US Business

Twitter announced Tuesday that Elon Musk will join its board, boosting hopes the Tesla boss will lift the social media company’s prospects as some observers expressed wariness of the billionaire’s influence.

Shares rose for a second day on news of Musk’s board appointment after surging on Monday’s disclosure of the outspoken entrepreneur’s large stake in the company.

“I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value,” Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said in a tweet.

Agrawal called Musk “a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need,” while Musk said he looked forward to soon making “significant improvements to Twitter.”

Musk, who also leads the SpaceX venture and is the world’s richest man, had the day prior announced his purchase of 73.5 million shares or 9.2 percent of Twitter’s common stock, sending the company’s value up more than 27 percent on Wall Street.

Analysts at Wedbush said the invitation from Agrawal marks “a friendly move by the Twitter board to embrace Musk” that could lead to strategic shifts for a company “still struggling in a social media arms race,” according to a note.

Musk had previously questioned the platform’s committment to freedom of speech — criticism that has now fed hopes among political conservatives who accuse the platform of “censorship” and hope to see former US president Donald Trump returned to Twitter following a lifetime ban in the wake of the January 6 riot.

Some progressives expressed discomfort with Musk’s increased say at Twitter, which the Tesla boss has called a “de facto public town square.”

“What could possibly go wrong with an oligarch determining what constitutes free speech?” tweeted former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who noted that Musk has “threatened to sue bloggers and fired employees for speaking out about safety concerns.”

Musk will remain on Twitter’s board until the company’s annual shareholder’s meeting in 2024, and he has promised not to take a stake larger than 14.9 percent in the company during that time, according to a securities filing.

– Political implications? –

The arrival of Musk cheered several analysts, who have rued the performance of a company that is influential in the political and media worlds but for which profitable growth has proved elusive.

In 2021, Twitter’s revenues were $5.1 billion, up 37 percent from 2020, but a fraction of the $33.7 billion reported by Facebook parent Meta.

CFRA Research analyst Angelino Zino applauded the arrival of a “true visionary” in Musk.

“Ultimately, the goal is to better monetize the platform, and we think Musk can only help, not hurt the process, with his recent criticism of the company as a refreshing sign,” Zino said, noting that the term’s of Musk’s stake mean he can’t take over the company.

Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, offered a more muted outlook, characterizing Musk as “socially ambitious” and raising the possibility that the Tesla boss will use the platform to promote his ventures.

“Over the longer term, Twitter investors will want to see that high levels of governance are adhered to, otherwise the independence of Twitter could be questioned, and the risk is that users may start to drift away,” Streeter said.

In the political universe, far-right Republican House Representative Lauren Boebert was among those calling for Musk to “lift the political censorship.”

“Oh… and BRING BACK TRUMP!” she tweeted.

Two days after the January 6 attack on the US capitol, Twitter announced the “permanent suspension” of Trump’s account, citing the “risk of further incitement of violence.”

Historian James Fell was among those trying to preempt a Trump Twitter revival, saying if the ex-president is restored, “I’ll probably ditch this platform altogether.”

But others said Musk’s motivation behind the Twitter investment probably has little to do with national politics.

“Twitter is a key resource for him,” said David Kirsch, a professor at the Robert Smith School of Business, who has written extensively on electric vehicles and modern technology.

Musk currently has more than 80 million followers on the platform, which Kirsch said has likely saved him hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising.

“He is the master of the platform, at a certain point he couldn’t afford not to have a say in how it’s managed,” said Kirsch. “All the politics are secondary.”

Shares of Twitter rose 2.0 percent to $50.98 trading.

German police said Tuesday they have taken down Russian-language illegal darknet marketplace Hydra, the largest such network in the world, and seized bitcoins worth 23 million euros ($25 million).

Founded in 2015, Hydra sold illegal drugs but also stolen credit card data, counterfeit currency and fake identity documents, masking the identities of those involved using the Tor encryption network.

