Russia is preparing to launch a major new offensive against Ukraine in the coming weeks, a top Ukrainian security official said, adding to mounting concerns in Kyiv and the West that the Kremlin is preparing a renewed push to seize large areas of the country.
"Russia is preparing for maximum escalation," said Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, in an interview with Sky News published online early Wednesday local time. "It is gathering everything possible, doing drills and training."
GLOBAL NEWS
Fed Day Is Here. Powell's Tone Will Say It All.
The Federal Reserve is on track to slow the pace of monetary-policy tightening on Wednesday by raising interest rates by a modest quarter of a percentage point, its smallest increase in nearly a year. But don't mistake the central bank's downshift for a dovish pivot.
With a 25-basis-point interest-rate hike all but locked in (a basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point), the biggest news on Wednesday will come not from the Fed's policy moves but the statement and press conference that will follow its two-day policy meeting. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has been emphasizing for months that the future pace of tightening is less important than how high interest rates ultimately rise, and investors and economists will be parsing his words for clues as to where the federal-funds rate might ultimately land.
Investors Shrug Off Weak Earnings Reports as Stocks Rebound to Start Year
Lackluster earnings reports from some of the biggest companies in the U.S. haven't put a damper on the stock market's bounceback.
Even some companies that have posted disappointing results have seen their shares rise in the following days. Microsoft Corp. last week reported its slowest sales growth in more than six years, yet its shares finished the week 3.3% higher. American Express Co. and Alaska Air Group Inc. both posted lighter-than-expected earnings and revenue. Their shares rose 14% and 2.4%, respectively, for the week.
Eurozone Inflation Eases for Third Month as ECB Rate Rises Bite
The eurozone's annual rate of inflation fell for the third-straight month in January as energy prices continued to pull back from recent peaks-a slide that is unlikely to deter the European Central Bank from raising interest rates further this week.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed energy prices and eurozone inflation sharply higher through much of last year, but warmer-than-usual temperatures, high natural-gas storage levels across Europe and various government programs to cap energy prices started to reverse that move as 2022 drew to a close.
Russia's 'Energy Weapon' Is Hurting China Too
Europe has had a tough winter-but warm weather and a herculean effort to find new natural gas supplies has limited the economic damage from Moscow's decision to curb gas exports to the continent. Some of that damage is instead showing up in a very different gas market and one Russia is counting on for its growth: China.
Gold Is Gaining Ground. Here's How to Play It.
Oil and other commodities were the stars of 2022. Gold, already off to a strong start, could take that mantle in 2023.
Last year was a disappointment for those who expected gold to perform well amid an inflation spike. It rose only 0.4% to $1,814 an ounce, though it rallied more than 10% in the year's final two months. But its performance was lackluster compared with the Energy Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund (ticker: XLE), which tracks oil stocks and was up 64% in 2022, and United States Oil (USO), which invests in oil futures and gained 29%. Worse still were gold-miner stocks-the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) was down 9%.
French Forces Seize Iranian-Supplied Weapons Bound for Yemen
Elite French special forces seized a boatload of Iranian-supplied weapons and ammunition bound for militants in Yemen as part of a deepening effort to contain Tehran, according to officials familiar with the operation.
On Jan. 15, the officials said, a French warship stopped a suspected smuggling ship off the Yemeni coast where the specially trained French team boarded the boat. On board, the officials said, the French military discovered more than 3,000 assault rifles, a half million rounds of ammunition and 20 antitank guided missiles.
Missing Radioactive Capsule Found in Australian Outback
A tiny capsule containing radioactive material that sparked a search over hundreds of miles of highway in the Australian Outback has been found, authorities said Wednesday.
The success "is testament to amazing inter-agency teamwork in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds," Western Australia state's Department of Fire and Emergency Services said on Twitter.
FBI Searched Biden's Former Think-Tank Office in November
WASHINGTON-The Federal Bureau of Investigation searched President Biden's former office at a Washington think tank for classified documents in November, people familiar with the matter said, shortly after his aides earlier that month found such material and surrendered it to the National Archives.
The search came after Mr. Biden's lawyers agreed to let agents search his former office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, where aides on Nov. 2 discovered roughly a dozen documents marked classified. It couldn't be determined whether investigators found any additional items in the search, which was reported earlier by CBS News.
Nikki Haley Plans to Enter Race for 2024 Republican Presidential Nomination
Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, intends to launch a White House bid Feb. 15, according to a person familiar with her plans, challenging former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.A critic of Mr. Trump before becoming his representative at the U.N. for two years, Ms. Haley is expected to formally make her announcement in Charleston, S.C.Ms. Haley, 51 years old, had long been mentioned as a potential national candidate, in part because her biography as the daughter of Indian immigrants could provide a compelling narrative for a party that has struggled to attract support from nonwhites. Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota is the only other woman known to be contemplating a 2024 GOP presidential bid.
No woman has won the presidency, although more than 20 have tried, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Vice President Kamala Harris became the first woman to hold the No. 2 job when President Joe Biden won in 2020.Mr. Trump is the only announced GOP presidential candidate so far. Mr. Biden is expected to make a formal announcement about his reelection plans between early March and early April.A number of other Republicans are also believed to be contemplating entering the race, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
House Passes GOP Measures to Curtail Government's Covid-19 Emergency Powers
WASHINGTON-The House passed two pandemic-related bills Tuesday, as Republicans pushed to roll back Covid-19 emergency powers invoked by the federal government over the past three years.
The Pandemic Is Over Act, which would terminate the public-health emergency declared for the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020, passed 220-210, along party lines.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-01-23 0624ET
