Russia roundup: Moscow Exchange still closed, Airbnb suspends operations

Дмитрий Ларичев/iStock via Getty Images

Europe's largest nuclear power plant, located in Enerhodar, Ukraine, came under attack from Russian shelling overnight, sparking a blaze and raising fears of a nuclear disaster. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy even spoke with President Biden, telling him that "if it blows up, it will be 10 times larger than Chernobyl," before the fire was extinguished and Russia took control of the facility. Stock futures whipsawed on the news, with the International Atomic Energy Agency saying "essential" equipment was not impacted and there had been no change to reported radiation levels.

Financial fallout: Russia is keeping the Moscow Exchange closed for a fifth straight day on Friday, trying to shield stocks from a potentially brutal selloff. Over in the U.S., FINRA halted OTC trading in several Russian stocks, while the London Stock Exchange suspended trading in more than 50 Russian securities to "maintain orderly markets." Another wave of sanctions has also hit Russian oligarchs and Vladimir Putin's inner circle, ratcheting up financial pressure in response to Moscow's "destabilizing foreign policy."

"We want [Putin] to feel the squeeze, we want the people around him to feel the squeeze," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

The corporate pullout is accelerating at the same time, with Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) announcing it would suspend all operations in Russia and Belarus. Earlier in the week, it offered to house 100K refugees for free in rentals listed on its platforms in countries that neighbor Ukraine. Google (GOOG, GOOGL) is also pausing all ads in Russia across YouTube, search and outside publishing partners, while "anything goes" Reddit (REDDIT) even banned links to Russian state-sponsored media outlets like RT and Sputnik.

Big rally: Commodities prices have been on a rip this week, with the war in Ukraine continuing to fuel fears of supply crunches. Examples: Wheat has soared to the highest level since 2008 (Ukraine and Russia account for a quarter of the world's exports), while crude and natural gas are up more than 20% this week as many spurn Russian energy sales. In response to the current environment, the EU went as far as to say it intended to more than double the amount of gas in storage before next winter to reduce its reliance on Russian supplies.

Comments

[Winnertakesall]

The media is so ridiculous. Both Ukraine and Russia are corrupt. We should stay out of this mess. The media telling women they should arm themselves assault rifles and fight is absurd.

The EU will just have to pay BP, and Shell a fair price for the oil, its not free.

[Ruffdog]

"EU went as far as to say it intended to more than double the amount of gas in storage before next winter to reduce its reliance on Russian supplies."
Really?
Where is the EU going to get that much NG; from Russia?

[JackWolf]

@Ruffdog America switched our import terminals into export terminals about 10 years ago. Everyone has been planning and maneuvering for this moment for a long, long time.

[Davadaba]

It’s ok. They’re a peace keeping force. Ignore the gun pointed at your head.

[SFetf]

@Davadaba Putin states they did not surrender for the peace so I bombed their country back to dirt and rubble. It's the fault of the Urkarians states the world's most deranged man named Putin.

[treespace]

@Davadaba No, they completed the peace-keeping mission and they have now moved on to neutralizing the Nazis and the drug addicts. Also to stop them from developing a nuclear weapon? It's very confusing.

[Andres Rueda]

Yeah, ok. No Ikea or Airbnb for the Russians.
Meanwhile, Putin is nuking us with hyperinflation...

tradingeconomics.com/...

[64MGB]

@Andres Rueda - Buck up ya little baby

[SlowHandLuke]

Putin needs to get put down.

[Ruffdog]

@SlowHandLuke
Who has the kahunas to do it: certainly not the US or NATO.
Ukraine stands alone!

[RD2001]

Poor Russia. A beautiful country with beautiful people. But with a complicated past, and leader who dreams of soviet glory.

[User 462216]

Sanctions just punish everyone. NATO is weak they should be on the ground fighting next to the Ukrainians and push the Russians back to the line. If Putin cared about sanctions he would not have even entered.

Since the USA new what was going to happen they should have responded sooner with their allies instead of just warning. Weak leadership

[naxmajhrwajxax]

@NIRP Ground fight? This isn't 1940s. Fighting is ridiculous. Sanctions, big tech cancel programs are way of future war.

[toddycst]

@NIRP Can't send in troops and risk a madman starting a Nuclear War. I wish we could be fighting along side Ukraine and push the russkies back, but Putin's to unstable and it's to risky.

[Andres Rueda]

@NIRP Yeah, ok. Hope you have a nice nuclear shelter.

[Edpdds]

At $50 a barrel oil Russia was only making $10 profit per barrell.now they’re making $50 profit so they only need to sell 1/5 of the volume of oil to end up with the same amount of money in profit

so the idea of choking Russia by not buying their oil is a fantasy

The only solution is to reduce the worldwide cost of oil by increasing production in this country greatly

[Stefan Redlich]

@Edpdds Exactly but this administration is doing the exact opposite.Very smart :D

[terrie000]

@Edpdds yes they are making more profit but the number of sales go way down due to sanction. The sales only occur in black market.

[JohnnyK314]

@terrie000 sanctions specifically allow sales of oil and gas. The germans/tree huggers shut down their nuke plants, and are now totally dependent on Russian gas otherwise their people will freeze (still winter in northern Europe).

Incredible to me that the Germans/Europeans have been this short sighted in their pursuit of carbon neutrality. Literally handed Putin a trump card.

[Ronald Schlabach]

Hard to understand this shunning of all things Russian now. Refusing to trade with Russia (aka sanctions) will badly hurt everyone else in forms of higher prices, and will badly hurt the Russian people which by and large have nothing to do with this. It will most likely galvanize Russian support for Putin and hatred for the West along with it.