The marketplace had around 17 million customer accounts and more than 19,000 vendor accounts, according to the BKA federal police.

“The Hydra market was probably the illegal marketplace with the highest turnover worldwide”, with sales amounting to at least 1.23 billion euros in 2020 alone, the BKA said in a statement.

Investigators have taken control of Hydra’s servers in Germany and the marketplace has been “shut down”, the BKA said.

Suspects are being investigated for “operating criminal trading platforms on the internet on a commercial basis”.

Investigators do not know whether Hydra also has servers in other countries but “assume this was the main hub” of the network’s infrastructure, a spokesman for Frankfurt prosecution service’s internet crime office ZIT told AFP.

Investigations into the illegal marketplace started in August 2021 and also involved several US authorities, according to the BKA.

The “Bitcoin Bank Mixer” provided by the platform, a service for concealing digital transactions, had made investigations especially difficult, it added. 

The BKA said it had published a seizure banner on the marketplace’s website.

– US sanctions –

In Washington Tuesday, the US Treasury announced sanctions on Hydra as well as Garantex, an exchange for virtual currencies that the Treasury said was used for collecting ransomware payments.

Formerly based in Estonia, Garantex operates out of Federation Tower in Moscow, it said, like two other similar exchanges already under sanctions, Suex and Chatex.

“Analysis of known Garantex transactions shows that over $100 million in transactions are associated with illicit actors and darknet markets,” the Treasury said, including nearly $6 million from Russian ransomware group Conti and $2.6 million from Hydra.

The sanctions block accounts and financial activities under US jurisdiction of anyone involved in the two markets, effectively making it harder for users to obtain and transfer funds.

– ‘Uniquely sophisticated operations’ –

The secret “darknet” includes websites that can be accessed only with specific software or authorisations, ensuring anonymity for users.

Such networks have faced increased pressure from international law enforcement after a boom in usage during the coronavirus pandemic.

The United States, Russia, Ukraine and China dominate in terms of value both sent to and received from darknet markets, according to a 2021 report from blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis.

Hydra accounted for 75 percent of sales in the global darknet market in 2020, the report said.

The US Treasury said Hydra’s revenue passed $1.3 billion in 2020.

“Hydra is a big driver of Eastern Europe’s unique crypto crime landscape. Eastern Europe has one of the highest rates of cryptocurrency transaction volume associated with criminal activity,” Chainalysis said.

The marketplace had become particularly popular with users by developing creative delivery methods, the Chainalysis report added.

“Hydra has developed uniquely sophisticated operations, such as an Uber-like system for assigning drug deliveries to anonymous couriers, who drop off their packages in out-of-the-way, hidden public locations, commonly referred to as ‘drops’,” it said. 

“That way, no physical exchange is made, and unlike with traditional darknet markets, vendors don’t need to risk using the postal system.”

A German-led police sting last year took down notorious darknet marketplace DarkMarket, which had nearly 500,000 users and more than 2,400 vendors worldwide.

The marketplace had offered for sale “all kinds of drugs” as well as “counterfeit money, stolen and fake credit card data, anonymous SIM cards, malware and much more”, prosecutors said.

For generations the Russian city of Tolyatti has been synonymous with leading car manufacturer Avtovaz, maker of one of the country’s best-known brands, the Lada automobile.

But with the West piling sanctions on Russia over its military action in Ukraine, Tolyatti and the workers of Avtovaz are bracing for tough times.

Gathered in a small apartment in the city’s Avtozavodsky district, a residential area surrounding the sprawling factory, several workers from the “Yedinstvo” (Unity) trade union said they were worried about their future.

“It’s a factory town. Everyone here works either for the factory or for the police,” said Alexander Kalinin, 45, a freight elevator operator at Avtovaz for 15 years.

Founded in the 1960s for the Soviet Union to meet the growing demand for affordable cars, the Avtovaz factory’s flagship Lada vehicles became widely known for their simplicity and durability.

