Traders try to make sense of Russia, inflation and what’s next for the stock rally
Wagner Group mercenaries seized key military sites in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, then pulled back — and left Vladimir Putin’s grip on power in doubt.
Photographer: ROMAN ROMOKHOV/AFPLisa Abramowicz
Traders are exhausted after a tumultuous first half of the year and were hoping this would be a slower period. This weekend threatened to upend that.
Russia was back in focus after Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin turned on his erstwhile benefactor, Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin’s mutiny carries vast potential implications, possibly undermining the Russian president’s authority and giving an advantage to Ukraine. Or, on the flip side, it could embolden a state that sits atop a vast nuclear arsenal.
The market's response? Relative stasis. As Carl Weinberg of High Frequency Economics sees it, there are all sorts of things that could happen. Sometimes it pays just to look at what you see in the economy, at companies, and what he sees is making him the most optimistic since the 1960s. Inflation could be tamed in the not-too-distant future.
