Russia advances, LVMH reshuffle, spat on crypto

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© Reuters

By Geoffrey Smith

Investing.com — Russia claims its first battlefield victory in Ukraine in months as the West prepares new sanctions against it. Apple is accelerating its efforts to integrate more components internally. Shares are expected to rise slightly. There’s a changing of the guard at the world’s biggest luxury group, LVMH, and a massive increase in oil inventories in the United States – but crude prices are still driven by expectations of a Chinese recovery. And the crypto row between the owners of Gemini and Genesis continues. Here’s what you need to know in financial markets on Wednesday, January 11.

1. Russia Claims Breakthrough in Ukraine; West plans more penalties

Russia won its first significant battlefield victory in months against Ukraine, claiming its forces had taken control of the town of Soledar, a key point in the battle for the larger city of Bakhmut. Analysts said the development suggested the news represented a moderate success for Russia’s strategy of crushing Ukrainian forces in a battle of attrition.

Kyiv denied losing control of the city.

The news comes amid reports that the US, EU and others are planning new sanctions against Russia, encouraged by the success of their price cap on Russian oil exports. Some estimate it has cut the Kremlins’ revenue stream by nearly $200 million a day since it was introduced in December. Russia’s budget deficit, meanwhile, reached 2.3% from a year ago, according to the country’s finance ministry.

2. Apple is stepping up its component substitution efforts

Not content with replacing Broadcoms (NASDAQ:) cellular modem chips in its iPhones, Apple (NASDAQ:) is also looking to start putting its own displays on its watches and, eventually, phones in its effort to bring greater part of its in-house assembly.

According to Bloomberg, Apple aims to start installing internal displays in its watches by the end of next year. It will use a new technology known as microLED as an upgrade to the current OLED standard and give Apple more control over the design and capabilities of new products, Bloombergs sources say.

The move will reduce its dependence on vendors such as LG Display (NYSE:), whose ADRs have fallen more than 2% in premarket news. Samsung (KS:), another core display supplier, made a modest gain in Seoul overnight.

3. Stocks should rise, treading water ahead of the CPI; LVMH hits record after reshuffle

U.S. equity markets are expected to open slightly higher later, essentially treading water on a quiet day for earnings and economic data and awaiting the release of December consumer data on Thursday.

As of 6:25 a.m. ET (11:25 a.m. GMT), were up 50 points or 0.2%, while they were up 0.2%, and were up 0.1%. All three major currency indices posted gains of up to 1% on Tuesday.

Stocks likely to be targeted later include Tesla (NASDAQ:), which is planning a $750 million expansion of its Texas factory, and French luxury giant LVMH (EPA:), where majority shareholder Bernard Arnault installed Pietro Beccari as a new band. managing director and president, while his daughter Delphine Arnault will take over as head of his Dior unit. The stock hit a record high at the start of trading in Paris.

4. Silbert-Winklevoss, Round 2

The clash of cryptocurrency titans has gathered pace once again, as the Winklevoss twins have renewed their campaign to rattle Digital Currency Group owner Barry Silbert for the money they say they owe their clients.

In a second open letter in two weeks, Cameron Winklevoss accused Silbert and his companies DCG and Genesis of defrauding 340,000 customers of their own Gemini Earn project, and called for his removal.

Silbert responded by tweeting a letter to his own shareholders, lamenting that it was hard to question my integrity and good intentions after spending a decade pouring everything into this company. He acknowledged that DCG had borrowed money from Genesis (which has now suspended withdrawals due to liquidity constraints) in order to buy back DCG stock, but again dismissed the bulk of Winklevoss’ claims, without mentioning Gemini only once.

5. Oil rises slightly as China rebound hopes trump US inventory surge

Crude oil prices rose slightly, ignoring news of a massive increase in US crude inventories last week to focus on the likelihood of a rebound in Chinese demand over the course of the year.

Reported crude inventories rose by more than 14 million barrels last week, which, if confirmed by the 10:30 a.m. forecast date, would be the largest weekly rise in nearly two years. Gasoline inventories also increased by 1.8 million barrels.

As of 6:45 a.m. ET, futures were up 0.3% at $75.33 a barrel, while futures were up 0.5% at $80.47 a barrel.

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