The release of the Fed’s December meeting minutes (and its discussion of a quickened pace of rate hikes) was all it took to rattle markets, with the S&P 500 dropping nearly 2% on Wednesday—“its biggest drop in weeks.” Friday’s jobs numbers may help dictate just how much the central bank can shift from its full employment mandate to its controlling-inflation mandate, the latter of which would likely be aided by raising interest rates - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Recently dethroned top U.S. auto-seller General Motors announced plans on Wednesday aimed at making up some of the ground its lost to Tesla and Ford in the electric vehicle space—the “fast-growing segment” of the auto market. The timing of its pivot will remain a challenge, though, as GM’s new fleet of nearly a dozen EV models won’t “arrive in dealer showrooms for at least 18 months—a gap that will give its rivals time to extend their head starts” - NYTimes and WSJ
HBO and its streaming service HBO Max topped subscriber expectations for 2021 my nearly 1 million users, and Max also “expanded into 46 countries in the past year”—news that “represents a vindication of the strategy of Jason Kilar, the chief executive of WarnerMedia, the entertainment conglomerate that oversees HBO Max and HBO” - NYTimes and WSJ
Airlines canceled more than 1000 U.S. flights on Wednesday, the 11th straight day of 4-digit cancellations, “marking the airline industry’s worst stretch since the start of the pandemic.” The combo of winter storms and Omicron infections has served as a nasty double-whammy for the industry - WSJ
ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia are reportedly considering “a possible sale of a significant stake or all of the CW Network, which they jointly own.” Nexstar Media Group is one of the entities interested in snapping up the CW, which “caters primarily to teens and young adults” - WSJ
Persistent Covid-caused supply chain issues are forcing many U.S.-based companies to consider whether a return to domestic manufacturing is a viable (and necessary) option for meeting consumer expectations. Welcome to the great reshoring debate - NYTimes
A recently amended disclosure form reveals that departing Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida “failed to initially disclose the extent of a financial transaction he made in early 2020 as the Fed was preparing to swoop in and rescue markets amid the unfolding pandemic.” Clarida had drawn fire for buying a stock-holding fund the day before Chair Powell announced the central bank’s plan to prop up a Covid-tainted economy—a purchase the Fed has explained away as “rebalancing.” It’s now clear that Clarida had sold the same stock just days before, and “the rapid move out of stocks and then back in makes it look less like a planned, long-term financial maneuver and more like a response to market conditions” - NYTimes
Bitcoin dove mid-week, hitting its lowest value since December’s Flash Crash, likely in reaction to the Fed’s meeting minutes release and concerns over increased borrowing rates - Bloomberg and MarketWatch
A big-picture look at the adverse effects on homegrown “entrepreneurial drive” and a growing middle class that Beijing’s 2021 crackdown on its biggest tech companies is having - NYTimes
The New Yorker considers the long-running history of scientists turned spies, many of whom appear motivated by more than money or politics in their decision to turn on their country - NewYorker
Stay safe, and get boosted,
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