1. Important macro news and events:
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the cancellation of the assault on the Asian speed steel plant and explained that it was to protect the lives of Russian soldiers. Russian Defense Minister Shoigu said that in addition to the Asian speed steel plant, the Russian army has completely controlled Mariupol; It will take about three to four days to complete the operation of Yasu steel plant.
On the 21st, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced personal sanctions against 29 American citizens and 61 Canadian citizens in response to the expanding sanctions against Russia by the United States and Canada. US Vice President Harris, Secretary of state Blinken, national security adviser Sullivan, Meta President Zuckerberg and others are among them.
Powell said that the Fed would raise interest rates and quickly shift to a more neutral policy, and then adopt tightening policy under appropriate circumstances. If the timing is right, the pre strategy of raising interest rates will be beneficial. Raising interest rates by 50 basis points is the direction of discussion. The interest rate hike of 50 basis points will be discussed at the May meeting, and the Federal Reserve is committed to using tools to pull inflation back to the target level of 2%.
The monthly CPI rate of the euro zone recorded 2.4% in March, lower than the expected 2.5%; The annual rate was 7.4%, lower than the expected 7.5%. The annual core inflation rate in March was 3.2%, much higher than the ECB target. Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, said there was no point in "being confined to a certain day, a certain time of the day". The European Central Bank will wait until the data are available, and the June meeting is the time to decide on the next step based on the new data. The ECB's policy is more about normalization than austerity.