Ata mārie and welcome to your Monday overview of global business and political news from the weekend.
First up, US President Donald Trump finally named Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, which helped to ease fears over central bank independence.
“I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best,” Trump wrote.
Warsh, 55, was unlikely to cause market turmoil because of his past Fed experience, CNBC said. Bahnsen Group chief investment officer David Bahnsen said Warsh had the respect and credibility of the financial markets.
“There was no person who was going to get this job who wasn’t going to be cutting rates in the short term. However, I believe longer term he will be a credible candidate.”
National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett had been the favourite to replace Powell, but Warsh became the front-runner in recent days, CNBC said.
HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham.
Staying with central banks, HSBC reckons the Reserve Bank of Australia will hike interest rates tomorrow, and it may not stop there, the ABC reported. Chief economist Paul Bloxham noted a "sharp upside surprise" in inflation had not abated because productivity growth was too weak.
"For the RBA, we expect a 25bps hike in February, and for it to be a painful hike, given that it reverses course, and that the story is of a supply-constrained economy, not strong demand. As always, all that monetary policy can do is slow down demand, not fix supply, or lift productivity."
Elsewhere, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reinforced a second round of trilateral talks on ending the war with Russia this week, as the fate of a temporary energy ceasefire hangs in the balance, Al Jazeera reported.
Envoys from the United States, Russia, and Ukraine will meet in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and Thursday local time.
“Ukraine is ready for a substantive discussion, and we are interested in ensuring that the outcome brings us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,” Zelensky said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine suffered fewer air attacks than usual from Russia over the weekend, after Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed not to attack Kyiv and other parts of the country for a week amid freezing weather, the BBC reported.
Israel said it would terminate the humanitarian operations in Gaza of Doctors Without Borders after it failed to provide a list of its Palestinian staff, Al Jazeera reported.
In December, Israel first announced it would prevent 37 aid organisations from working in Gaza from March 1 for failing to submit detailed employee information after it was alleged that some Doctors Without Borders staff had links with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Elsewhere, Trump confirmed India would purchase Venezuelan oil, helping to replace Russian oil that the world’s third-biggest oil importer buys, CNBC reported.
“We’ve already made that deal, the concept of the deal,” Trump told reporters. India stopped buying oil from Caracas last year after Trump imposed a 25% tariff on countries buying Venezuelan oil.
Meanwhile, Opec+ ratified plans to hold production steady in March, the last part of a three-month supply freeze, Bloomberg reported. Eight key members led by Saudi Arabia and Russia reaffirmed the pause that had been agreed in November.
Elon Musk.
Billionaire businessman Elon Musk’s SpaceX has applied to launch one million satellites into Earth's orbit to power artificial intelligence, the BBC reported.
The application said "orbital data centres" were the most cost and energy-efficient way to meet the growing demand and would rapidly increase the number of SpaceX satellites in orbit.
Finally, a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump made a stronger than expected US$7 million at US and Canadian theatres in its opening weekend, despite suggestions it would only generate up to US$2m.
Melania, distributed by Amazon’s MGM Studios, focuses on Melania Trump during the 20 days before her husband’s return to the presidency. Amazon’s purchase generated headlines after it paid US$40m for the rights and another US$35m in marketing. The Hollywood Reporter called it the most expensive documentary in history, Bloomberg reported.
