Russia is on the brink of default after making payments in rubles

GGood Morning.
VTB, Russia’s second largest bank, is likely to become the latest victim of Western sanctions.
Her UK branch is due to appear in a London court today, where she will ask the judge to order so-called special administration, Bloomberg reports.
It comes after a court ordered the shutdown of the UK unit of Russia’s largest lender Sberbank, while Sova Capital, a London-based broker controlled by Russian banker Roman Avdeev, entered special administration last month.
Special administration is a form of bankruptcy that protects the broader market from collapse. Gazprom’s British business narrowly avoided that fate after Germany seized control of the gas giant’s subsidiary.
5 things to start the day off right
1) The taxpayer is pumping £400m in hydrogen as ministers scramble to hit net-zero targets Hydrogen technology aims to provide a low-carbon way to power trucks and trains
2) Uber is adding plane and train tickets to its app The ride-hailing app aims to become a “one-stop shop” for booking transport
3) ‘The point of Channel 4 is to take risks’: Why a sale could backfire Unleashing the channel from public ownership could allow it to compete with companies like Netflix
4) Biden faces recession in election year, warns Deutsche Bank The Federal Reserve will aggressively hike interest rates to curb the sharpest inflation in 40 years
5) P&O Ferries is telling customers to stay away from Dover over Easter Competing operators’ services are fully booked, meaning they cannot cope with those who cannot now travel with P&O
what happened overnight
Asian stock markets tumbled on Wednesday as investors faced the possibility of aggressive monetary tightening by the US Federal Reserve to fight inflation, while focus was also on new Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
In morning trading in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei fell nearly 2 percent, while South Korean stocks fell 0.9 percent and Australian stocks 0.75 percent.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside of Japan slipped 1.3 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.3 percent, off a one-month high on Monday.
Shanghai slipped 0.1 percent as markets in mainland China reopened after two public holidays.
Comes today
- Company: Hilton Food Group, eye-catcher (annual results); Hyve Group, Imperial Brands, Motorpoint, Topps Tiles (Trade Update)
- Economy: Construction PMI (UNITED KINGDOM)producer price index (EU)FOMC protocol (US)