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NEW YORK — JPMorgan Chase was hit with $200 million in fines after admitting to "widespread" recordkeeping violations including use of unapproved messaging apps and failing to preserve communications, US regulators announced on Friday.

"From at least January 2018 through at least November 2020, JPMorgan employees often communicated about securities business matters on their personal devices, using text messaging applications [including WhatsApp] and personal e-mail accounts," the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said. 

"None of these records was preserved by the firm. The failure was firm-wide, and involved employees at all levels of authority."

The regulator, which fined the company $125 million, said tens of thousands of messages were exchanged using these methods during the period under investigation.

In addition, JPMorgan will pay a $75 million penalty to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said to settle its own charges over the recordkeeping failures.

The SEC said the company admitted that employees at its securities unit violated recordkeeping laws.

"Recordkeeping requirements are core to the Commission's enforcement and examination programmes and when firms fail to comply with them, as JPMorgan did, they directly undermine our ability to protect investors and preserve market integrity," the SEC's enforcement chief Gurbir S Grewal said in a statement.

As a result of its findings at JPMorgan, the SEC said it had launched an investigation into recordkeeping practices at other financial institutions, without saying which ones.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler noted previous examples where companies used "unofficial communications channels" that undermined regulatory oversight.

"Ultimately, everybody should play by the same rules, and today's charges signal that we will continue to hold market participants accountable for complying with our time-tested recordkeeping requirements," he said.

NEW YORK — World stock markets mostly fell on Friday, giving up gains made after major central banks took action to combat "soaring" inflation as the fragile economic recovery appears threatened again by spiking COVID-19 cases.

In Europe, London equities bucked the trend by managing a small gain, one day after the Bank of England (BoE) delivered a "shock" interest rate hike to counter decade-high UK inflation.

All major Wall Street indices fell, with the Dow and S&P 500 seeing the biggest losses.

Oil prices dropped on renewed demand fears linked to the Omicron COVID variant.

"It's been a volatile week, not only in term of price actions but the news that have been coming out," said Tom Cahill of Ventura Wealth Management, adding that "the markets are still trying to work through the scenario".

European indices rallied on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and European Central Bank laid out inflation-fighting plans and the BoE hiked interest rates to 0.25 per cent.

Asian indices had also jumped after the Fed announced a more hawkish path, speeding up the rollback of its pandemic stimulus, and signaling policymakers expect a number of interest rate hikes in 2022 and beyond as the economy rebounds.

Ending uncertainty 

Investors welcomed an end to some of the uncertainty that had long plagued markets, but Wall Street retreated on Thursday as investors took stock of the new policy, and continued to slide in the final session of the week.

"European markets are [mostly] following their US and Asian counterparts lower today, with the initial positive reaction in the face of Fed and BoE monetary tightening faltering as we head into the weekend," said IG analyst Joshua Mahony.

OANDA analyst Craig Erlam said, "It's not the possibility of inflation, rather the prospect of it rising out of control that's prompting the move and clearly, investors fear inflation far more than modest tightening. As they should."

Tech firms — which are more susceptible to higher borrowing costs — took the brunt of the selling, sending the Nasdaq diving on Thursday, though it lost only 0.1 per cent on Friday.

Tokyo stocks closed lower on Friday on profit-taking.

Concluding a two-day meeting, the Bank of Japan decided to partially extend its special loan programme to support companies hit by the pandemic but scale back other measures, while keeping its key monetary policy unchanged.

BERLIN — German Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck warned in an interview published on Saturday of "severe consequences" for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany if Moscow attacked Ukraine.

The Baltic Sea pipeline is set to double supplies of cheap natural gas from Russia to Germany, which the European Union's top economy says is needed to help it transition from coal and nuclear energy.

But the 10 billion-euro ($12 billion) project has for years been dogged by delays and drawn fierce criticism from Germany's eastern EU allies like Poland and from the United States.

Critics say the project will increase Europe's dependence on Russian gas and Ukraine has described it as a "geopolitical weapon".

"Any new military action cannot remain without severe consequences," the Green minister told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a Sunday weekly, referring to a Russian troop deployment on the Ukraine border.

He warned that "nothing can be excluded" if "there is a new violation of the territorial integrity" of Ukraine.

The new German government threatened to block the pipeline from operating if Russia invades Ukraine.

"In the event of further escalation this gas pipeline could not come into service," Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

Habeck said: "From a geopolitical point of view, the pipeline is a mistake," adding: "All the countries were against it except Germany and Austria".

He added: "The pipeline has however been built. And the question of it being put into service remains open and must be decided according to European and German law."

German authorities are waiting for the pipeline's Swiss-based "Nord Stream 2 AG" operating company to submit documents to restart the certification process.

The pipeline would then also have to be approved by the European Commission — a process not likely to be completed in the first half of next year.

DAMASCUS — Syrian lawmakers have approved a draft budget for 2022 of $5.3 billion, down from $6.8 billion this year, as a spiralling economic crisis hits public finances and threatens subsidies on essential goods.

