Good morning.
We saw the first sign that Vladimir Putin was serious about his threat to shut down the taps.
Gazprom has confirmed that it has cut off natural gas flows to Poland and Bulgaria because they have not paid in rubles, adding that supplies will be suspended until payment is made.
Gas prices in Europe have risen by up to 24% amid fears that the move could be Putin’s predecessor to close taps to the rest of the continent.
Putin has ordered so-called “unfriendly” nations to pay for gas in rubles, but the EU has resisted, saying such a move would violate sanctions.
5 things to start your day with
1) The government has called for a € 4.9 billion loan to deal with fraud with Covid, as bags of money found at the border, taxpayers face “embarrassing” losses from the recovery scheme, but ministers “lack urgency”
2) The range of the electric car is triple to reduce the difference in gasoline engines. The average battery-powered car can travel nearly 260 miles on a single charge
3) How Rishi Sunak organized the most criminal stealth tax attack in history As inflation pours more money into the treasury of the Ministry of Finance, the Chancellor is under pressure to help families
4) Left-wing celebrities avoid Twitter after Elon Musk swallows Sadiq Khan and Amnesty International fears the billionaire’s commitment to free speech will lead to a “toxic Twitter”
5) Twitter employees are outraged by Elon Musk’s plans for the social media giant. Officials worry as billionaire focuses on free speech amid allegations of anti-conservative bias
What happened during the night
Asian markets returned to negative territory on Wednesday after the defeat of Wall Street. There was a slight decline in early trade for Hong Kong and Shanghai after a report that Xi Jinping pledged to increase infrastructure spending, while there were losses in Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Wellington, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta.
Expect today
- Corporate: GlaxoSmithKline, Go-Ahead Group, WH Smith (intermediate); Aveva Group, Drax Group, Fresnillo, Lloyds Banking Group, London Stock Exchange Group, Metro Bank, Network International Holdings, Persimmon, WPP (trade update)
- Economy: consumer confidence in GfK (Germany), upcoming home sales (USA)
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