The ruble strengthened sharply due to a distorted quote from Trump's aide

On Wednesday, the ruble rose sharply against the dollar and the euro after Donald Trump's national security aide John Bolton was quoted as saying the US was not considering new sanctions against Russia. Later it turned out that the quote was distorted. In fact, Bolton said that a final decision had not yet been made. After clarifying the quote, the ruble returned to morning values.

Details

• The ruble began to suddenly strengthen sharply around 14:40. In less than 20 minutes, the dollar lost almost 70 kopecks, falling from 65.62 to 64.94 rubles. At the same time, the euro weakened by more than 80 kopecks, dropping below 74 rubles.
• The fluctuations are related to statements by Bolton, which were broadcast through news outlets, said Sergei Romanchuk, head of foreign exchange and money market operations at Metallinvestbank. “First, an Interfax message appeared with a not entirely correct translation, from which it followed that the United States was not considering imposing new sanctions against Russia,” says Romanchuk. - Then it turned out that they were not ready to announce them. That is, in fact, there was a diametrically opposite meaning. Therefore, at first the ruble strengthened a lot, but then the market figured out that there was not much news.”
• Initially, Interfax reported Bolton's words as follows: "At the moment, we are not considering the possibility of additional sanctions against the Russian Federation." The same quote was from TASS.
• Bloomberg later clarified the translation. “We continue to look into actions that we may be required to take under chemical weapons legislation (referring to the second round of sanctions due to the poisoning of the Skripals. - The Bell). No decision has been made at this time,” Bolton said in reality. The issue is under discussion, Bolton said, adding that he would not predict whether a decision would be made before or after the US midterm elections.
• As Interfax's press service explained to The Bell, it was an interpreter's mistake at a press conference in Baku. “Bolton's words were conveyed in this way by an interpreter in Baku. According to his translation, the quote was given not only by Interfax, but also by other Russian news agencies and media, ”Interfax reported.
• Later, the dollar and the euro won back their daily losses. At 17:50, the dollar was trading at 65.55 rubles, the euro - 74.70 rubles.

In its corrected form, Bolton's quote will not affect the ruble exchange rate. Bolton said nothing new. It looked like news only in the interpretation

Artem Gubenko, Liana Faizova