China's economy expanded 4.5% in the first quarter of the year compared with the same three months a year earlier, China's National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday, a better performance than the 4.0% pace expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.


Few Banks Are Hedging Interest-Rate Risk

Few U.S. banks protected themselves against rising interest rates during the Federal Reserve's monetary-tightening campaign last year, according to a research paper that says unhedged securities holdings are more widespread than investors might realize.

The paper-"Limited Hedging and Gambling for Resurrection by U.S. Banks During the 2022 Monetary Tightening?"-contends that hundreds of other banks share that risk, which played a role in the collapse last month of Silicon Valley Bank. The paper didn't single out individual institutions, instead presenting an analysis of aggregate data.


Warren Buffett and Japan's Trading Titans Would Be Formidable Allies

Warren Buffett has shone a spotlight on Japan's trading companies-gigantic conglomerates with diverse sets of businesses and long histories. So far, they have been good investments for the celebrated investor-but these storied Japanese companies could be his partners, too.

Last week, Mr. Buffett said in an interview with local publication Nikkei that his company Berkshire Hathaway has raised its stake in five Japanese trading conglomerates-Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumitomo. Berkshire now owns more stocks in Japan than in any other country outside the U.S. Berkshire first disclosed its investments in the five trading giants in August 2020.


Pro Take: A Persistent Holdout in the Fed's Inflation Fight Leads to the Bakery Aisle

Food prices flatlined in March after rising 8.5% over the past year. But with summer "bun season" right around the corner, a time of baseball outings and barbecue, inflation doggedly holds on in baked goods.

White bread prices surged 16.5% in the past year and rose 1% in March, the government reported last week in its consumer-price index. Cookie prices climbed 16.6% for the year and 0.5% in March. Prices for frozen and refrigerated bakery products such as pies and turnovers rose 16.2% over the year and 2.8% in March.


RBA Signals That Rate Hike Pause May Not Be End of Tightening Cycle

SYDNEY-The Reserve Bank of Australia said that despite announcing a pause in interest-rate increases this month, it doesn't want to send a message that the tightening cycle is over.

"Members observed that it was important to be clear that monetary policy may need to be tightened at subsequent meetings and that the purpose of pausing at this meeting was to allow time to gather more information," the central bank said in the minutes of its April 4 policy meeting released Tuesday.


G-7 Countries Claim Unity on China After Macron Comments

KARUIZAWA, Japan-The Group of Seven industrialized democracies sought to show a unified front on China following recent comments by French President Emmanuel Macron that the European Union shouldn't follow Washington's lead on the issue of Taiwan.

"With regard to Taiwan, there is clear unanimity in the approach that we're taking with all of our G-7 partners," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken after the group's top diplomats concluded a meeting in the Japanese mountain resort town of Karuizawa. On China-Taiwan issues, he said the G-7 nations shared "an expectation that any differences be dealt with peacefully."


Putin Makes Rare Trip to Russian-Occupied Areas of Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a rare visit near the front lines of the war he began in Ukraine, meeting with military commanders in occupied areas of the country as Kyiv prepares for an offensive to wrest territory from Moscow's grip.

Mr. Putin traveled to Ukraine's Kherson and Luhansk regions, both of which are partly occupied by Russian forces, and was briefed by senior officers about the situation on the front line, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, without specifying when the trip took place.


U.S. and Other Diplomats in Sudan Are Attacked as Violence Flares

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called for a cease-fire in Sudan after speaking to two generals fighting for power there, and he said a U.S. diplomatic convoy in the country was fired upon.

Mr. Blinken said no one in the U.S. convoy was injured. "This action was reckless, irresponsible and, of course, unsafe," he said at a news conference in Karuizawa, Japan, after a meeting of the top diplomats from the Group of Seven nations.


Moscow Court to Hear Appeal on Detention of Jailed WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich

A Moscow court is scheduled Tuesday to hear an appeal on the detention of Evan Gershkovich, the jailed Wall Street Journal reporter arrested in Russia last month.

Mr. Gershkovich's lawyers, Tatyana Nozhkina and Maria Korchagina of the ZKS law firm, are challenging his detention, nearly three weeks after the journalist was arrested for espionage, an allegation the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny.


SEC Chair Gensler to Defend Climate, Crypto Plans Before GOP-Led Panel

WASHINGTON-Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler is set to defend his regulatory agenda Tuesday before a House panel that has grown hostile to his plans under Republican leadership of the committee.

"The SEC is the cop on the beat watching out for your constituents," Mr. Gensler said in prepared remarks for the hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. He framed his plans as necessary to protect investors and markets in an era of rapid technological change and emerging risks.


FBI Investigating Ex-Navy Noncommissioned Officer Linked to Pro-Russia Social-Media Account

The FBI is investigating the activities of a former U.S. Navy noncommissioned officer who oversaw a social-media account involved in the spread of intelligence documents allegedly leaked by Airman First Class Jack Teixeira, U.S. officials said Monday. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the woman, Sarah Bils, administered several pro-Russian outlets while in uniform.

The scope of the investigation into Ms. Bils, a 37-year-old who left the Navy in November, couldn't be determined.


Covid Emerged as Chinese Lab Faced Biosafety Issues, Senate Republican Study Finds

WASHINGTON-A Chinese laboratory conducting advanced coronavirus research faced a series of biosafety problems in November 2019 that drew the attention of top Beijing officials and coincided with the Covid pandemic's emergence, according to a new report being released by Senate Republicans on the pandemic's origins.

The report, released Monday by a Republican member of the Senate Health Committee, a final version of which was viewed by The Wall Street Journal, charts a confluence of unexplained events in that month and concludes the pandemic more likely began from a lab accident than naturally, via an animal infecting humans.


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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-18-23 0602ET