The factory was set up in the town of Stavropol about 780 kilometres (485 miles) southeast of Moscow, which was renamed Tolyatti after Italian Communist politician Palmiro Togliatti.

The plant survived the economic crisis that followed the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and was eventually taken over by French auto group Renault.

“For Tolyatti, the factory is everything. The whole city was built around it,” said 33-year-old Irina Myalkina, a worker in the spare parts warehouse for 11 years.

“When I started, I was full of enthusiasm, I hoped for a good income. I still hope,” Myalkina added with a sad smile.

– ‘People are nervous’ –

Most of the factory’s assembly lines stopped running after Moscow moved troops into Ukraine on February 24 and sanctions meant it could no longer receive components from aboard.

Workers are on paid leave, with two-thirds of their usual wage, which for Myalkina means receiving 13,000 rubles (about $140) instead of her usual 20,000 rubles ($215).

Prices for food and other basic goods are soaring, in Tolyatti as elsewhere in Russia.

“People are nervous,” Myalkina said.

After completing its acquisition of Avtovaz, Renault funnelled billions of euros into the Soviet-era factory, but also carried out huge staff cuts, leaving fewer than 40,000 workers out of 70,000.

“There were many problems with the departure of employees, but nevertheless there was a clear positive trend,” said Andrei Yakovlev, head of the Institute for Industrial and Market Studies at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics.

“A major Russian car manufacturer was being born.” 

Now its future is very much in doubt, with Renault, under intense pressure to boycott Russia, considering whether to withdraw from Avtovaz. 

No one from the company would agree to talk and it even refused to give access to the Lada Museum in Tolyatti during a recent visit.

When AFP was filming near the factory, Avtovaz security called police, who questioned and released the journalists after several hours.

The factory’s employees have been forced to take their three weeks of summer vacation in April, while Renault considers its options.

– Second jobs –

Many employees have already been forced to take up second jobs, like Leonid Emchanov, 31, a mechanic now moonlighting as a security guard to feed his family. 

“I am the only one in the family who works. I have two children, my wife… is on maternity leave. I have to work two jobs, but even this is not enough,” he said.

If Avtovaz is unable to survive this crisis, its demise would mark the end of an industrial era for Russia, and for its many Lada enthusiasts.

In an underground garage in Tolyatti, two men in vintage overalls were busy at work on an ’80s Lada Niva, a legendary four-wheel drive vehicle, that was shining with a fresh coat of red paint. 

“Since childhood, my whole life has been linked to the factory,” said one of the mechanics, Sergei Diogrik.

“All our relatives in Tolyatti worked at the factory and I myself worked there. I had no choice, everything is related to the company,” he added. 

The 43-year-old founded and runs the Lada History Club, bringing together fans of the Soviet car from all over the world.  

“It was a powerful producer. The record in the early 1980s was 720,000 cars per year,” he said, compared to nearly 300,000 cars produced in 2021.

“It was fashionable to come here. Now the fashion is for young people to go to Moscow or somewhere else,” Diogrik added.

He said he is trying to remain hopeful, pointing out that the factory and its workers already survived the economic hardships of the 1990s.

“A Russian person who survived the 90s, especially in Tolyatti, will cope now, everything will be fine.”

After nearly a week back on Earth, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei said Tuesday the relationship between US astronauts and Russian cosmonauts remained positive while on board the International Space Station, despite their countries’ animosity over Moscow’s February invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Vande Hei landed in Kazakhstan last Wednesday in a Russian capsule, along with cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov.

“About my relationship with my Russian crewmates, they were, are and will continue to be very dear friends of mine,” the American Vande Hei said during a press conference in Texas Tuesday. 

“We supported each other throughout everything,” he said. “And I never had any concerns about my ability to continue working with them.”

Vande Hei said the Russian invasion of Ukraine was discussed on board the ISS, but “it was largely how they felt about things and those are things that I would prefer that they get to share directly.”

