Saturday, May 17, 2014

Western sanctions against Russia bite...U.S. companies?

This is something that I have written about before. ANYONE and ANY COMPANY that is financially invested in Russia now will be hurt to a greater or lesser degree by sanctions. This is one reason why Germany was and is reluctant to support sanctions. But, if they don't accept these sanctions they will lose East Germany within  few years to Russia and maybe even West Germany itself. However, sanctions might collapse  one or more too big to fail Russian or German banks which could bring down the whole Russian or German economy and that would ripple out to likely end the EU as well as the Euro. So, whether a war is conducted by soldiers or as an economic sanctions war like the U.S. and EU have waged on Iran and now Russia there is always going to be blowback upon the sanctioning economies to a greater or lesser degree as well. War whether it is economic or military is war and many people are bound to suffer on both sides because of it.
 
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Sat, May 17, 2014, 4:26pm EDT - US Markets are closed

Western sanctions against Russia bite...U.S. companies?

Daily Ticker


U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the U.S. and Europe will move to impose heavier economic sanctions against Russia if the country disrupts Ukraine’s May 25 presidential elections.
But two rounds of economic sanctions against Russia (which target individuals, companies and banks) could be backfiring in one sense: U.S. companies such as Deere (DE) and Visa (V) are warning that their profits are suffering because of Western efforts to contain Russia's involvement in Ukraine. In the accompanying video, Yahoo Finance senior columnist Michael Santoli explains which companies are being impacted and why.
Related: Jim Rogers: Forget U.S. markets, I’m buying Chinese and Russian stocks
Farm equipment maker Deere cut its full-year outlook, citing credit restrictions for customers in Russia, Ukraine and other other ex-Soviet republics. The company said sales would fall significantly in these regions.
Visa said U.S. sanctions against Russia were hurting its card transaction volumes and that revenue growth will slow further this quarter, after the company stopped providing services to two Russian banks along with rival Mastercard (MA). Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner said in a recent interview on Fox that he thinks U.S. sanctions should go further in targeting Russian banks. 
The tensions are also impacting consumer companies operating in the region, regardless of the sanctions. Santoli says Pepsico (PEP) has "huge market share" in Russia, where the company does $5 billion in sales and became popular well before Coca-Cola (KO). Pepsi is vulnerable to the conflict given its sales base in the region. McDonald's (MCD) has also been impacted, having to close some stores in Ukraine early due to the unrest there and having to temporarily shutter three restaurants in Crim

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Western sanctions against Russia bite...US companies?

Yahoo Finance (blog) - ‎May 16, 2014‎
In the accompanying video, Yahoo Finance senior columnist Michael Santoli explains which companies are being impacted and why.

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