Fed Chair Powell used the Omicron variant’s emergence as impetus to more aggressively target the now-persistently stubborn inflation, telling the Senate Banking Committee during testimony on Tuesday that the central bank “could speed up its plan to withdraw economic support as it tries to ensure that rapid price gains do not become long-lasting.” That effort and the economy’s general strength is therefore making a quicker taper more likely, though Omicron’s unknowns will make the December OMC meeting a doozy - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg

While perhaps the right step forward for addressing inflation, the news put Wall Street back on its heels again, erasing most of the gains markets saw on Monday - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

Not that the U.S. is alone in trying to handle heightened inflation concerns. New data out this week showed that annual Eurozone inflation “surged to 4.9 percent, . . . the highest since records began in 1997” - NYTimes and WSJ

The Biden Administration is reportedly considering naming former CFPB director Richard Cordray to succeed outgoing Fed governor Randal Quarles as the vice chair of banking supervision, the central bank’s “top banking regulator” - WSJ and Bloomberg

Meta’s primary cryptocurrency project leader, David Marcus, is leaving the company at the end of the year. Though Zuck backed the currency formerly known as Libra, it ran into opposition from a “bipartisan coalition of lawmakers” and was “rebranded Diem, while the company’s efforts at a crypto wallet were called Novi”—an “often . . . confusing” “mishmash of names” - NYTimes and Bloomberg and TechCrunch and WSJ

Salesforce, the San Francisco-based business-software giant, has named Bret Taylor as its co-CEO and vice chair, restoring the “co-CEO” structure that the company had in place until “last year when Keith Block stepped down.” Taylor was previously Salesforce’s president and COO since 2019 - WSJ and Bloomberg

Lululemon’s answer to Peloton’s recent SDNY non-infringement DJ action came in the form of a Tuesday filing in California federal court accusing the fitness company of “trade dress infringement, false designation of origin and unfair competition.” Lululemon seeks “an injunction against Peloton as well as a jury trial, damages and other monetary relief” - NYTimes

Ohhhh, Toto. We’re not in Amazing Kreskin land anymore, buddy - NewYorker

Stay safe, and get boosted,

MDR