Moscow and Washington jointly manage the ISS, and NASA has said cooperation between the two countries’ space programs has so far remained unaffected by their governments’ friction. 

But Russian space authority head Dmitry Rogozin has been ramping up incendiary rhetoric on Twitter for weeks.

“If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from uncontrolled deorbiting and falling on US or European territory?” Rogozin wrote in a February tweet — noting that the station does not fly over much of Russia.

Vande Hei said he has stayed away from social media, but heard about some of the tweets from his wife. 

“I just had too much confidence in our cooperation to date, to take that those tweets as anything but something that was meant for a different audience than myself,” he said. 

The 55-year-old now holds the record for the American who has spent the most consecutive days in space, at 355 days. 

He said his legs were a bit “wobbly” for his first eight hours back on solid ground, but he is adjusting quickly to life back on Earth. 

“I’m a little disappointed with how normal it feels. I kind of want it to seem more strange being back,” he said. 

“I’m still uncomfortable, but humans are very adaptable.”

The goal for the extended mission was to observe the effects of prolonged exposure to a space environment on humans in preparation for future missions — like going to Mars, for example. 

“My body is part of the experiment,” Vande Hei remarked, adding that he hopes his record time in space is soon broken.

The record for the longest space journey for any human belongs to Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent 437 days on board the Mir station in 1994 and 1995. 

Twitter announced Tuesday that Elon Musk will join its board, one day after the Tesla CEO disclosed a large stake that made him the social media company’s largest shareholder.

“I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board,” Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said in a tweet.

Musk, who also leads the SpaceX venture and is the world’s richest man, had the day prior announced his purchase of 73.5 million shares or 9.2 percent of Twitter’s common stock, sending the company’s value up more than 27 percent on Wall Street.

The billionaire’s investment had fueled speculation about a takeover of the microblogging platform, which is influential in the political and media worlds but for which profitable growth has often proved elusive.

Analysts at Wedbush said the invitation from Agrawal marks “a friendly move by the Twitter board to embrace Musk with open arms” that could lead to significant strategic shifts for a company “still struggling in a social media arms race,” according to a note.

But given Musk’s penchant for polarizing comments, they advised: “get out the popcorn.”

Musk had previously questioned the platform’s committment to freedom of speech, echoing a position of Donald Trump’s supporters, who hope to see the former US president return to Twitter following a lifetime ban instituted in the wake of the January 6 riot.

Agrawal called Musk “a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need” at the company. 

The Twitter CEO also shared a poll posted by Musk to the platform asking whether to add a function to edit tweets, saying, “the consequences of the poll will be important. Please vote carefully.”

Musk, for his part, said he was “looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”

Also applauding was founder Jack Dorsey, who said of Musk, “he cares deeply about our world and Twitter’s role in it.”

Musk will remain on Twitter’s board until the company’s annual shareholder’s meeting in 2024, and he has promised not to take a stake larger than 14.9 percent in the company during that time, according to a securities filing.

– Political implications? –

The arrival of Musk also cheered some analysts, who have expressed chagrin at the company’s performance.

In 2021, Twitter’s revenues were $5.1 billion, up 37 percent from 2020, but a fraction of the $33.7 billion reported by Facebook parent Meta.

CFRA Research analyst Angelino Zino applauded the arrival of a “true visionary” in Musk.

“Ultimately, the goal is to better monetize the platform, and we think Musk can only help, not hurt the process, with his recent criticism of the company as a refreshing sign,” Zino said, noting that the term’s of Musk’s stake mean he can’t take over the company. 

Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, offered a more muted outlook, characterizing Musk as “socially ambitious” and raising the possibility that the Tesla boss will use the platform to promote his ventures.

“Over the longer term, Twitter investors will want to see that high levels of governance are adhered to, otherwise the independence of Twitter could be questioned, and the risk is that users may start to drift away,” Streeter said, adding that Musk could also use the intelligence gathered to launch his own platform.

In the political universe, far-right Republican House Representative Lauren Boebert was among those calling for Musk to “lift the political censorship.”

