Boris Johnson vows to end Putin’s ‘blackmail’ by bringing nuclear home

Good morning. 

Shell has given the first indication of just how costly its withdrawal from Russia could be.

The energy behemoth, which was forced to apologise for buying Russian oil for discount prices last month, said the post-tax impact of shutting down its business in the country would be between $4bn and $5bn in the first quarter alone.

The company has said it’s obliged to keep buying from Russia under previously-signed contracts, but that it would no longer buy oil on the so-called spot market.

Shell will also close its service stations, aviation fuels and lubricants operations in Russia.

5 things to start your day 

1) Boris Johnson tries to prepare Britain’s creaking electricity network for the net zero age  A power outage three years ago prompted questions about the National Grid’s role in running our power infrastructure 

2) Facebook looks to ‘Zuck Bucks’ after cryptocurrency failure  Meta mulls virtual tokens and loans amid exodus of users from social media platforms

3) EU finance chief compares access to the City with dependence on Russian gas  Mairead McGuinness calls for less reliance on London clearing houses

4) Crispin Odey’s hedge fund makes 50pc return on bonds bet  Financier has long predicted central banks will wind back quantitative easing and raise rates to combat soaring inflation

5) Russia braces for first debt default since Bolshevik Revolution  Sanctions force Putin to pay creditors in roubles, risking locking his country out of global markets

What happened overnight 

Asian shares retreated on Thursday in line with a global sell-off, as markets were spooked by more aggressive noises from US policymakers about the need for tighter monetary policy, which also kept the dollar near a two-year peak.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.53pc and Japan’s Nikkei dropped 1.9pc.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.26pc and Nasdaq futures fell 0.22pc.

Chinese blue chips shed 0.4pc, although the Hong Kong benchmark was flat, buoyed by mainland developers after local governments eased restrictions on the property sector.

Coming up today

• Corporate: Entain, Robert Walters (trading update)
• Economics: Halifax house prices (UK), retail sales (EU), jobless claims (US)