Jamie Freed and Byron Kaye

(Reuters) – Morgan Stanley (NYSE:) The U.S. Federal Reserve was urged Tuesday by the Associated Press to be more prudent in raising interest rates, as Russia’s invasion has sparked already high-flying global inflation.

JP Morgan (which runs the most used emerging bond markets indexes) responded to the dispute by saying that it will exclude Russia from all its fixed income Indexes.

As fighting in Ukraine intensifies, oil, metal, and other commodity prices have shot up, raising concerns about inflation.

James Gorman (Chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley), spoke at a conference organized by Australian Financial Review (AFR).

The Fed faces a difficult dilemma. Inflation is rising and isn’t temporary,” Gorman stated. He also said that the Fed should raise interest rates gradually and not surprise anyone.

Widely expected, the U.S. central banking will increase its overnight benchmark rate by quarter of a percent point on March 16th. Jerome Powell, Fed Chair, stated last week that it would be prudent given uncertainty about the effects of the war.

Morgan Stanley shares dropped 8% within a week. This is in keeping with the global financial stock markets that have suffered.

However, the company has yet to say whether or not it will suspend Russian operations.

Ukraine asked western asset managers and banks to end all ties with Russia and Belarus.

Numerous Russian companies have stopped selling and operating in Russia. They also condemned the “special military operations” that Moscow called an invasion.

Russia denies that it attacked civilian areas, and claims not to be occupying Ukraine. However, the country has been affected by severe Western sanctions. These have slowed trade and led to the collapse and isolation of Russia as shipping companies have stopped container route access.

In an effort to intensify the pressure, Washington declared that it and its European allies had considered banning Russian oil imports.

The oil prices rose to new highs in 2008, and Moscow warned against a Western ban of Russian oil imports. This could increase the cost to $30/barrel.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce stated at the AFR conference that if fuel prices were to remain at this level, Qantas will need to increase airfares when its oil hedging agreements expire.

SCREEN DOWN

Apple (NASDAQ:) are two examples of companies who have taken steps in Russia. IBM (NYSE:), Danone, a French yogurt maker and Ikea, a Swedish furniture giant.

JPMorgan (NYSE) had put Russia under index watch following the imposition of sanctions. The bank announced that Russia would be removed from its fixed income indexes. On March 31, JPMorgan joined rival index providers Russell, MSCI and made similar announcements.

Fitch, a credit rating agency joined by rival Moody’s (NYSE 🙂 to suspend its Russian commercial operations. Both had earlier in the month downgraded Russia’s sovereign rating six times, a new record.

Uniper, a German utility, said that it will write off financial exposure for the Nord Stream 2 project. This includes co-funders Wintershall Dea and Shell (LON. ), OMV, OMV, and Shell.

Boeing (NYSE.) Co announced Monday that it has stopped buying titanium from Russia because it still had substantial inventory.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:) Co said it was ending all new capital investments in Russia and “significantly reducing” its portfolio to focus on basic hygiene, health and personal care items.

PVH Corp, the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger – that gets around 2% from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine– announced it will temporarily close all its Russian and Belarusian stores.