“Oh… and BRING BACK TRUMP!” she tweeted.

Two days after the January 6 attack on the US capitol, Twitter announced the “permanent suspension” of Trump’s account, citing the “risk of further incitement of violence.”

Historian James Fell was among those trying to preempt a Trump Twitter revival, saying if the ex-president is restored, “I’ll probably ditch this platform altogether.”

Also unhappy was former labor secretary Robert Reich, who tweeted, “What could possibly go wrong with an oligarch determining what constitutes free speech?”

Shares of Twitter rose 4.5 percent to $52.20 in midday trading.

Oil platforms, pipelines, coal power plants and other fossil fuel assets could lose trillions of dollars in the battle against climate change in the coming decades, experts say.

The warning was issued in a 3,000-page report by UN experts who said fossil fuel assets must be retired and replaced with clean energy faster to mitigate financial losses.

Such assets will become “stranded” and worth less than expected because they may never be used since fossil fuel demand must fall in the near future to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Limiting warming to the aspirational 1.5 degree Celsius target in the Paris Agreement, or the more conservative 2C goal, “will strand fossil-related assets”, said the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its latest report Monday.

“The combined global discounted value of the unburned fossil fuels and stranded fossil fuel infrastructure has been projected to be around 1–4 trillion dollars from 2015 to 2050 to limit global warming to approximately 2C, and it will be higher if global warming is limited to approximately 1.5C,” the IPCC said.

Any move to alleviate the impact of climate change means using less fossil fuel, thus rendering assets obsolete as companies are under pressure to move away from harmful energy production.

The IPCC said that if current oil, gas and coal energy infrastructure were to operate for their designed lifetime — without technology to capture and store carbon — capping global warming at the 1.5C target would be impossible.

It said nations should stop burning coal completely and cut oil and gas use by 60 and 70 percent respectively by 2050 to keep within the Paris deal goals, noting that both solar and wind were now cheaper than fossil fuels in many places.

The idea of “stranded assets” dates back to the 2010s and was put forward by think tank Carbon Tracker.

Companies could be further affected by governments taking decisions such as increasing the price of coal or even banning certain energies.

Consumers could also turn to other products like electric vehicles.

Other assets impacted include infrastructure such as drilling platforms, which have become useless quicker than expected.

Some fossil fuel reserves will become too costly to exploit due to falling prices.

– Risky bets –

For the IPCC, coal-related assets are the most vulnerable before 2030, than those that are oil- and gas-related towards mid-century.

The idea of stranded assets, taken up by both environmentalists and investors, has gained popularity and has been used in shareholder meetings of energy companies such as ExxonMobil or TotalEnergies.

The climate issue has in fact become central to some companies, even if it has taken three decades after the IPCC’s creation in 1988.

“It’s really the financial risk that originally created this spark, which took a long time,” said Hugues Chenet, research associate at Polytechnique and the University College London. 

That “convinced financial actors there was a problem.”

The idea of “stranded assets” — which Chenet prefers to call “obsolete” — has made it possible to pinpoint a “contradiction”.

There is one “path that says we must live without fossil fuels, facing an economy that is rather more geared up to do the opposite”.

Lucie Pinson of NGO Reclaim Finance, who does not find the climate commitments of major companies like TotalEnergies credible, also pointed out the inconsistency.

“We can see that (TotalEnergies) doesn’t believe in its own (climate) rhetoric, because if it believed it, it would not develop projects which have no future,” she added.

– Revenue losses –

It’s decision time for countries which get revenue from fossil fuels.

From Azerbaijan to Angola to Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, oil producers risk losing a significant amount of their revenue over the next 20 years, warned Carbon Tracker.

But “if they continue to invest, you’re betting on the failure of policy action on climate but you’re also betting on the failure of renewables and other low carbon technologies to displace oil and gas”, said Carbon Tracker’s Mike Coffin, who calls on countries to diversify.

