Interest rates:Â Chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell said at a news conference yesterday afternoon that although inflation is easing, it still remains high enough for the Fed to continue raising interest rates. The Fed raised rates by 0.25% in its latest move, which is less than the 0.5% and 0.75% hikes it had been putting into effect. Powell said that the Fed believes the disinflationary process has started. The Fed wants to bring the inflation rate down to 2%.
Legislation on policing:Â The Rev. Al Sharpton, in delivering the eulogy at Tyre Nichols’ funeral in Memphis, called for police reforms and for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Sharpton said if Nichols had been White, the outcome would have been different. Vice President Harris, Nichols’ mother and other members of his family also called on Congress to pass the measure. Its features include banning the use of choke holds, improving police training, funding the establishing of local police reform task forces and removing many barriers to the prosecution of police who engage in misconduct.
FBI search:Â The FBI failed to find any classified government documents during its search yesterday of President Biden’s home in Rehobeth Beach, Delaware. Biden had consented to the search so no search warrant was necessary. The FBI agents were there for about three and a half hours.
Meta financials:Â Meta, the company headed by Mark Zuckerberg that owns Facebook reported 2022 revenues of $116.6 billion and net income of $23.2 billion. Facebook in December had two billion users per day. The company said it plans new rounds of expense cuts in 2023. The company plans to buy back $40 billion of its stock.
Humana financials:Â Health care giant Humana reported 625,000 new members signed up for its Medicare Advantage plans during 2022. It is reported to have about nine million Medicare Advantage members. Humana’s revenues for the Fiscal Year ended December 31, 2022 were $92.9 billion with pretax profits of $3.4 billion.
Russian attacks:Â Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said last night that the Russians are intensifying their attacks on civilian targets in the eastern province Donetsk. He said the Russians are trying to cause as much damage and as many casualties as possible prior to the Feb. 24 one-year anniversary of their invading Ukraine.
More winter: This morning at Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania, about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his burrow in a tree stump and saw his shadow. According to the legend, that means six more weeks of winter, which actually will be in full force tomorrow and Saturday when a blast of Arctic air moves over the Northeast.
