Analysis: No knockout, but new US sanctions add to Russia’s ‘slow destruction’ By Reuters – Investing.com

Analysis: No knockout, but new US sanctions add to Russia’s ‘slow destruction’ By Reuters – Investing.com

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A view shows Russian rouble coins in this illustration picture

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By Marc Jones, Sujata Rao and Tom Arnold LONDON (Reuters) - For all the insouciance with which markets treated Washington's latest sanctions on Russia, its move to target Moscow's main funding avenue - the rouble bond market - has in some ways, crossed the Rubicon, potentially with far-reaching consequences. Drawing on experiences of sanctions imposed previously, including after the 2014 Ukraine crisis and the Mueller report on Russia's alleged U.S. election meddling, money managers haven't rushed to dump Russian assets en masse. The rouble, which fell as much as 2% at one point on Thursday, has clawed back losses and is on its way to recording its best week this year; Russian bond yields, on local as well as international markets, have fallen. That reaction suggests Washington's ban on U.S. investors buying new Russian rouble bonds - OFZs as they are known - is being perceived as yet another annoyance for a market that's coped for years with sanctions risk. Investors had feared "nuclear" options such as barring U.S. firms completely from rouble debt or cutting Russia out of international money-transfer systems. Those may yet