Frutti Extra Bursaspor’s Dusan Alimpijevic was named EuroCup Coach of the Year for the 2021-22 basketball season on Thursday.

A EuroLeague Basketball statement hailed Alimpijevic as "the leader of a Cinderella story like few others in the competition history."

Alimpijevic has made club history by leading the Turkish team to the EuroCup final, where they will face Italy’s Virtus Segafredo Bologna on May 11.

"Alimpijevic, at 35 the youngest coach to win the award, guided Bursaspor all the way to the EuroCup Finals in his first full season in the competition," read the EuroLeague Basketball statement.

"He engineered a rarely seen in-season turnaround that saw his team win just four of its first 13 games before going on a run of 8-1 that included three postseason road wins in a span of just 14 days."

Alimpijevic has become the second Serbian national to win the EuroCup Coach of the Year award, following Sasa Obradovic, who took the honor with Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar in 2018./aa

The Dow Jones rallied on Wednesday to jump over 900 points as the Federal Reserve chair ruled out higher interest rate increases in coming months. 

The blue-chip index soared 932 points, or 2.81%, to close at 34,061. The S&P 500 gained 124 points, or 2.99%, to end the day at 4,300.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq increased 401 points, or 3.19%, to finish at 12,964.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled earlier that it is unlikely the central bank would make larger interest rates than 50 basis points in the coming months.

Powell, however, noted that there is a broad sense among the Fed officials that additional 50 basis points of interest rate increases should be on the table for the next couple of meetings.

The central bank earlier increased its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points, marking its steepest rate hike since 2000.

As investors have ruled out a 75 basis point rate hike from the Fed with Powell's comments, the VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, plummeted 13.1% to 25.42.

The dollar index decreased 0.87% to 102.57. The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes lost 1.33% to 2.919%.

Precious metals were on the rise, with gold adding 0.82% to $1,883 and silver gaining 2% to $23.03.

Crude oil prices increased around 5% amid the EU preparing to impose ban on Russian crude oil imports.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading at $110.14, up 4.9%, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $107.75 – a 5.2% gain./aa

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, the State Department announced in the latest episode of a senior Biden administration official contracting the coronavirus. 

Blinken, who "is fully vaccinated and boosted against the virus," is experiencing "mild symptoms," spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. Blinken tested negative earlier Wednesday morning, as well as on Tuesday.

The top diplomat had not met in person with US President Joe Biden "for several days," and Biden is not considered a close contact, according to Price.

Blinken will isolate at home and work virtually, and "looks forward to returning to the Department and resuming his full duties and travels as soon as possible."

Blinken's diagnosis comes one week after Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive. It is unclear when Blinken might resume in-person duties, but Harris did not return to the White House for roughly a week while she waited to test negative.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki has come down with COVID-19 twice, including once in March and an earlier time in October when she was forced to call off plans to accompany Biden to the G-20 summit in Rome./aa

European stock markets closed lower on Wednesday as the EU prepares additional sanctions on Russian oil imports. 

"Let us be clear: it will not be easy. Some member states are strongly dependent on Russian oil, but we simply have to work on it," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier during her speech at the European Parliament.

"We now propose a ban on Russian oil. This will be a complete import ban on all Russian oil, crude and refined," she said.

If realized, this will be the sixth round of European sanctions on Moscow, while the EU also plans to remove Russia's Sberbank from the international payments system called SWIFT.

Amid increasing risks, the STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, fell 4.83 points, or 1.08%, to finish at 441.37 points.

London's FTSE 100 lost 67 points, or 0.9%, to 7,493. Germany's DAX 30 declined 68 points, or 0.49%, to end the day at 13,970, while France's CAC 40 fell 80 points, or 1.24%, to close at 6,395.

Italy's FTSE MIB was the worst performer of the day, shedding 340 points, or 1.4%, to 23,902. Spain's IBEX 35 decreased 89 points, or 1.04%, to end the day at 8,500./aa

The US Federal Reserve increased its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points on Wednesday after the conclusion of its two-day meeting.

The central bank's aggressive move, the steepest rate hike since 2000, carried the benchmark rate to a range of 0.75% to 1%, from its previous level of 0.25% to 0.5%, in order to fight against record-high inflation.

"Inflation remains elevated, reflecting supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic, higher energy prices, and broader price pressures," the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said in a statement.

Annual consumer inflation in the US rose 8.5% in March, marking the largest 12-month increase since December 1981, according to the US Department of Labor.

On Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, the Fed said its implications are "highly uncertain" for American economy.

"The invasion and related events are creating additional upward pressure on inflation and are likely to weigh on economic activity. In addition, COVID-related lockdowns in China are likely to exacerbate supply chain disruptions. The Committee is highly attentive to inflation risks," the statement said. 

The FOMC added that it has decided to start reducing its asset holdings on the massive $9 trillion balance sheet, which includes holdings of Treasury securities, debt and mortgage-backed securities on June 1.

From June 1 onwards, the Fed will roll off $30 billion of Treasury securities and $17.5 billion mortgage-backed securities./aa

The rise in crude oil prices causes higher inflation and the coronavirus lockdown in China worsens supply disruptions, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday.

"Price pressures have spread to a broader range of goods and services. The surge in prices of crude oil and other commodities that result from Russia's invasion of Ukraine is creating additional upward pressure on inflation," Powell said in a press conference after the central bank's historic rate hike.

"COVID related lockdown in China is likely to further exacerbate supply chain disruptions," he added.

The Fed earlier raised its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points after the conclusion of its two-day meeting.

The central bank's aggressive move, the steepest rate hike since 2000, carried the benchmark rate to a range of 0.75% to 1%, from its previous level of 0.25% to 0.5%, in order to fight against record-high inflation.

"Inflation is much too high and we understand the hardship it is causing. And we are moving expeditiously to bring it back down. We have both the tools we need and the resolve it will take to restore price stability," he said.

"It is essential that we bring inflation down if we are to have sustained period of strong labor market conditions that benefit all," he added.

Powell said the American economy expanded at a robust pace of 5.5% last year, but the overall economic activity edged down in the first quarter.

He noted that the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation indicator, jumped 6.6% in March on an annual basis.

The Fed chair signaled that it is unlikely the central bank would make higher interest rates than 50 basis points in the coming months.

"A 75 basis point [interest rate] increase is not something that the committee [FOMC] is actively considering. I think expectations are that we will start to see inflation flattening out," he said.

"I would say we have a good chance to have a soft landing," he added.

Powell, however, noted that there is a broad sense among the FOMC members that additional 50 basis points of interest rate increases should be on the table for the next couple of meetings.

The Fed chair said Russia's war on Ukraine is likely to restrain economic activity abroad and further disrupt supply chains, creating spillover to the American economy through trade and other means. 

Powell added that he believes the unemployment rate in the world's largest economy will continue to decline as the labor market recovers from the coronavirus pandemic./aa