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Relentless Push: Russia Claims Strategic Edge in Ukraine Offensive

  Servicemen of the 115th Separate Mechanised Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces use an RPG-7 grenade launcher during training between combat missions, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine. Russia’s top military commander, General Valery Gerasimov, has declared that Russian forces are conducting a non-stop offensive along nearly the entire front line in Ukraine, asserting that the “strategic initiative” now lies with Moscow. According to Gerasimov, Russian troops have intensified airstrikes on Ukrainian cities far from the battlefield, including a recent attack on Kyiv that killed at least 23 people and wounded 38. He reported that since March, Russia has seized more than 3,500 square kilometers of territory , captured 149 villages, and now controls the vast majority of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. The offensive has also pushed into Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, with seven villages reportedly under Russian control. Moscow says it has carried...

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Fed Rate Cut Looms as Job Market Cools Down


The U.S. stock market ended lower on Wednesday, as investors weighed the implications of a slowing job market for the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy. The S&P 500 index fell 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively.

The decline came after the release of fresh employment data that showed job openings in October fell to the lowest level since early 2021, indicating that the labor market was easing amid the pandemic. The number of hires also decreased, while the quits rate, a measure of workers’ confidence, remained unchanged at a record high.

The data reinforced the expectations that the Fed could start cutting interest rates as soon as March 2023, as inflation pressures ease and economic growth moderates. The Fed has signaled that it will end its bond-buying program by March and begin raising rates sometime next year, depending on the economic conditions.

Some analysts said that the lower stock prices reflected the uncertainty about the timing and pace of the Fed’s policy tightening, as well as the impact of the new coronavirus variant Omicron on the global economy. Others said that the market was due for a correction after reaching record highs in November.

Among the sectors, energy shares were the worst performers, as oil prices fell on the prospects of lower demand and higher supply. Megacaps such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google also dragged the market lower, as investors rotated out of the high-growth stocks into more defensive sectors.

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