The Day at a Glance | Aug 12 2022

The Top

*Ukraine and Russia blame each other for risk of nuclear disaster in the Zaporizhzhia plant.

*The US real-estate sector is cooling down: Mortgage interest rates decreased to 5%, sales of existing homes dropped (-) 14% annual.

*Industrial production in Europe increased more than expected during June (0.7% monthly; 2.4% annual).

*Low levels of water in the Germany`s Rhin river prevent navigation and transportation of important industrial shipments and energy in the region.

*Credit in China slowed down considerably during July in light of the real-estate market crisis and slow demand from consumers and businesses.

Economic environment

Risks of nuclear disaster. The conflict between Ukraine and Russia continues and authorities from both countries blamed each other for confrontations carried out close to Europe`s largest nuclear plant, increasing risks of a nuclear disaster. The Zaporizhzhia plant was shot at during direct encounters between Russian and Ukrainian troops on Thursday. Currently, the plant is occupied by Russians and the region has become the most recent center of military encounters. The UN`s Security Council called for the zone to be de-militarized to avoid any nuclear accidents and asked Moscow to withdraw its troops; but there are no signs of the Russian army`s retreat – they`ve been occupying the zone since March. The plant is still being operated by Ukrainian personnel despite Russian occupation and the Ukrainian agency responsible for the operations (Energoatom) warned that the plant was shot at a minimum of 5 times on Thursday. Even though Kyiv has prepared counter-offensive fighting to retake Zaporizhzhia and neighboring zones in the Kherson province, Moscow has installed regional officials and has assured that it will soon plan a referendum in order to know if the region`s inhabitants wish to join Russia. The confrontations have intensified in recent days, especially in the southern part of the country as Ukraine is preparing a counter-offensive strategy before winter.