What we’re reading (5/4)
“Fed Raises Rates By Half A Percentage Point — The Biggest Hike In Two Decades — To Fight Inflation” (CNBC). “The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, the most aggressive step yet in its fight against a 40-year high in inflation. ‘Inflation is much too high and we understand the hardship it is causing. We’re moving expeditiously to bring it back down,’ Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said[.]”
“A Minsky Moment For Venture Capital?” (Financial Times). “Venture capital returns have puked this year. The next dangerous stage is investor outflows.” Apparently, Refinitiv’s venture capital index is down 46 percent year-to-date.
“Everything’s A WeWork Now” (Wired). “[W]hile WeWork has become a cautionary tale, office life in the US has quietly embraced several of its core tenets. Many workers who spent the last two years at home—a small portion of the overall labor force—are being called back to offices that look different from the ones they vacated in 2020, with fewer desks and more open spaces designed to foster collaboration.”
“The Era Of Cheap And Plenty May Be Ending” (New York Times). “[A]s the pandemic and the war in Ukraine continue to weigh on trade and business ties, [the] period of plenty appears to be undergoing a partial reversal. Companies are rethinking where to source their products and stocking up on inventory, even if that means lower efficiency and higher costs. If it lasts, such a shift away from fine-tuned globalization could have important implications for inflation and the world’s economy.”
“American Consumers Are Shopping, Traveling And Working Out Like It’s 2019” (Wall Street Journal). “Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, said concert ticket sales were up 45% as of February 2022 compared with the same period in 2019, the last full prepandemic year. As of February, the company had 30% more concerts planned for 2022 than 2019. Membership levels at gym chain Planet Fitness in January surpassed prepandemic levels following a stretch in which some 25% of the nation’s gyms closed, according to industry data.”
