Fed Primes Markets for 75bps Rate Hike As Inflation Fight Continues

Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard affirmed this week that the Fed’s in no hurry to dial back its rate hikes, suggesting that the central bank “would need to see ‘several months’ of low monthly inflation data to be convinced that rapid price growth was finally cooling.” Her remarks were seen as “raising the odds that Fed leaders will again raise interest rates three-quarters of a percentage point when they meet this month” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

The ECB’s expected to make its own sizable rate move today, as “policymakers battle to bring down record high inflation driven by an energy crisis that has engulfed the region amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.” The stakes are very high - NYTimes and WSJ

All the latest from Apple’s big fall unveiling yesterday, including the iPhone 14 and a souped up version of the Apple Watch - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and Mashable and TechCrunch

On Wednesday, a Delaware chancellor allowed Elon Musk to amend his counterclaim against Twitter to “incorporate allegations from a whistleblower complaint by the social-media company’s former head of security,” but she denied his request to move the trial date from its current October 17 slot - WSJ and Law360

As Governor Newsome works his way through the spate of trailblazing measures passed by the California legislature in recent weeks, the Times considers how the policy actions of that state can influence the rest of the nation - NYTimes

Vice Media is reportedly considering an expansion into Saudi Arabia through a partnership with MBC, “a media giant partly owned by the Saudi government.” The $50M deal is particularly controversial given the Saudi government’s role in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 - NYTimes

We’ve got some Daily Dose throwback vibes going, as insurer Ambac tore into Countrywide Home Loans Inc. (now part of Bank of America) for its “worst-of-the-worst” pre-2008 loan practices on the first day of trial over the “$2 billion of investor claims” Ambac was left holding “when the housing bubble burst in 2008” – Law360

Cineworld, Regal Cinema’s parent company and the world’s “second-largest theater chain after AMC,” has filed for bankruptcy. Devastated by the pandemic, Cineworld finds itself “weighed down by a mammoth debt pile” that it hopes to restructure during Chapter 11 proceedings - NYTimes and WSJ and Law360

My roommate and I hit up Spencer’s for about $25 worth of posters our freshman year. So this $10k dorm room nonsense . . . . I mean, really - WSJ

Stay safe,

MDR

The Robins Kaplan Financial Daily Dose features top stories and latest news headlines in financial markets, banking, securities and technology topics.