Customers started shouting at Khalil Mohamed, a municipal bakery-shop worker. "You should have seen the fight," said Mr. Mohamed, 25 years old. "It was like a hunger crisis."


Siemens Energy Picks a Good Moment to Take Wind Turbines Private

Long-suffering shareholders in Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy will likely be spared the decision of whether to quit or wait patiently for the renewable-energy revolution.

Shares in Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy rose 6.2% Monday after its majority shareholder, Siemens Energy, on Saturday confirmed longstanding expectations that it wanted to take the wind-turbine business private. It said it would pay EUR18.05 a share, equivalent to $19.25, for the outstanding 32.9% of its subsidiary. Cost and revenue synergies are expected eventually, but the primary reason it gave for the buyout was to accelerate the continuing turnaround.


Lagarde Signals End to ECB's Negative Interest Rates Experiment

FRANKFURT-The European Central Bank is likely to increase its key interest rate, currently negative, to zero by September and could continue raising rates after that, President Christine Lagarde said, signaling the end of the ECB's eight-year experiment with negative rates amid record-high inflation and concerns about the weakness of the euro currency.

The policy shift, outlined in an ECB blog post on Monday, follows robust actions by the Federal Reserve and other major central banks to phase out easy-money policies as inflation heats up around the globe. It is part of a sharp pivot by the eurozone central bank, which had until recently signaled it would increase interest rates only gradually, diverging from the Fed.


GLOBAL NEWS

Fed Officials Weigh Future Rate Policy Shift

Some Federal Reserve officials are starting to talk about a possible shift in the central bank's interest-rate policy.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard, who spoke Friday on the Fox Business Network, and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, who spoke Monday, both weighed in on the path for rates.


China Central Bank Urges Lenders to Rev Up Support for Real Economy

China's central bank urged the nation's lenders to step up support for the real economy and meet credit demand, as the world's second largest economy faces increased downward pressure.

In a meeting with 24 financial institutions, the People's Bank of China and China's banking regulator urged lenders to "go all out to stabilize the fundamentals of the economy," the PBOC said in a statement Tuesday.


Biden Exploring Release of Diesel Fuel Reserves Amid High Prices

WASHINGTON-The Biden administration is considering a release of diesel fuel from federal reserves to address skyrocketing prices and the threat of supply outages on the East Coast.

Officials have drafted an emergency declaration as prices have soared to record highs in recent weeks, White House spokeswoman Emilie Simons said on Twitter on Monday. Such a declaration would allow for the quick release of some of the 1 million barrels of diesel in the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve "if necessary," she said.


JPMorgan Says U.S. Consumers Are Doing Just Fine

Recession fears have markets in a panic, but the leaders of America's biggest bank said U.S. consumers appear to be in good financial health.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. expects credit losses to remain abnormally low through much of 2023, because customers haven't yet drained cash balances that grew fatter during the pandemic, executives said at the bank's investor day on Monday.


Biden Says His Taiwan Policy Hasn't Changed

TOKYO-President Biden said he would maintain longstanding U.S. policy toward Taiwan, a day after triggering global confusion when he said the U.S. would respond militarily to any effort by China to take the island by force.

"My policy has not changed at all. I stated that when I made my statement yesterday," he told reporters here when asked whether he would send U.S. troops to Taiwan if China invaded.


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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-24-22 0530ET