The benchmark S&P 500 index is up 2.0% on Wednesday after the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Jerome Powell said the unprecedented sanctions on Russia were unlikely to meaningfully affect the U.S. economy.
Value investors still expect up to six rate hikes this year
The United States this afternoon extended exports sanctions it had previously imposed on Russia to Belarus as well. The new sanctions announced on Wednesday also hit a list of Russian defense entities.
The Ukraine war sent oil prices to $114 a barrel and natural gas to just under $5.0 an ounce today, painting a picture that inflation could get worse from here. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, Aerial Investments’ Mellody Hobson said:
We had seven great investors in our third gathering of top value investors and they had one belief in common – the Fed would be very hawkish this year. They expect four to six rate hikes this year alone. They think the Fed’s hand was forced and it’ll have to move to get inflation under control.
Miller Value Partners’ founder agrees Fed will keep hawkish
Veteran value investor Bill Miller also agrees that the geopolitical tensions were unlikely to make the Fed any less hawkish. During the same interview, he said:
The Fed is data-dependent. I think they clearly know that they’re behind the curve right now and so, will be raising rates this year. I’m in the five rate hikes camp.
Also on Wednesday, Russia claimed to have won control of Kherson – an administrative and economic centre in the south of Ukraine, while attacks on Kharkiv also continued. The Moex Russia index continues to remain closed amidst the Ukraine war.
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Source: https://invezz.com/news/2022/03/02/oil-at-114-a-barrel-what-to-expect-from-the-u-s-fed-now/