Germany has issued an “early warning” that it could go into a gas emergency and said the measure was intended to prepare for a possible gas cut by Russia. Economy Minister Robert Habeck said supplies had been secured for the time being and that Germany was closely monitoring supply flows with market operations. This came as Russia’s top lawmaker said Russia should sell its oil, grain, metals, fertilizers, coal and timber for rubles to world markets where it is profitable. President Vladimir Putin has ordered that natural gas exported to Europe or the United States be paid in rubles. Energy ministers from the G-7 group of industrialized nations have rejected the request. The Speaker of the Russian Parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, stated today: If you want gas, find rubles. In addition, it would be right, where it is beneficial for our country, to expand the list of export products priced in rubles to include fertilizer, cereals, food, oil, coal, metal, timber, etc. A growing number of German companies plan to raise prices in the next three months, indicating a further increase in inflation in Germany, according to the Ifo Institute based in Munich. The measure of price expectations recorded a new high of 54.6 points, from 47.6 points in February. Consumers need to be prepared for sharp price increases by food retailers in particular (price expectations rose to 94.0 points and 68.2 points among other retailers). Timo Wollmershäuser, head of forecasts at Ifo, said: Russia’s attack on Ukraine increases not only energy costs, but also the price of many agricultural raw materials. This makes it likely that the inflation rate will rise much more than 5% this year. Germany has not seen such a rise for more than 40 years, not even since inflation rose to 6.3% after the second oil crisis in 1981. German inflation reached 5.1% last month and is projected to rise to 6.3% in March, with data expected at 10 a.m. BST. Ifo said price pressures had increased in all sectors. In the wholesale sector, price expectations rose to 78.1 points, in manufacturing to 66.3 points, in construction to 48.9 points and in the services sector to 42.7 points. The German Dax was up 2.8% yesterday and the French CAC was up 3%, while the FTSE 100 in London was down 0.86% and the Dow Jones on Wall Street was up almost 1%. Asian stocks rallied as hopes for an end to negotiations over the conflict in Ukraine rose, with new talks between Ukraine and Russia starting in Istanbul yesterday and some signs of progress. However, the offensive continued and Ukraine reacted with skepticism to Russia’s commitment to drastically reduce military operations around Kyiv. Hong Kong Hang Seng climbed 1.5%, Shanghai Composite rose 1.8% and Australia rose 0.7%. Japan’s Nikkei was the strangest, falling 1% as traders made a profit at the end of the financial year. However, commodities such as oil, wheat and aluminum are rising again after falling on Tuesday, as optimism for a ceasefire began to wane somewhat. Brent crude traded at $ 111.50 a barrel, up 1.15%, while the most active wheat contract at the Chicago Board of Trade rose 0.3%. Aluminum on the London Stock Exchange rose 1.6 percent to $ 3,490 a tonne, down 4.9 percent on Tuesday. THE AGENDA
9 a.m. BST: Bank of England Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent speaks at NIESR conference 8 a.m. BST: Spain Inflation for March (preliminary) 10 am. BST: Eurozone Consumer Confidence Final for March 10 am. BST: The President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, is speaking 13:00 BST: Germany March inflation (preliminary) (forecast: 6.3%) 13:30 BST: US GDP for the fourth quarter final (forecast: 7.1%)