A decade of war, Western sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic have devastated the Syrian economy, pushing most of the population into poverty as the value of the Syrian pound has plummeted. 

Government spending has been cut by more than 40 per cent over the past two years, with cuts threatening a critical social support programme. 

The 2022 budget, which still requires President Bashar Assad's signature, was set at 13.325 trillion Syrian pounds, the official SANA news agency reported late Tuesday.

That is equivalent to $5.3 billion when calculated at a central bank exchange rate of 2,512 pounds to the dollar.

The budget for this year, which was calculated according to a previous exchange rate of 1,250 pounds to the dollar, stood at 8.5 trillion pounds ($6.8 billion).

In 2020, it was estimated at nearly $9 billion.

Finance Minister Kanan Yaghi pledged that "the policy of social protection is a stable one that won't be tampered with" in the coming year, SANA reported.

He said the 2022 budget set aside 5.53 trillion Syrian pounds ($2.2 billion) for a social support programme that includes subsidies on key items such a fuel, wheat, flour, sugar and rice.

Last year, the government set aside 3.5 trillion Syrian pounds ($2.8 billion) for social support.

"The government is in the process of implementing a new formula for support with the aim of delivering it to those who need it most," SANA quoted Yaghi as saying.

The budget also allocated around 2 trillion pounds for investment and set the projected deficit for next year at 4.1 trillion pounds ($1.6 billion).

WASHINGTON — Standing with the pump in her hand, Telila Scott was stunned to see the price of gas in Washington — a sentiment many are feeling as costs rise across the United States.

"This is outrageous," said Scott, who is currently unemployed. "I'll pay $20 to try to fill my tank back up, but it still doesn't fill it."

Data released on Friday showed an average rise of 6.8 per cent across the United States over last year's prices, the largest increase since June 1982.

"You go to the store," she said, "and it's bad — bread, sugar, everything is so high!"

Next up at the gas station — where regular gas is $3.39 a gallon — Earl Walker also finds it more and more difficult to fill his black pickup truck. 

"Sometimes I can't get to work," lamented the 40-year-old community worker. "I can't fill my tank right now — it'd be over $100."

According to the latest figures released, energy prices represented the largest increase (up 33.3 per cent), as is the case in many other countries.

The report contained signs that the inflation wave may be reaching a crest, but it nonetheless poses a political liability for President Joe Biden and the Democratic party.

A more 'frugal' shopper 

On his way out of a Wal-Mart, just down the street from the gas station, Edward Harrison explains how he has become "more of a frugal" shopper.

An electronic technician, he said that he now eats out less, has started looking for sales and — if necessary — will buy used items.

Abby Mitchell, a 29 year old clinical researcher has also become a more conscious shopper: "If I needed a bag of spinach, I would grab a bag without looking at the price — now I'm cross comparing between different brands."

"I focus more on the value packs, to put in the freezer," said Stephen Keil, a 30-year-old working in government relations.

For him, the price increases are real but "incremental — you don't notice it until you're looking at your statement later on".

The question for Biden is whether Americans nationwide will blame him for the higher prices. At least in Washington, a Democratic stronghold, Keil struck a tolerant note.

"Everything is COVID-induced," he said. "Sometimes there is not a lot the administration can do."

KABUL — Afghanistan's currency dived to a record low against the US dollar on Monday, taking its losses over the last week to 30 per cent as an economic collapse and humanitarian crisis grip the country.

There has been an enormous shortage of dollars since the Taliban seized power in August as international donors suspended billions in aid provided annually to the previous US-backed regime.

Afghanistan's Money Exchange Commission said it has urged the central bank to intervene in the market to shore up the afghani, which sagged to 130 against the dollar in Monday trade, down from around 100 a week ago.

"We asked them to interfere in the market and distribute dollars," said Haji Zeerak, a spokesman for the commission.

Since the Taliban takeover, the central bank has been cut off from nearly $10 billion in reserves it held overseas, mainly in the United States.

The afghani's depreciation began gathering pace early last week, propelled by market fears that a major bank might collapse.

Banks have placed severe restrictions on customer withdrawals, rocking confidence in the financial system.

The country's cash crunch has fed into an economic collapse that has left it facing a deepening humanitarian crisis.

Many people in the capital Kabul have resorted to selling personal items to feed themselves.

"I have sold my gold jewellery to have some dollars for the expenses of our house," said housewife Khalida, lamenting a surge in prices for cooking oil and flour.

More than half of Afghanistan's 38 million people face "acute" food shortages, according to the United Nations, with the winter forcing millions to choose between migration and starvation.

By Sophie Makris
Agence France-Presse 

WOLFSBURG, Germany — After her apprenticeship at Volkswagen (VW), Michelle Gabriel was a master at welding, cutting, bending and stretching metal, but just a few years later it is not chassis but software frameworks she is piecing together after a speedy change of career.

The 24-year-old's professional journey reflects the transformation the auto sector is undergoing, moving away from its traditional focus on building combustion engines to developing software.

Germany's new government led by Olaf Scholz, which took office on Wednesday, wants to speed up this pivot with the aim of having 15 million electric vehicles on its roads by 2030 from just over 500,000 today.

