As Russian troops advance into Ukraine, we chew on more of what the conflict there will mean for the U.S. economy—from markets to commodities to “spook[ing] American consumers” - NYTimes and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

In short, the crisis is far from an “over there” problem, and it comes at an already bad time for U.S. markets, which have been “stumbling since the beginning of the year” and already struggling with concerns over the pandemic, supply-chain woes, and inflation - NYTimes and Bloomberg

File under “of course.” We’re learning now that Russia may be able to rely heavily on cryptocurrencies to evade the impact of the fresh sanctions enacted in recent days aimed at “thwart[ing] its access to foreign capital” over the war it started in Ukraine - NYTimes

Estee Lauder has suspended a top exec over posts on his personal Instagram account “that contained a racial slur and jokes about Covid-19.” John Demsey, a 30-year veteran of the company who oversees its MAC brand, is currently on leave without pay - WSJ

“Inexcusable” failures by prosecutors to produce “thousands of documents to the defense” has delayed and possibly imperiled the DOJ’s effort to hold former Goldman Sachs managing director Roger Ng responsible for the 1MDB bribe and kickback scheme – Law360 and WSJ

A newly proposed EU law could, if made law, hold large companies operating in the Union “responsible for violations or human rights abuses committed by businesses in their supply chains.” The so-called “due diligence law” would force businesses to “establish regulations to detect, prevent and mitigate breaches of human rights, such as child labor, as well as environmental hazards in their supply chains” - NYTimes

The NLRB ruled this week that single Starbucks stores are the appropriate units for union votes, “rejecting the company’s argument that workers seeking to unionize in a geographic area must vote in a single union election.” The ruling deals “a blow to Starbucks’ legal strategy in response to a growing union campaign” in its stores - NYTimes

Ford CEO Jim Farley confirmed on Wednesday that the automaker has no intention of spinning off its EV (or gas-powered, for that matter) businesses, noting that “much of Ford’s broader operations will be critical to building out its electric-car business” - WSJ and Bloomberg

Barclays has frozen former CEO Jes Staley’s deferred pay package pending completion of a “probe into how he characterized his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.” That package includes 11.2 million “unvested shares with a value of . . . around $32 million” - WSJ

With all of the uncertainty and trouble in the world at the moment, sometimes it’s just good to know that moms are gonna mom – TheGuardian

Stay safe, and get boosted,

MDR