SHELL REPORTS RECORD PROFIT:

Shell, Europe’s largest energy company, reported Thursday its biggestever quarterly profit, reflecting high prices for oil and natural gas spurred by the war in Ukraine and tightness in world energy markets. The company’s adjusted earnings of $9.1 billion for the January-March period were almost triple the $3.2 billion it earned in the same period a year earlier.

BOE RAISES INTEREST RATES 1%:

The Bank of England raised interest rates to their highest level since early 2009 and warned the U.K. risks recession alongside double-digit inflation. The bank predicted inflation would rise to its highest level in four decades in the final quarter of this year and that the British economy would shrink nearly 1 percent. The rate increase to 1 percent from 0.75 percent was backed by a majority of the bank’s nine policymakers, with three voting for a larger move.