Have a half; turning off the oil; wounded Tiger; and more!

Fed Prepares to Shift Policy Tightening Into Higher Gear [WSJ]
Officials are set to announce two main policy decisions: First, following an initial quarter-percentage-point increase in the Fed’s benchmark short-term rate in March, they are likely to approve an unusual half-percentage-point rate rise on Wednesday. Officials have signaled it is possible they could deliver a series of half-point rate increases this year as they rapidly try to raise borrowing costs to an estimated “neutral” zone that stops providing stimulus.
Second, officials have signaled they will announce plans to shrink their $9 trillion asset portfolio beginning next month and that, within months, they could allow up to $95 billion in securities to mature every month without reinvesting the proceeds into new holdings.

EU proposes ban on Russian oil imports [CNN]
Crude oil supply would be phased out within six months, and imports of refined oil products by the end of 2022, she added…. Sanctions — and a de-facto embargo by some European oil refineries and traders — have hit the price of Russian oil. Its benchmark Urals crude is now trading at a $35 per barrel discount to Brent, compared with less than $1 before the invasion….
"Russia's ability to redirect all unwanted cargoes from the West to Asia are limited, meaning that, in the case of embargoes, Russia will be forced to cut production further as it lacks storage capacity for extra crude volumes," analysts at Rystad Energy wrote in a research report on Monday.

Biden Officials Divided Over Easing China Tariffs to Slow Inflation [WSJ]
On one side of the debate within the administration are Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who favor easing the tariffs on some of the roughly $360 billion annually of Chinese imports put in place under the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the matter.
On the other are Trade Representative Katherine Tai and others who are reluctant to relinquish U.S. leverage over China in a continuing effort to reshape Chinese economic behavior, according to the people.

KKR Leans on Infrastructure, Real Estate to Combat Inflation and Volatility [WSJ Pro]
In the first quarter, the value of KKR’s real-assets funds—which include infrastructure and real-estate investments—rose, which helped offset write-downs of its private-equity and credit holdings, the New York firm said Tuesday.

Tiger is suffering one of the biggest hedge fund drawdowns in history [FT]
Back of the envelope calculations based on the reported $35bn size of Tiger’s overall public equities book at the end of last year indicate that it has probably suffered a nominal loss of at least $15bn in 2022…. To put that into perspective, Citadel lost 55 per cent for an estimated $8bn loss in the 2008 financial crisis, which led CNBC to camp a van outside its Chicago headquarters and nearly caused it to perish. In nominal terms this must be at or near the top of the biggest hedge fund drawdowns in history?…
”Tiger Global needs to make 79% to get back to HWM. That’s the bitch about losses. Lose 44 percent and its 79 back to flat. The Calvary isn’t coming this time either. It’s a tough year. We will see many restructurings.”

Crypto Wunderkinds Secure $85 Million to Start Own Hedge Fund [Bloomberg]
Ryan Watkins, a 25-year-old former analyst at Messari Inc., and 26-year-old Daniel Cheung, who worked at Jennison Associates LLC, said they’ve formed Pangea Fund Management. They said they’re being backed by investors that include Bain Capital and ParaFi. Other participants in the funding round include Brad Burnham, co-founder of Union Square Ventures, Apollo Global Management co-founder Josh Harris, as well as “crypto natives” such as Do Kwon from Terraform Labs, Alameda Research and Multicoin Capital’s Kyle Samani…. Pangea’s strategy is focused on taking long positions in three to seven established tokens, Watkins said, which makes the fund unique in the current market when a vast amount of interest from crypto venture capitalists is concentrated in investing in new projects.