pharmaceutical giant glaxosmithkline plc said wednesday that it is buying biopharmaceutical company sierra oncology inc for 19 billion as it complements its own expertise and backed its guidance glaxosmithkline will pay 55 per share in cash a 39 premium to its closing price of 3952 on tuesday the deal has the support of sierras board as well as shareholders owning 28 of its stock etsy ceo josh silverman stands by strategy of competing with amazon the chief executive officer of etsy inc defended the companys strategy to become an online shopping destination that can compete with amazoncom inc and said recent moves that have been unpopular among some sellers would benefit them in the long run more than 20000 sellers on the digital marketplace have signed a petition against etsys decision to raise the commission it charges on each transaction to 65 from 5 some have temporarily closed their shops in protest metlife inc has reduced its privateequity and venturecapital portfolio by about 12 billion through an unusual asset sale that will allow the insurance company to continue managing the assets the assets were sold to a new fundoffunds platform with private markets investment firm harbourvest partners lp as the lead investor and other institutional investors also buying in for more than a decade government bonds in china yielded substantially more than their us counterparts making the yuandenominated debt securities a big draw for global investors wanting exposure to the worlds secondlargest economy that yield advantage vanished on monday this weekat least in nominal terms the yield on benchmark 10year chinese government bonds closed at 2767 that day while the yield on the 10year treasury note ended at 2779 oil is backing up through russias energy supply chain and leading to a drop in crudeoil production a blow to moscows main economic engine as the war in ukraine rages refiners are trimming output and in some cases closing down because of falling demand at home and abroad storage space is running low in pipelines and tanks wells which pump from some of the worlds biggest crude reserves are dialing down production the german economy is steering through difficult waters and faces the highest inflation rates in decades a group of german economic research institutes said in a joint report the group of institutes including the ifo institute lowered their growth outlook for this year to 27 from 48 for 2023 they forecast 31 gdp growth the uks inflation rate rose to a fresh threedecade high in march as energy prices surged following russias invasion of ukraine driving a decline in real incomes that is forecast to be the most severe since the mid1950s consumer prices were 7 higher in march than a year earlier a pickup from the 62 rate of inflation in february and the highest since march 1992 the office for national statistics said wednesday beijingchinas exports rose 147 on year in march slowing from a pace of 163 in the januaryfebruary period according to data released by the general administration of customs wednesday the result largely matched the 14 forecast made by economists polled by the wall street journal lviv ukrainerussian forces launched airstrikes on ukrainian positions inside the besieged city of mariupol early wednesday a day after russian president vladimir putin said peace talks with kyiv had reached a dead end as troops from both sides exchanged fire ahead of an expected uptick in violence russia is redeploying troops from around the kyiv area where its initial attempt to take the capital failed to southern and eastern ukraine where it made early gains in the first weeks of the invasion ukraine has used the lull in fighting to boost appeals to the west for more weapons and sanctions on russia as several european leaders are expected to visit kyiv on wednesday derbys take the economic effect of the feds balance sheet hard to say exactly even as the federal reserve prepares to shrink its balance sheet what effect that process will have on the economy remains hazy speaking with the wall street journal tuesday fed governor lael brainard was asked if she could quantify the effect of the looming cuts in the central banks 9 trillion balance sheet while there are estimates that attempt to map reductions in asset holdings to rate rises she said they arent very precise biden administration looks to speed studentloan forgiveness for defrauded borrowers the biden administration is working to expand forgiveness of student loans of students who successfully claim they were defrauded by schools a key component of its piecemeal approach to reducing educational debt forprofit colleges worry that the administration could make it too easy to apply for and obtain loan forgiveness potentially damaging the schools reputations and forcing some to close support for saudi arabia counter to us interests house democrats say istanbulthe leaders of the house foreign affairs and intelligence committees and more than 20 other democrats plan to press the biden administration to take a tougher stance on saudi arabia citing riyadhs refusal to cooperate with washington over russias invasion of ukraine and a range of humanrights issues in a letter reviewed by the wall street journal the lawmakers issued some of the toughest criticism the biden administration has faced from congress over its handling of the us relationship with saudi arabia president biden described saudi arabia as a pariah state during the 2020 campaign and promised to hold the saudi government accountable for alleged rights abuses but has taken few concrete steps to do so local and regional government borrowings will remain inflated in 20222023 sp global ratings says in a report the borrowings will total about 235 trillion per year sp says the agency expects total global lrg debt to reach a new peak of 161 trillion by 2023 with lrgs in india and canada being the most indebted compared with the size of their budgets persistent infrastructure needs rising demand for services high refinancing requirements and reduced central government financial support will keep borrowing high over the next two years sp global ratings credit analyst felix ejgel said the lrgs in developed markets china and india are expected to continue tapping debt capital markets while those in other emerging markets will stay away maintaining unused capacity to borrow sp said all times in gmt powered by kantar media and dow jones asa gold  precious metals ltd asa is expected to report for 1q acura pharmaceuticals acur is expected to report for 4q argan inc agx is expected to report 033 for 4q avalon advanced materials inc avlt is expected to report for 2q bed bath  beyond inc bbby is expected to report 005 for 4q blackrock inc blk is expected to report 915 for 1q clearday inc clrd is expected to report for 4q cogeco communications inc ccatcgeaf is expected to report 223 for 2q cogeco inc cgot is expected to report for 2q crawford united corp crawa is expected to report for 4q cryocell international inc ccel is expected to report for 1q delta air lines dal is expected to report 133 for 1q digital ally inc dgly is expected to report 002 for 4q fastenal co fast is expected to report 044 for 1q fastenal co fast is expected to report firan technology group corp ftgt is expected to report for 1q first republic bank frc is expected to report 189 for 1q hooker furnishings corp hoft is expected to report 010 for 4q intellipharmaceutics international inc ipciipcit is expected to report for 1q ion geophysical corp io is expected to report 077 for 4q jpmorgan chase  co jpm is expected to report 272 for 1q jewettcameron jcttjctcf is expected to report for 2q mict inc mict is expected to report for 4q manhattan bridge capital loan is expected to report 012 for 1q maxcyte inc mxctln is expected to report for 1q north west co inc nwct is expected to report 046 for 4q sandridge mississippian trust i sdttu is expected to report for 4q shaw communications inc  class b sjrsjravsjrbt is expected to report 033 for 2q tanzanian gold corp tnxttrx is expected to report for 2q theratechnologies thtthtx is expected to report 007 for 1q