Fed Raises Interest Rates by 0.75 Points for Third Straight Meeting

MARKET MOVERS

• Fed raises interest rates by 0.75 percentage points. Fed officials signaled the intention of continuing to hike until the funds level hits a “terminal rate,” or endpoint, of 4.6% in 2023. That implies a quarter-point rate rise next year but no decreases. Powell said in his post-meeting news conference that “The FOMC is strongly resolved to bring inflation down to 2%, and we will keep at it until the job is done.”

• Oil prices turn lower as Putin steps up military efforts in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin escalated his drive to add parts of Ukraine to Russia, raising new concerns about the oil supply from the country. Brent crude was down 0.5% to $90.19 a barrel, paring gains of as much as 2%. West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, fell 0.7% to $83.32 a barrel.

• The dollar hits a 20-year high after Russia mobilizes more troops and makes a nuclear threat. The U.S. dollar rose to 20-year highs early Wednesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of the country’s military and issued a nuclear threat. In a national address, Putin ordered Russia’s reservists to mobilize to help with the war effort in Ukraine.

• EU approves up to $5.2 billion in public funding for hydrogen projects. The IPCEI Hy2Use project has been prepared by 13 member states that will supply the public funding. The commission says the project will support the construction of “large-scale electrolysers and transport infrastructure, for the production, storage, and transport of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen.”

• Electric-car demand pushes lithium prices to higher records. Lithium carbonate prices in China, the benchmark in the fast-growing market, stand at about $71,000 a metric ton, according to price-assessment firm Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Lithium is an outlier in commodity markets that have broadly retreated in recent months, reflecting gloom over an economic outlook dimmed by the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increases. Read more here.

• Existing-home sales decreased to 4.80 million units in August. It's marking the seventh consecutive month of declines, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Month-over-month sales varied across the four major U.S. regions as two regions recorded increases, one was unchanged and the other posted a drop. On a year-over-year basis, however, sales fell in all regions.
  

WHAT TO WATCH

• SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son plans to discuss Arm partnership with Samsung. He plans to visit Seoul for the first time in three years and discuss a potential partnership between Arm Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co. Son has repeatedly said his primary focus is to take Arm public in the US, after the planned $40 billion sale to Nvidia fell apart following an outcry from Arm’s customers. Read more here.

• Amazon’s $1.7 billion proposed purchase of Roomba Maker is under FTC investigation. The Federal Trade Commission this week formally requested documents from both companies explaining the proposed $1.7 billion deal’s purpose and rationale, iRobot disclosed on Tuesday. The agency also is examining Amazon’s $3.9 billion deal to buy 1Life Healthcare Inc., which operates One Medical. Read more here.

• Walmart plans to hire 40,000 workers for the holiday season. The company says it is hiring for a variety of positions, including seasonal store associates, customer service associates, and 1,500 full-time truck drivers. Walmart has been building its private trucking fleet this year, increasing potential first-year pay up to $110,000 in April.

• Meta and Google are cutting staff. Meta has begun quietly nudging out a significant number of staffers by reorganizing departments and giving affected employees a limited window to apply for other roles within the company, according to current and former managers familiar with the matter. Google has also required some employees to apply for new jobs if they wish to remain at the company.

• Taco Bell is partnering with Beyond Meat. Taco Bell, a division of Yum! Brands, announced Wednesday that, in partnership with Beyond Meat, the company is unveiling a "first-of-its-kind" vegetarian-friendly meat option -- Beyond Carne Asada Steak. The pair will begin testing the new plant-based protein at about 50 Taco Bell locations in Dayton, Ohio, beginning Oct. 13.