The daily business briefing: February 15, 2023

1. Inflation slowed in January by less than predicted

Inflation slowed in January, according to the consumer price index released Tuesday, but less than expected. Prices were up 6.4 percent in January compared with a year earlier, down slightly from 6.5 percent in December. It was the seventh straight month with a slower year-over-year inflation rate since a recent peak of 9.1 percent in June. On a monthly basis, prices jumped 0.5 percent from December to January, faster than the 0.1 percent increase the month before. "Core" inflation, which excludes volatile fuel and food costs, was 0.4 percent, the same as the month before. The report showed that the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes are helping to bring down inflation, but the central bank's goal of a 2 percent rate remains far off.

The Associated Press The New York Times

2. Air India to buy 470 planes to build more fuel-efficient fleet

Air India announced Tuesday that it was ordering 470 planes from Airbus and Boeing as it makes an expansion push after years of contraction. Air India will purchase 250 Airbus jets and 220 Boeings, including 190 737 Max jets, 20 787s, and 10 of the aircraft maker's largest planes, the 777X. Together, the deals surpass American Airlines' 460-plane purchase in 2011 as the single largest jet order, according to Bloomberg. Air India hopes to take on domestic low-cost rivals and Gulf airlines to increase its share of rising air travel demand with a more fuel-efficient, modern fleet. Airbus doesn't publish list prices, but Boeing said its order was worth $34 billion at list prices.

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Bloomberg

3. EU approves ban on gas, diesel cars starting in 2035

The European Union has approved a law banning the sale of new gas and diesel cars in the EU starting in 2035. The deal, agreed upon back in October, received the official stamp of approval on Tuesday, marking climate action "without precedent," said BMW chairman Oliver Zipse. The law will cut 100 percent of carbon emissions from new automobiles starting in 2035, and 55 percent by 2030 compared to 2021, Reuters reported. "We will no longer, or almost no longer, have petrol or diesel cars on our roads in 2050," said Karima Delli, president of the EU transport committee. "It is a victory for our planet and our populations." EU countries must formally approve the rules, which they're expected to do in March.

Reuters

4. Court finds Kremlin-linked Russian millionaire guilty of insider trading

A federal court in Boston on Tuesday found Russian millionaire Vladislav Klyushin, who has with ties to the Kremlin, guilty of participating in an insider trading scheme. Klyushin, 42, was arrested in Switzerland in 2021 after arriving in a private jet, before he was supposed to board a helicopter to fly on to a ski resort. Klyushin, who owns a Moscow-based information technology company that offered to detect vulnerabilities in computer systems, was charged with participating in a complex $90 million insider trading scheme that used earnings information stolen by hackers from numerous companies, including Microsoft. An attorney for Klyushin said he planned to appeal. Klyushin was one of 12 Russians charged with hacking Democratic Party email accounts in 2018.

The Associated Press

5. Stock futures struggle after latest inflation data

U.S. stock futures fell slightly early Wednesday after hotter-than-expected January consumer price data sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 156 points, or 0.5 percent, on Tuesday. Futures tied to the Dow and the S&P 500 were down 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, at 6:45 a.m. ET. Nasdaq futures were down 0.4 percent. The broad-based S&P 500 essentially shrugged off the inflation data on Tuesday, falling less than 0.1 percent after the January consumer price index showed that inflation cooled last month, but remained high enough to suggest the Federal Reserve will have to continue raising interest rates to bring inflation closer to its 2 percent target.

CNBC The Wall Street Journal