Fed and BoE decisions, stocks and data

Inflation in Russia could near 8% by the end of the year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, during his first press conference since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Unfortunately, our inflation has increased, that’s true. By the end of the year, 7.5% is expected, maybe a little more, towards 8%,” Putin said, according to a Google translation of comments reported by Russian state news agency Tass.

“But the Central Bank and the government are taking the necessary measures. We can talk about this more, I mean raising the key rate and some other measures that the Central Bank and the government are taking. And we proceed from the fact that we will be able to return to the target indicators,” Putin added, according to the report.

Russian inflation was 7.5% year-on-year in November, up from 6.7% in October, national statistics showed, according to LSEG data.

The central bank has rapidly hiked rates this year to dampen price rises and also tackle weakness in the ruble.

— Jenni Reid

The Norwegian central bank on Thursday said that it had hiked its interest rates by 25 basis points, putting the main policy rate at 4.5%.

Norges Bank Governor Ida Wolden Bache said in a statement that inflation remained too high despite the economy easing and noted that the central bank expects to maintain the current policy rate “for some time ahead.”

The majority of economists previously polled by Reuters had expected the central bank to leave rates unchanged.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Germany’s DAX crossed the 17,000 point mark for the first time on Thursday, peaking at 17,003.28 points. It has since eased slightly and was last hovering near 16,975 points.

The index is currently up by more than 21% year to date.

The rise comes despite the struggles of the German economy in recent months. The country entered a technical…