Tougher sanctions on Russian energy-related businesses loom.
Brent crude hit $105 in the wake of Putin's attack.
Commodities as a whole had their best year in over a decade, due in large part to inflation triggered by unprecedented global monetary and fiscal stimulus. The Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index ended 2021 with a gain of 27%, the biggest yearly jump since 2009, when the financial crisis similarly prompted governments and central banks to flood their economies with liquidity.
We can phase out fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, but we can’t phase out the metals and minerals necessary to build additional renewable energy projects.
Exactly 12 months ago today, inflation was running at only 1.1%, oil was still under $50 per barrel and Bitcoin was trading at $18,260. Virtually no one had been vaccinated against COVID-19, and even fewer people had ever heard of the word omicron – let alone knew that it is a letter in the Greek alphabet.