Russia Launches Fresh Offensive, Musk Concerned Over Nuclear War, PayPal Saves Face With Policy Rollback And More: 5 Key Stories You May Have Missed From The Weekend

The market is in a dire state as macroeconomic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions abound. With earnings season around the corner, every development, news and comment is likely to be sifted through by traders to analyze their implication on the market trajectory.

Here's a recap of a few major headlines that hit the wire over the weekend.

1. Renewed Tensions Flare Up In Ukraine: Russia, which was smarting over recent military failures in Ukraine, on Monday reportedly launched missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and other cities in the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the attacks on his Telegram channel, saying, “The morning is tough. We are dealing with terrorists.” The targets of Russia were energy facilities throughout the country as well as civilians, Zelenskyy added.

2. Musk Worries About Nuclear War: Ahead of the recent developments in the Russia-Ukraine war, Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk voiced his worst fears. “Nuclear war probability is rising rapidly,” he said in reply to a tweet by MIT Professor Max Tegmark, who sees a one-in-six chance of an imminent global nuclear war. Musk also tweeted separately that he had been up all night trying to think of any possible way to de-escalate the war.

See Also: S&P 500 Gives Up Early Week Gains Following Latest Jobs Report: Is A Recession Looming?

3. PayPal’s Move Backfires: PayPal Holdings Inc. PYPL buckled under pressure and rolled back a policy change it was contemplating. The company was seeking to deduct $2,500 from the accounts of customers for spreading misinformation. The proposed move elicited sharp criticisms from former PayPal executive David Marcus and Musk as well. Following mounting criticism, PayPal took down the policy announcement, stating that it was an error.

4. El-Erian Sounds Out Recession Warning: Allianz’s chief economic adviser Mohamed El-Erian found fault with the Federal Reserve, saying the central bank committed two mistakes — mischaracterizing inflation as transitory, and when it realized inflation was persistently high, it did not act in a meaningful way. He also warned that the Fed action has the potential to trigger a recession.

5. Amazon Electrification Drive In Europe: Amazon Inc. AMZN plans to spend more than one billion euros ($973.48 million) over the next five years for expanding its European electric delivery vehicle fleet, according to Reuters. This would mean a tripling of the fleet from the current number of 3,000. This will likely help accelerate its drive to achieve net-zero carbon.

What Else: 

Columbus Day is a federal holiday, but equity and commodity markets are open and trading, which could result in volatility due to light trading volume.

Apple Inc. AAPL could transition all its product line-ups to USB-C charges before the EU-mandated timeline of end-2024, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said over the weekend.