Global
FED POMO announcement
At 3:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, the Fed released its final POMO (Permanent Open Market Operations) schedule, which will see $20 billion in Treasury purchases through eight open market operations over the next month, with the last $4 billion purchase occurring on March 9, as expected.
Following the POMO announcement, the February federal funds yield fell to a daily low on the same day as the possibility of an emergency rate hike blasted through.
It is worth noting that the likelihood of a March rate hike is also slipping fast, perhaps in light of the latest geopolitical scare, after US officials warned that Russia could launch a full-scale invasion as early as next week.
The White House phone call on the situation in Ukraine
On 12 February local time, US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin held an approximately one-hour phone call on the situation in Ukraine.
The White House said Biden’s efforts did not change the Kremlin’s position as he continued to warn Putin that ‘if a decision is made to invade Ukraine, the United States and its allies will respond “decisively and swiftly to impose serious consequences on Russia”’. Kremlin: US warning of ‘imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine’ has reached ‘absurd’ level.
Australia
Crown Resorts accept the takeover offer
Crown Resorts has accepted an $8.9 billion takeover offer from US investment firm Blackstone.
Under the terms of the offer, Crown shareholders will receive $13.10 a share, at a 32 per cent premium to Crown’s closing price on November 18, 2021 when the offer was first made.
ASX up
The S&P/ASX200 is up just 0.30 points today to 7,217.60. The top performing stocks in this index are BEACH ENERGY LIMITED and ADBRI LIMITED, up 3.37% and 0.69% respectively.
