The Bank of Russia unexpectedly maintained its key interest rate at a record-high 21% , defying analysts’ expectations of another significant hike as inflation remains stubbornly elevated. The decision marks a shift toward a more measured approach in balancing economic growth and price stability. Key Details Inflation Concerns: Annual inflation climbed to 8.9% in November, well above the central bank’s 4% target , with inflation expectations reaching 13.9% in December. Policy Rationale: The central bank cited the significant tightening of monetary conditions after October’s 200-basis point hike as sufficient to resume disinflationary processes. Governor Elvira Nabiullina emphasized avoiding both economic overheating and severe slowdowns. Economic Overheating: Elevated government spending on the war in Ukraine and social programs, coupled with labor shortages and rising wages, have fueled strong domestic demand, exacerbating price pressures...
The earnings report is out for Microsoft Corp. Behind the big figures, statistics indicate Microsoft going the Right Direction Microsoft's earnings today gave plenty of reasons for one to be positive about the company although it also saw the impact of a $2.1 billion operating loss factored in from the Nokia writeoff. Looking at the off balance sheet revenues in Microsoft, you can see that there is a $ 24.5 billion basically locked down, but that hasn’t been delivered yet. It is likely that Microsoft Office 365, the company's cloud-delivered, subscription-based productivity suite is the driving force for a significant amount on Microsoft's off-balance sheet revenues. It is obvious that the company is loving subscription methods to earn money more as the company switch their business focus. Microsoft Office 365 is the biggest revenue driver of the company’s enterprise cloud offerings. And it’s growing fast: Microsoft reported today that Office 365 has adde...