NEWSLETTER
Thursday / September 29Sep 29
Thursday / January 6
FOMC minutes
The US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) officials said at their meeting last month that the labor market was "too tight," and that the bank may need to raise interest rates sooner than expected as well as starting to reduce its total assets to rein in high inflation.
“Participants generally noted that, given their individual outlooks for the economy, the labor market, and inflation, it may become warranted to increase the federal funds rate sooner or at a faster pace than participants had earlier anticipated. Some participants also noted that it could be appropriate to begin to reduce the size of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet relatively soon after beginning to raise the federal funds rate," the minutes from the December 14–15 policy meetings read.
The Fed has about $8.8 trillion on its balance sheet.
As tracked by CME Group's FedWatch tool, the probability of the Fed raising rates rose above 70% in March for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
The minutes offered further details on the Fed's shift to a hawkish stance in policy it introduced last month to counter more than double its 2% target for inflation.
US stocks
As Wall Street prepares for potentially tighter U.S. monetary policy, the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its first drop in 2022, with stocks falling sharply on Wednesday.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day at 36,407.11, down 392.54 points, or 1.07%.
The S&P500 fell 1.94% to 4,700.58. The tech-heavy Nasdaq suffered its biggest one-day loss since last February and closed at 15,100.17, down 3.34%.
Stocks were weighed down as minutes from the Fed's most recent meeting showed the central bank discussed shrinking its balance sheet shortly after raising interest rates this year.
Russian-led intervention in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said he had applied to the Russian-led security bloc to assist him in dealing with what he called a "terrorist threat" as his administration came under harsher reaction from the street.
With the Central Asian republic facing violent protests, initially triggered by the fuel price hike, Tokayev, who dismissed his cabinet and former administration, made two televised speeches to calm down the public.
Tokayev said the protesters, whom he called "foreign-trained terrorist gangs", seized buildings, infrastructure and weapons, and took control of the airport in Almaty and five planes there, including foreign ones.
Tokayev said he appealed to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the military alliance of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, for support.
Russian news agencies reported that CSTO term chairman Nikol Pashinyan announced that a "limited period of peacekeeping force" would be deployed to stabilize the situation in Kazakhstan.
North Korean missile
North Korea's Central News Agency (KCNA) and South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that Pyongyang conducted a "hypsonic missile" test on Wednesday.
The missile "hit the target 700 km away successfully," KCNA said.
North Korea announced that it carried out the launch test of the newly developed hypersonic missile "Hwasong-8" for the first time on September 28 last year.
The South Korean Armed Forces General Staff announced that North Korea launched a missile, which is believed to be a ballistic missile, into the eastern sea at around 08:10 on Wednesday morning.
Towards the Russia-NATO summit
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his newly appointed German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, met in Washington on Wednesday, ahead of a series of talks with Russian officials in Europe next week.
US President Joe Biden has promised to continue providing military assistance to Ukraine to defend itself against possible Russian aggression.
Baerbock said Germany occupies a "different position" from the United States in supplying weapons to Ukraine, but is supporting the Ukrainian armed forces with medical supplies and helping treat Ukrainian soldiers injured in the conflict.
Blinken and Baerbock said they were also discussing the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would provide natural gas to Germany by bypassing existing transit routes through Ukraine.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that the United States and its allies will discuss security talks with Russia next week on election interference, arms deals, Ukraine and other issues when NATO-Russia Council meeting is held next week.
The US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) officials said at their meeting last month that the labor market was "too tight," and that the bank may need to raise interest rates sooner than expected as well as starting to reduce its total assets to rein in high inflation.
“Participants generally noted that, given their individual outlooks for the economy, the labor market, and inflation, it may become warranted to increase the federal funds rate sooner or at a faster pace than participants had earlier anticipated. Some participants also noted that it could be appropriate to begin to reduce the size of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet relatively soon after beginning to raise the federal funds rate," the minutes from the December 14–15 policy meetings read.
The Fed has about $8.8 trillion on its balance sheet.
As tracked by CME Group's FedWatch tool, the probability of the Fed raising rates rose above 70% in March for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
The minutes offered further details on the Fed's shift to a hawkish stance in policy it introduced last month to counter more than double its 2% target for inflation.
US stocks
As Wall Street prepares for potentially tighter U.S. monetary policy, the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its first drop in 2022, with stocks falling sharply on Wednesday.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day at 36,407.11, down 392.54 points, or 1.07%.
The S&P500 fell 1.94% to 4,700.58. The tech-heavy Nasdaq suffered its biggest one-day loss since last February and closed at 15,100.17, down 3.34%.
Stocks were weighed down as minutes from the Fed's most recent meeting showed the central bank discussed shrinking its balance sheet shortly after raising interest rates this year.
Russian-led intervention in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said he had applied to the Russian-led security bloc to assist him in dealing with what he called a "terrorist threat" as his administration came under harsher reaction from the street.
With the Central Asian republic facing violent protests, initially triggered by the fuel price hike, Tokayev, who dismissed his cabinet and former administration, made two televised speeches to calm down the public.
Tokayev said the protesters, whom he called "foreign-trained terrorist gangs", seized buildings, infrastructure and weapons, and took control of the airport in Almaty and five planes there, including foreign ones.
Tokayev said he appealed to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the military alliance of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, for support.
Russian news agencies reported that CSTO term chairman Nikol Pashinyan announced that a "limited period of peacekeeping force" would be deployed to stabilize the situation in Kazakhstan.
North Korean missile
North Korea's Central News Agency (KCNA) and South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that Pyongyang conducted a "hypsonic missile" test on Wednesday.
The missile "hit the target 700 km away successfully," KCNA said.
North Korea announced that it carried out the launch test of the newly developed hypersonic missile "Hwasong-8" for the first time on September 28 last year.
The South Korean Armed Forces General Staff announced that North Korea launched a missile, which is believed to be a ballistic missile, into the eastern sea at around 08:10 on Wednesday morning.
Towards the Russia-NATO summit
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his newly appointed German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, met in Washington on Wednesday, ahead of a series of talks with Russian officials in Europe next week.
US President Joe Biden has promised to continue providing military assistance to Ukraine to defend itself against possible Russian aggression.
Baerbock said Germany occupies a "different position" from the United States in supplying weapons to Ukraine, but is supporting the Ukrainian armed forces with medical supplies and helping treat Ukrainian soldiers injured in the conflict.
Blinken and Baerbock said they were also discussing the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would provide natural gas to Germany by bypassing existing transit routes through Ukraine.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that the United States and its allies will discuss security talks with Russia next week on election interference, arms deals, Ukraine and other issues when NATO-Russia Council meeting is held next week.
