This week, the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) decided that its target policy rate range would decrease by 50 basis points, resulting in a new target range for the Federal Funds Rate of 4.75 percent to...more
The Cozen Lens- The MAGA movement is more than just former President Trump, though he still holds great sway. MAGA faces its first major governing test beyond the Trump administration after the election of Speaker Mike...more
As of this date, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has increased short-term interest rates eleven times in the last sixteen months to combat inflation. As a result, interest rates on short-term investments have...more
Summary - After pausing last month in its ongoing series of rate increases, the Federal Reserve Board today bumped up its benchmark interest rate, the fed funds rate, by .25% to a range of 5.25% to 5.50%—a 22-year high....more
In a continued effort to reduce inflation to its 2 percent target, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised the benchmark interest rate another quarter-point, setting it between 5 and 5.25 percent, a 16-year high....more
In October 2022, I circulated “An In-Depth Examination of Inflation Relief for a Government Contractor[.]” Much has occurred since. Inflation remains an acute problem. In turn, contractors and subcontractors continue...more
November 2, 2022- The Federal Reserve Board issued a Federal Open Market Committee Statement announcing that the FOMC decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 3-3/4 to 4 percent....more
September 30, 2022- The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated 14 persons in Russia's military-industrial complex, including two international suppliers, three key leaders of Russia's...more
How quickly things have changed. Just a year ago, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) gave a picturesque view of the economy. Any inflation was transitory and would likely fall to 2% in 2022. The federal funds rate would...more
July 27, 2022- Ahead of Thursday's U.S. Senate Banking Committee hearing on risks and scams in the cryptocurrency market, Ranking Member Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission on the...more
In Washington: The House on Tuesday passed legislation aimed at combating the sharp rise in hate crimes against Asian-Americans that have occurred during the coronavirus pandemic. President Biden is expected to sign the bill...more
U.S. Developments - Bipartisan crypto bill passes House of Representatives - Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1602, titled “Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act of 2021.” The bill was first...more
Uber will officially classify its British drivers, all 70,000 of them, as “workers” following a “major legal defeat” for the ride-hailing company in the British Supreme Court last month. The move entitles the drivers to “a...more
Walgreens has named Starbucks exec Roz Brewer as its new CEO. The move sets up Brewer to be “the only Black female leading a Fortune 500 company”...more
U.S. drug giant Merck is shuttering its coronavirus vaccine development “after early trial data showed [its pair of vaccines] failed to generate immune responses comparable to natural infection or existing vaccines.” ...more
EU and British authorities unveiled new proposals this week to “crimp the power of ‘gatekeeper’ platforms like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, which policymakers argue deserve more oversight given their outsize...more
The Fed sought to reassure markets for the foreseeable future on Wednesday by announcing that it plans to hold rates at their near-zero mark until into 2023 as it tries to “coax the economy back to full strength after the...more
A World Trade Organization panel on Tuesday declared that the U.S.’s 2018 tariffs on China “violated international trade rules,” siding with China and its allegations that the White House’s trade war broke, among other...more
Much more on what to expect from Big Tech’s “Big Tobacco Moment” on the Hill today, at which Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple’s CEOs will endeavor to make the case that their massive companies don’t “stifle rivals and...more
Last week, most observers focused on the more than 11% drop in the stock market due to public health and related supply concerns. In response, the Federal Reserve made an aggressive 50 basis point interest rate cut on March...more
Massachusetts has fined Chipotle $1.4 million as part of a settlement with the restaurant chain over accusations that “it routinely violated [state] labor laws, with authorities estimating more than 13,000 violations from...more
Previous Repos - In the last Client Alert, it was reported that the New York Fed recently infused approximately $220 billion into the banking system – $70 billion of overnight repos and $150 billion in term repos....more
U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators are “laying the groundwork for a delay of a fresh round of tariffs set to kick in on Dec. 15” as the countries continue to work through how a Chinese promise to make huge ag purchases from...more
Fiat Chrysler and France’s Peugeot are in the midst of merger talks that, if finalized, could “create a nearly $50 billion trans-Atlantic auto giant.” One option being bandied about in the “fluid” talks is an “all-share...more
The Federal Reserve took the rare step yesterday of stepping “into financial markets . . . to keep interest rates from rising above its target, the first time the central bank has had to carry out this type of ‘market...more