German inflation hit its highest level in more than four decades in April, pushed higher by natural gas and mineral oil products that have significantly increased in price since Russia's attack on Ukraine, Reuters reported. Consumer prices, harmonised to make them comparable with inflation data from other European Union countries (HICP), rose an annual 7.8%, a rise from March's 7.6%, the Federal Statistics Office said on Thursday. The inflation reading from Germany, the biggest euro zone economy, precedes data on Friday for the whole 19-country bloc.

Investors who buy the depositary receipts (GDRs) of Russian-companies that were traded on foreign exchanges in order to swap them into shares will be unable to sell the shares quickly, Russia's central bank said in a statement on Wednesday, Reuters reported. A law that came into effect this month requires Russian companies to delist their depositary receipts from foreign bourses and convert them into local securities in a bid to reduce foreign control.

Russian natural gas deliveries to Austria are continuing unrestricted and there is no indication that will change, its government said on Wednesday while adding it is scrambling to find alternative sources, Reuters reported. Austria obtains 80% of its natural gas from Russia, a heavy dependency that it says will take time to end now that Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made plain the need to shift away from Europe's cheapest source of gas. "Since the start of the war delivery volumes have not changed. In fact, they have increased," Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer told a news conference.

Germany is preparing for a change of control at the PCK refinery in Schwedt operated by Russian state-owned Rosneft (ROSN.MM) that accounts for all of Germany's remaining Russian oil imports, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Germany has set out plans to become independent of Russian oil, which would make a European Union oil embargo manageable for Europe's biggest economy. It has reduced the proportion of oil it sources from Russia to 12% from 35%, leaving PCK the only remaining consumer of Russian oil in the country.

Brexit-related trade barriers have driven a 6% increase in U.K. food prices, adding to a squeeze on consumer spending power, according to a new report, Bloomberg News reported. Inflation for food products Britain tends to import from the European Union, like fresh pork, tomatoes and jam, was more pronounced than things like tuna and exotic fruits that come from other nations, according to the London School of Economics’ Centre for Economic Performance. The study covered two years to the end of 2021 and attempted to strip out the effect of the pandemic.

German business confidence has picked up slightly this month after plunging in March following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a survey showed Monday, the Associated Press reported. The Ifo institute said its monthly confidence index, a closely watched indicator for Europe’s biggest economy, rose to 91.8 points in April from 90.8 in March — stabilizing after a nearly eight-point fall last month. Business managers’ outlook for the next six months improved, but their assessment of the current situation was only marginally better than in March.

Hungary's OTP Bank, Central Europe's largest independent lender, is under pressure from the government of Ukraine, where the bank is also present, to sell its Russian unit, Chief Executive Sandor Csanyi said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Earlier this month Csanyi said the bank would sell its Russian operation if there was a buyer, adding market presence there could become a moral issue. The Russian and Ukrainian units accounted for 15.8% of OTP's profit last year.

Greece raised 1.5 billion euros in a 7-year bond re-issue Wednesday, tapping markets days after a sovereign credit rating upgrade, the Associated Press reported. Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said the money was raised with a yield of 2.4% ‒ up from the 2% yield in 2020 when the bond was first issued. The latest auction took place amid “uncertainty and a deterioration of conditions in the global bond market,” the minister said.

Russia will cut off the gas to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday in a major escalation in the standoff between Moscow and Europe over energy supplies and the war in Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported. Moscow is making good on a threat to halt gas supplies to countries that refuse President Vladimir Putin’s new demand to pay for the fuel in rubles. The European Union has rejected the demand in principle but now payment deadlines are starting to fall due, governments across Europe need to decide whether to accept Putin’s terms or lose crucial supplies -- and run the risk of energy rationing.

Poland is imposing sanctions on 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, the interior minister said on Tuesday, as it seeks to increase pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported. Poland this month passed a law allowing it to freeze the assets of Russian entities and ban imports of coal from Russia, above and beyond sanctions imposed jointly by European Union countries.