But the upheaval being caused by the electric revolution is putting in doubt the livelihoods of thousands of employees in jobs where their skills may no longer be needed.

Managers are now confronted with the challenge of preparing their workforce to build the car of tomorrow.

Despite thinking the welding work during her apprenticeship was "super", Michelle Gabriel could not imagine entering a profession that "could disappear in five years", she said.

But "construction mechanic was a job already in the process of disappearing when I finished my training," said Gabriel, who like all apprentices began work on the factory line.

When the auto giant presented her with the opportunity to join its "Faculty 73" programme, intended to train software developers, Gabriel signed up.

Open to VW employees as well as outside applicants — who must sit a series of tests but do not need a degree — the new kind of apprenticeship is the storied carmaker's response to the need for new skills.

Electric cars require fewer employees to assemble units on the factory line and more IT technicians and electrochemists to develop the batteries that power them.

With around 100 students a year, the Faculty 73 programme launched in 2019 at VW's flagship plant in Wolfsburg in the north of Germany. Yet the initiative still will not cover the manufacturer's needs for new skilled workers. 

Digital drive 

That has prompted VW, like many other German carmakers and their suppliers, to launch an unprecedented internal drive to update existing roles.

Depending on the employee, the digital course could last between a few weeks and a year, time enough to acquire the knowledge needed. 

"There are masses of people that we have to get qualified and we will not achieve it using just traditional methods," said Ralph Linde, director of the Volkswagen Group Academy.

Instead of teaching in classrooms, VW is using online resources that can be rolled out on the scale necessary, without which VW "would not be able to manage this big task", Linde said.

The group plans to offer employees a personalised online platform to identify potential career development opportunities.

One issue, Linde conceded, is that "rapid technological developments" mean it is sometimes difficult to anticipate what skills the group's workers will need even in the next year or two.

Electric vehicles and the increasing role of software in the auto industry represent a "fundamental paradigm change" for workers, even if it "does not mean fewer jobs overall but different ones", said Johannes Katzan, a representative for the IG Metall union in the states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.

In all, including its vast web of suppliers, the car industry in Germany employs 830,000 individuals directly and 1.3 million indirectly.

Experts' estimates for how many of these jobs may be threatened by the digital switchover vary from 180,000 to as many as 288,000. 

Yet a report by the Fraunhofer Institute, commissioned by VW last year, found that massive layoffs could be avoided — on condition that it accelerated its training programmes.

NICOSIA — US giant ExxonMobil and Qatar Energy signed a contract on Friday for oil and gas exploration and production-sharing off the divided island of Cyprus.

Cypriot Energy Minister Natasa Pilides, Varnavas Theodosiou, CEO of ExxonMobil Cyprus, and Ali Al Mana, director of Qatar Energy's International Upstream and Exploration, signed the contract in Nicosia.

It is the second gas exploration contract that the consortium has signed for Block 5 in the island's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

In February 2019, the consortium discovered a huge natural gas reserve off Cyprus in Block 10, the island's largest find to date, holding an estimated 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet.

The consortium plans to drill an appraisal well on Block 10 in late December, with results expected by the end of February.

Oil and gas drilling off Cyprus has been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Despite the increasingly difficult working environment for the global oil and gas industry, today we are taking a decisive step towards enhancing our mutually beneficial partnership," Pilides said at Friday's signing ceremony.

The deal was clinched although Turkey was against it.

Asked about Turkey's negative reaction to the licencing of Block 5, Pilides said: "We proceed based on international law and the Law of the Sea; this has always been our principle."

Fieldwork on Block 5 will begin in the second half of 2022, she said.

Turkey has threatened to prevent ExxonMobil's search for oil and gas off Cyprus after Nicosia awarded it the rights to Block 5.

Last week, the Turkish foreign ministry said a sector of the licenced area violates Turkey's continental shelf in the eastern Mediterranean.

"Turkey will never allow any foreign country, company or ship to engage in hydrocarbon exploration activities in its maritime jurisdictions," the ministry said.

Ankara would "defend" its rights and those of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), it said.

The breakaway TRNC, recognised only by Ankara, lays claim to energy resources discovered off its coast, insisting the island's natural resources belong to both communities.

The eastern Mediterranean has become an energy hot spot, with significant natural gas finds for Cyprus, Israel and Egypt.

Ankara was accused of "gunboat diplomacy" in February 2018 when the Turkish navy prevented a ship leased by Italy's ENI from reaching its drilling target in Cyprus's Block 3.

The European Commission has urged Turkey to de-escalate and vowed to defend the interests of member states Greece and Cyprus.

Turkey was widely condemned for sending its own drillships into Cypriot waters for energy exploration, with the EU slapping sanctions on Ankara.

In the first half of 2022, ENI and France's Total are expected to drill in their licenced blocks.

Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third in 1974 in response to a Greek-engineered coup aiming to annex the island.

Nicosia has pushed ahead with offshore energy exploration despite the collapse in 2017 of UN-brokered talks to end the country's decades-long division.