Weekly Market Update - 14 March 2022

Diplomatic Efforts Stepping Up

Russia asked China for military equipment after its invasion, sparking concern in the White House that Beijing may undermine Western efforts to help Ukrainian forces defend their country, several U.S. officials said.

Diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine were stepping up on Monday, with Ukrainian and Russian negotiators set to talk again after both sides cited progress, even after Russia attacked a base near the Polish border and fighting raged elsewhere.

A barrage of Russian missiles hit Ukraine's Yavoriv International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security, a base just 15 miles (25 km) from the Polish border that has previously hosted NATO military instructors, killing 35 people and wounding 134, a Ukrainian official said on Sunday.

Source: Reuters

Will the Federal Reserve Raise Interest Rates?

The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rates by 0.25 percentage points at its next meeting. This would be the first time since slashing the borrowing costs to zero at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: FT.com

Amazon Announces 20-for-1 Stocksplit

Amazon.com shares moved sharply higher after the e-commerce and cloud-computing giant declared a 20-for-1 stock split and announced an expanded stock-repurchase program. While stock splits don’t mathematically create any value for holders—they’re the financial equivalent of cutting a pie into smaller pieces—retail investors tend to like them, and split announcements often trigger short-term rallies. And, in fact, Amazon shares (ticker: AMZN) were up 6.4% to $2,962.34 on Thursday.

Source: Barrons