Another risky bet would be to ignore acting against climate change, hoping to make profits from oil and gas. 

But “you’ll lose way more on all your other assets when you’ve got forest fires, global migrations, famine,” he said.

After several days of delays and uncertainty, the Baltic Performer, a blue cargo ship laden with bananas from Ecuador, finally docked under grey skies at the Helsingborg port in southern Sweden.

One of Sweden’s two main unions for dockworkers, the Swedish Dockworkers Union, decided at the end of March that it would not unload vessels with ties to Russia, in protest against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The 150-meter freighter, operated by a Swedish subsidiary of the Russian company Baltic Shipping, was one of the first ships affected by that decision.

“We’re blocking all goods linked to Russia and the regime”, Rolf Lyktoft, head of the local dockworkers’ chapter, told AFP.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for Russian vessels to be blocked from the ports of the “free world”.

On Tuesday, the EU executive proposed banning Russian ships from European ports.

So far, none of the 27 EU member states has instituted a national ban — unlike Britain, which did so in early March.

– 270 ships a month-

Analysts say Europe has been wary to move on the issue due to a fear of Russian reprisals over its oil deliveries. 

In Helsingborg, Lyktoft acknowledged that the decision taken by his 1,400 colleagues was largely symbolic, with only a small number of Russian-linked cargo ships passing through Sweden’s ports.

But he hoped for a snowball effect.

“We hope that the International Dockworkers Council will decide to take the next step, with a worldwide decision to not touch Russian goods”, he said. 

Helsingborg port officials have kept a low profile. The Baltic Performer was ultimately quietly unloaded late Monday.

The ship had been scheduled to arrive at the port on Saturday evening, but had to postpone its arrival by a few days as there were no dockers willing to unload it.

The blockade imposed by the Swedish Dockers’ Union includes Russian-flagged vessels, those owned by Russian companies but flying other flags, and those sailing to or from Russia.

The Baltic Performer was unloaded by dockers from the Transport Workers’ Union, Sweden’s other main dockers union.

“We think they shouldn’t have let the ship into the port, but the port authorities did,” said head of that union, Tommy Wreeth.

Last week, his organisation also announced a blockade due to take effect on May 1 — in order to give shipping companies time to make other arrangements.

According to Wreeth, 270 Russian-flagged vessels or with ties to Russia docked in EU ports in March, including four in Sweden.

– Short-term disruptions –

Britain blocked Russian-linked ships from its ports in early March, although Russian cargo — in particular oil — is still able to enter on other ships for the time being.

Few initiatives have been taken elsewhere in Europe so far.

Before the EU proposal was announced on Tuesday, the CGT dockers union at France’s second-biggest port Le Havre said any blockade decision had to “taken across Europe”.

“Otherwise, the port of Le Havre or other French ports would be shooting themselves in the foot, with traffic just going to other ports that turn a blind eye”, union representative Johan Fortier told AFP. 

On March 3, the port of Hamburg suspended all loading and unloading of ships to and from Russia.

But “limited” operations resumed three weeks later, a spokesman told AFP, since “not all goods are on the EU sanctions list.”

As in other European countries, German customs officials currently verify the contents of the containers and decide on a case-by-case basis.

EU ambassadors are to discuss the proposed ban at their meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. The proposal needs to be approved unanimously by all 27 member states.

If the EU introduces a blockade and Russia takes retaliatory measures against EU vessels, “this could significantly disrupt Russia’s exports in the short-term”, said Niels Rasmussen, chief analyst at shipowners’ association Bimco.

However, “in the medium-term it is likely that non-Russia and non-EU ships would reposition into Russia-Europe”, while the tankers hit by sanctions “would move into other markets”, he told AFP.

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Oil prices jumped further Tuesday as the European Union proposed further sanctions against major crude producer Russia in response to killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha that have prompted international condemnation.

Elsewhere, European and US stocks were mostly lower, while Asian equity markets rose. The dollar was mixed versus major rivals.