How about Apple refusing to sell products in Russia now? China does all kinds of bad things too, right? Will Apple stop doing business in the country and take its factories elsewhere? Think about how the West and the Western lifestyle is admired in China after all these years of trade with them. I’ll bet sanctions and refusing to trade with them would put a chill on that.

I didn’t notice any outcry from Apple when the US was busy invading Libya, Syria, Iraq, etc. Bunch of hypocrites.

[Non-GAAP Earnings]

@Ronald Schlabach Actually if you look up the research, the opposite is true. Countries with dictatorships that have sharp economic contractions become a lot more likely to revolt. Google "Income Growth and Revolutions"

[GR Value]

@Ronald Schlabach There is no comparison to defending after 9-11 even if it was a stupid move, to invading a country and seizing territory or basically installing your own government to run it.

Moreoever, I agree that economic punishment is an attempt to get a misbehaving country's leadership to replace him/her otherwise stay that way basically.

The entire world has come together, pretty much every country even Switzerland. That's how outrageous this is. Putin seems quite idiotic. He'd have way more legacy if he freed his people and just enabled a democratic congress much like UK did at some point.

No matter how flawed democracies or even flawed democracies are, they are 100x better than any dictatorship.

[JLassie]

@Ronald Schlabach

"It will most likely galvanize Russian support for Putin and hatred for the West along with it. "

Unless this guy gets his way.

www.businessinsider.com/...

[JackWolf]

I wonder then Russian soldiers will realize their paychecks are pretty much worthless.

[AgainstTheDollar]

@JackWolf - Russia produces everything they use/need other than certain luxury goods (electronics), so those paychecks will be going far - likely further than ever, and won't at all be worthless.

[TycoonBg]

@AgainstTheDollar , 90% of drugs are imported, 40% of food.

[farwest]

@AgainstTheDollar Lol, you must be joking.

[Edpdds]

We will regret our passive response to Putin. The bully wins again.

[pipbel]

@Edpdds think again, you want this... ?

www.youtube.com/...

[toddycst]

@Edpdds You want a nuclear war?

[farwest]

@Edpdds I don't see you volunteering? But it's always easy to be a toughguy keyboard warrior...

[Fobe]

With his courage and leadership, volodymyr zelensky has become the outstanding, heroic person Vladimir Putin wishes he was but will never be.

[gc03]

@Fobe - Zelensky began taking preemptive measures a while ago.

www.dw.com/...

"Three pro-Russian TV channels have gone off the air in Kyiv after pro-Western President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a Ukrainian security council decree imposing sanctions for five years on eight media and TV companies.

Zelenskiy's spokeswoman Iulia Mendel said: "These media have become one of the tools of war against Ukraine, so they are blocked in order to protect national security," adding that evidence had emerged of their being funded from Russia."

[stephenmcmahon83]

"We want [Putin] to feel the squeeze, we want the people around him to feel the squeeze," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

----------------------------------

Have we learned nothing from the post-WW1 German experience? By turning Russia into an economic North Korea, the West is going to subject tens of millions of innocent Russians into abject poverty. Russians who currently *oppose* Russian actions in the Ukraine. As a result, in 6 months time there will be millions of Russians who *support* Russian "payback" against the West for the correct perception that the US/EU ruined their lives.

I understand that sanctions are useful and neccessary. But destroying peoples ability to withdraw money from an ATM machine and refusing to ship food to a country is not the answer. Starving children and geriatrics is not the answer.

I would go as far to say that even this seizing of Russian billionaires property is a disguisting overreach and sets a terrifying precedent. Imagine if China decided they didn't like a US military operation, and decided, without any judicial process, to seize American billionaires (aka "oligarchs") property. This is the sort of thing I would expect in Russia, China or North Korea, NOT the G7.

If I sound like I am excusing Putin, I am not. I oppose the invasion of a sovereign neighboring nation. I just think we need to be rational with the response.

[Larry Hall]

@stephenmcmahon83 Perhaps that is the choice - the people of Ukraine and other future targets of Putin and the people of Russia. Sanctions may ruin their lives. It is also true that in WWII, Allied bombers killed up to two million German civilians as part of an undisguised effort to destroy Nazi infrastructure. Today, the smart phone and a culture based on instant emotional satisfaction of the masses would prevent that. Hitler would have won the war. Is Putin Hitler? No, but he - and the CCP - threaten all democratic countries.

If in fact Russia swallows Ukraine and the Russian leadership - the target of the sanctions - survives with mild dings, then this world war continues. The West does not seek it. That Russia and China see Ukraine and Taiwan independence as mortal threats is a reflection of the nature of their systems. You will get war in one form or the other either way. And the Russian people have not shown any ability or inclination to change the government that now threatens the peace of the entire world. That millions of them will suffer is tragic, but less so than the nations of the world becoming slaves to two totalitarian states.

[Harvey Cotton]

@stephenmcmahon83 Military solutions are obviously off the table. Economic sanctions are off the table. So what, then? Strongly worded letters? Seriously, especially considering what happened to Chechnya, Georgia, Ukraine, Syria, and now
Ukraine again, what would be your policy prescription?

[P M D]

It sucks, but it's the best we've got. Putin cannot be allowed to roll through Ukraine (followed by Moldova, Romania, Poland, and who knows what else) without a serious deterrent. And direct military conflict just isn't an option.

In the meantime, pour one out for the Moscow Stock Exchange. May it rest in peace.