The Daily Chase: TD to buy First Horizon; U.S. futures point to negative open

U.S. futures are pointing to a negative open and commodities are rallying as investors digest increased sanctions against Russia over the weekend.

U.S. futures are pointing to a negative open and commodities are rallying as investors digest increased sanctions against Russia over the weekend. On Saturday, Canada joined the United States, the U.K. and European nations in taking steps to block some Russian banks from SWIFT - the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. It’s a global payments system used by more than 11,000 financial institutions around the world to send secure messages about money transfers and other transactions. The countries are also taking aim at Russia’s central bank limiting its ability to access it’s more than $600 billion in reserves to help the Russian economy. The Russian ruble fell almost 30 per cent against the U.S. dollar, forcing the country’s central bank to more than double its key interest rate to 20 per cent. All this as the Ukrainian government confirms its delegation has arrived near the Belarus border to hold talks with Russian officials.

ENERGY PRICES SOAR

The increased sanctions by the West could cause disruptions to Russia’s oil exports and that has oil and gas prices surging this morning. West Texas Intermediate crude is trading above US$95 per barrel. OPEC+ members are due to meet on Wednesday. It is unclear if the escalating conflict between Russia and the Ukraine will influence the group to increase production targets for April.

TD TO BUY FIRST HORIZON

TD Bank is accelerating its growth strategy in the United States by buying Tennessee-based First Horizon bank. It’s an all-cash deal valued at US$13.4-billion. TD says the deal will immediately add to profit with more than $600-million in cost synergies but expects to spend more than a billion dollars to integrate the business.

BP QUITS RUSSIA, DUMPS 20% STAKE IN RUSSIA’S ROSNEFT