As we’ve been expecting thanks to some heavy foreshadowing from Chair Powell and others, the Federal Reserve wrapped its December Open Markets Committee meeting with the news that it would “cut back on [its] stimulus more quickly at a moment of rapid inflation and strong economic grown, capping a challenging year with a pronounced policy pivot that could usher in higher interest rates in 2022.” Besides tapering its bond-buying activities faster than first thought, the Fed signaled that as many as 3 rate hikes could be on the table for the coming year - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Shocker of shockers, markets welcomed news of a more hawkish Fed, presumably favoring efforts to combat inflation even if it meant dialing back an era of easy access to capital - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
And the Upshot on what pushed Chair Powell to pivot so dramatically - NYTimes
Across the pond, the Bank of England kicked off its own pivot, becoming the first major central bank to raise interest rates (.25%) in an effort to “keep a lid on price-growth” - WSJ and Bloomberg
The SEC released a “raft of proposals” yesterday meant to “shor[e] up money-market funds and curb[] executives’ ability to trade their own companies’ stock,” as Chair Gensler moves forward to “enact a policy agenda that observers have called the SEC’s most ambitious in decades” - WSJ and Bloomberg and Law360
Retail sales rose in the U.S. in November for the fourth straight month. Though sales appear to have slowed in November as compared to a month earlier, the streak shows that American consumers “continued to spend even as they faced fast rising prices and an upswing in coronavirus infections” - NYTimes and WSJ
Reddit revealed this week that it has confidentially filed for an IPO, though it hasn’t yet disclosed when it plans to make its debut or what valuation it would seek - Bloomberg and NYTimes and WSJ and TechCrunch
Apple was the latest big company to make it official: RTO = TBD - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Anchorage Capital, “one of the biggest hedge-fund investors in distressed debt,” is winding up its flagship fund after a nearly 20 year run and will return the $7.4 billion it manages to clients. Anchorage cited as reasons for its decision “a market environment in which cheap money has helped keep stock and bond prices elevated while suppressing corporate defaults” - WSJ
The Times’ technology reporter has used the past pandemic year to come up with 4 tech-based resolutions for the coming year, and we’ll put our own stamp of approval on them - NYTimes
Stay safe, and get boosted,
MDR
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