German producer prices at record high amid Ukraine war; IMF/World Bank meetings under way – business live

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the world economy and the financial markets.

In Germany, factory gate prices jumped 30.9% in the year to March, the biggest increase since records started in 1949, according to the Federal Statistics Office. This reflects the impact of the war in Ukraine for the first time, with surging energy costs the main culprit. The worry is that increases in producer prices will feed through into consumer prices and push inflation even higher.

Netflix shares crashed 25% last night after the US streaming giant said it had lost subscribers for the first time in 10 years at the start of the year, and expects to lose even more in the spring.

After gains on Wall Street on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq rising 2.15% and the Dow Jones up 1.45%, Asian shares are mostly higher in choppy trading, apart from the Shanghai composite, which fell 1%. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.86%, Hong Hong’s Hang Seng dipped 0.47% and the Singapore exchange finished 0.9% higher.

China’s central bank kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged but announced some measures to help people and companies affected by Covid. Iris Pang, chief economist for Greater China at ING, says:

Most of the measures mentioned are window guidance for banks to be flexible in lending to individuals and companies that are affected temporarily by lockdowns and credit issues, but which are willing to repay debts when the lockdowns are released. The outcome depends on the banks’ reaction to the central bank’s suggestions. The measures also suggest that the monetary policy response will remain modest compared to fiscal stimulus.

European stock markets were in the red yesterday, as Russia launched the ‘second phase’ of the war in Eastern Ukraine. Futures point to a higher open today, but the risks remain tilted to the downside.

Oil prices have rebounded amid concerns about tighter supplies from Russia and Libya. Yesterday, both Brent crude and US light crude lost more than 5% after the International Monetary Fund slashed its forecast for global growth because of the war in Uraine. Brent crude, the global benchmark, is nearly $1 higher at $108.18 a barrel at the moment, while US light crude is trading at $103.02 a barrel.

Also coming up

The spring meetings held by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are under way in Washington, with speeches this afternoon by the IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva on the global policy agenda, followed by the World Bank president David Malpass.

The Agenda

• IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington
• 10am BST: Eurozone trade and industrial production for February
• 1.30pm BST: Canada inflation for March (forecast: 6.1%)
• 1.30pm BST IMF head Kristalina Georgieva speaks
• 2.15pm BST: World Bank president David Malpass speaks
• 3pm BST: US Home sales for March

I have tried to give all kinds of news to all of you latest news today 2022 through this website and you are going to like all this news very much because all the news we always give in this news is always there. It is on trending topic and whatever the latest news was

it was always our effort to reach you that you keep getting the latest news and you always keep getting the information of news through us for free and also tell you people. Give that whatever information related to other types of news will be 

made available to all of you so that you are always connected with the news, stay ahead in the matter and keep getting today news all types of news for free till today so that you can get the news by getting it. Always take two steps forward