Oil rising again “is bad news for corporates looking to manage cost pressures, and for consumers already struggling to stomach higher energy bills”, noted Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

While countries in Europe — particularly Germany — rely heavily on energy from Russia, the possibility of an oil embargo sent both main crude contracts sharply higher Monday.

In the end the EU didn’t target oil, instead calling for sanctions on coal and shipping.

But Brent North Sea and WTI oil continued their rise on Tuesday, helping paring some of the sharp losses seen Friday in reaction to a pledge by Washington and other major economies to unleash millions of barrels from their stockpiles to keep a lid on prices, which are fanning already high inflation.

The additional EU sanctions came days after dozens of bodies were found on the streets in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, though some countries remain worried of the potential economic fallout.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blames Russian troops for the killings, but the Kremlin has denied responsibility.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan signalled more US sanctions were on the way this week.

The US Treasury said Tuesday said that the United States will bar Russia from making debt payments using funds held at American banks, to ramp up the economic pain on Moscow.

Wall Street opened moderately lower after posting strong gains Monday despite continued uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine.

But market analyst Patrick J. O’Hare at Briefing.com said investors were concerned that the rally by stocks off March lows won’t last.

Investors “will be battling the idea that further upside will be harder to come by given an existing backdrop that includes rising interest rates, persistently high inflation pressures around the globe, and Russia’s continued attack on Ukraine,” he said.

Traders will be keeping a close eye on the release this week of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting, hoping for an insight into officials’ thinking over future monetary policy.

After the Fed’s expected quarter-point interest rate hike last month, there are increasing bets on a half-point lift in May in light of soaring inflation and strong jobs data that suggest the US economy remains robust enough to absorb higher borrowing costs.

– Key figures around 1330 GMT –

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.6 percent at $108.21 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.7 percent at $104.02 per barrel

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 7,570.62 points

Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.6 percent at 14,429.87

Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 1.6 percent at 6,626.82

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.8 at 3,921.07

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 34,835.12

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.2 percent at 27,787.98 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holiday

Shanghai – Composite: Closed for a holiday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0960 from $1.0978 late Monday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3146 from $1.3114

Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.38 pence from 83.65 pence

Dollar/yen: UP at 122.82 yen from 122.78 yen

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The EU executive on Tuesday proposed a fresh wave of sanctions against Russia that would include a ban on coal imports and blocking Russian ships from entering European ports.

The proposal, part of the bloc’s planned fifth wave of sanctions since the February 24 invasion, needs to be approved unanimously by the EU’s 27 member states.

The European Union and US are seeking to tighten the noose on Moscow after dozens of bodies were discovered in the Ukrainian town of Bucha following the withdrawal of Russian troops.

“Russia is waging a cruel, ruthless war, also against Ukraine’s civilian population. We need to sustain utmost pressure at this critical point,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a video address.

The Europeans have been under pressure to hit Moscow in the crucial energy sector and stop Russia’s main source of revenue to pay for its war.

Brussels is also proposing a total ban on transactions of four large banks that represent a quarter of the Russian banking sector, including VTB, the country’s second largest lender.

The EU executive additionally wants to expand the list of Russian products banned in the EU, including vodka.

The proposal from the commission will now be presented to the EU’s member states with hopes they will approve it as early as Wednesday.

So far countries deeply dependent on Russia for energy — such as Germany, Austria and Italy — have resisted expanding the measures to gas or oil.

Germany on Monday said gas was still off-limits for now, given its continued importance to the European economy, but insisted that it could target gas and oil later.

Von der Leyen said additional sanctions, including on oil imports, were being worked on.

EU foreign ministers could adopt the latest package, either on the sidelines of NATO and G7 meetings happening Wednesday and Thursday, or at their regular meeting early next week.

Since Russia’s military buildup against Ukraine began, sanctions against Moscow have been coordinated with the United States and other allies.

Washington on Monday said more sanctions against Russia would be announced “this week”.