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By Kristin Myers, Editor-in-Chief

What's Happening Today

Good morning! It's Kristin with your daily morning digest.

Ukrainian and Russian officials are meeting again today for a third round of negotiation talks after previous attempts failed. Expectations for results from these talks are low—Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine must meet his demands for fighting to end.

Stocks are falling today as oil prices continue to rise. A bipartisan group of legislators in both the Senate and the House put together bills to ban imports of Russian oil, which could send oil prices even higher.

Russia is the world's largest exporter of oil and third-largest producer, and rising oil prices will likely lead to higher prices at the gas pump. Oil briefly jumped to more than $130 a barrel over the weekend, the highest since 2008. The national average gas price is now over $4 a gallon, for the first time since 2008, according to AAA.

But the impacts of rising oil prices aren't just felt when you're filling up your car. Higher oil prices lead to a rise in inflation, as the costs of manufacturing and transporting goods gets more expensive. Later this week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release February's inflation figures (the Consumer Price Index, or CPI), and they're expected to stay red hot and rise again, though they won't fully capture rising prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As a quick reminder, the annual pace of inflation has been hitting 40-year highs as the prices of just about everything keep going up.

- Kristin

Editors' Picks

U.S. Crude Oil Spikes to 13-Year High of $130 Overnight, Then Gives Up Most of That Gain (CNBC)

Will Inflation Fall? Any Pullback Depends on These Sectors (The Wall Street Journal)

Breaking Down SWIFT Sanctions and What They Mean (The Balance)

Analysis: Confusion, But Not Panic, Reigns in Global Finance in Russia's Wake (Reuters)

Sanctions Spur Renewed Calls To Regulate Cryptocurrency (The Balance)

Why Your Credit Card's Available Credit Is Important (The Balance)

Best Custodial Accounts of 2022 (The Balance)

Off the Charts

The wage gap between Black and White workers is nothing new, but data compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows just how stubbornly it's stuck around.

Number of the Day

1 Cent - That's how little average hourly pay rose in February, the smallest increase in about a year and a startling pivot, given how much workers have been in demand.

Season 2 of the "Money Confidential" podcast is back with "Taxes in Ten," a six-episode mini-season covering your top tax questions. Host and nationally recognized money expert, Stefanie O'Connell Rodriguez, is teaming up with The Balance's very own Editor-in-Chief, Kristin Myers, as well as Caleb Silver, Editor-in-Chief of Investopedia, to talk about everything from doing your own taxes to the specific tax considerations of different life stages. You can listen to "Taxes in Ten" now, with new episodes airing every Monday. Listen now!