (3690.HK) led a rout of Chinese technology company shares on Friday, as authorities announced a series of regulatory moves to boost growth while keeping financial risks under control.
China's state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), on Friday issued rules to promote a faster recovery from the pandemic in the services sector, including guidance for online food delivery pl...

E-commerce sites operated by China's Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK) were included on the U.S. government's latest "notorious markets" list, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Thursday. The list identifies 42 online markets and 35 physical markets that are reported to engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy.
China-based online markets Baidu Wangpan, DHGate...

Asian shares rallied on Wednesday as fears of a Russian invasion of the Ukraine this week dissipated after Moscow indicated it was returning some troops to base in an apparent de-escalation, delivering investors a measure of relief.
The tension between world powers over the Ukraine situation, which has developed into one of the deepest crises in East-West relations for decades, has been front-and-centre of investors' minds.
But while the...

Geopolitical worries have added another layer of volatility to an already-jumpy market as investors priced in the possibility of escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine, though some doubted the issue would weigh on U.S. asset prices over the longer term. Reports of rising tensions between the two countries slammed stocks on Friday and lifted prices for Treasuries, the dollar and other safe-haven assets. Investors were already rattled by a hawkish turn from the Federa...

The consumer price index came in hotter than expected in January, as both the CPI inflation rate and the core rate, excluding food and energy, hit new 39-year highs. Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq losses deepened in Thursday afternoon stock market action as Wall Street priced in additional Fed rate hikes. Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield crested 2% for the first time since August 2019 and kept on rising.
The CPI rose 0.6% from the prior month and 7.5% ...

UK lenders HSBC and Standard Chartered, which derive most of their profits in Asia, are trading near two-year highs in Hong Kong, as investors bet higher interest rates globally will bolster their bottom lines. Both lenders, alongside their industry peers, have seen their shares advance since the start of the new year as it became clearer that central banks, from the Federal Reserve to the Bank of England, would need to increase their ...