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
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
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
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
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
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
Drug giants Pfizer and Mylan have inked a deal that will merge the former’s off-patent drugs with the latter’s generics business, a tie-up that creates a mammoth global seller of lower-priced medicines....more
Credit bureau Equifax is closing in on an agreement with federal and state authorities in which it would pay $650-700 million to resolve claims related to the massive breach it revealed in September 2017 that exposed personal...more
To no one’s surprise, the Fed followed through with its months of promises and raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points yesterday. The FOMC also indicated that it’s planning to raise rates again in December....more
HSBC announced yesterday that, 5 years after its controversial deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ following the Swiss bank’s 2012 $1.9 billion payment over money-laundering allegations, it’ll be released from those...more
Facebook may have had a difficult day on the Hill. But a 79% rise in Q3 profit—driven, ironically enough, by online ads—should help soften the blow....more
Why it matters - Five years after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, efforts on Capitol Hill seek to continue to turn back many of its regulatory restrictions. Sen. Richard...more
In This Issue: Leading the Past Week; Legislative Branch; Executive Branch; and Upcoming Hearings. Except from Leading the Past Week - Congress usually tries to leave town for its month-long August...more