Oil Spike, Bitcoin 'Vodka' Premium, Elon Musk's Call For Increased Nuclear Production And More: 5 Key Headlines You May Have Missed From This Weekend

Heading into a new trading week amid an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, here is a quick roundup of the top five stories from the corporate, economic and technology sectors that investors would not want to miss out on from the weekend.

1. Oil Prices Surge On Possible Russia Ban: Crude oil prices surged and U.S. futures tumbled in the early hours of Monday after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington and its allies are considering a ban on Russian oil and natural gas imports.

2. Bitcoin’s “Vodka” Premium In Russia As Sanctions Bite: As global financial sanctions start to bite Russia and more people in the country turn to trade in popular cryptocurrencies, apex cryptocurrency Bitcoin BTC/USD has gained a 40% “Vodka” premium on Russian markets.

3. Netflix, TikTok Suspend Services In Russia: Streaming giant Netflix Inc. NFLX has joined the growing list of U.S. companies halting operations in Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Citing Russia’s new “fake news” law, TikTok — the popular video app owned by China’s ByteDance — has suspended live-streaming and the uploading of videos to its platform in Russia.

4. Elon Musk Urges Europe To Boost Nuclear Power Output: Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk has urged Europe to increase its use of nuclear power in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying that nuclear power is “critical” to national and international security.

5. Apple Hardware Event On Tuesday: The tagline “Peek Performance” for Apple Inc.’s AAPL first hardware event of the year on March 8 suggests Apple devices may be in for a speed overhaul that could cover 5G and faster main processors, according to Bloomberg columnist and Apple specialist Mark Gurman.

What Else: Among other stories from the weekend, investors would want to check out the EV week in review, billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) raising its stake in Occidental Petroleum Corporation OXY and the detention of WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner in Russia.

Meanwhile, the superhero epic “The Batman” from AT&T Inc.’s T Warner Bros. division collected $128.5 million in ticket sales to top the U.S. box office this weekend.