Good morning. Sorry to break the news, but Santa isn't real. Yep, he's just a shill for Big Soda. Don't take it from us—that's what a Catholic bishop in Sicily told a dismayed group of children earlier this month, per the NYT. In fact, "The red color of his coat was chosen by Coca-Cola for advertising purposes," Bishop Antonio Staglianò said. Just wait until they find out the Grinch is sponsored by Mountain Dew.
—Neal Freyman, Jamie Wilde, Matty Merritt | | | READ THIS TO REMAIN A SUBSCRIBER Want to keep receiving Morning Brew? Clicking on newsletter links is the only way for us to know you are reading (and enjoying) Morning Brew. If you don't click by next month, you will stop receiving this newsletter. Click here to let us know that you're still an active subscriber. Thanks! | | | |  | Nasdaq | 15,565.58 | | | | | S&P | 4,709.85 | | | | | Dow | 35,927.43 | | | | | 10-Year | 1.457% | | | | | Bitcoin | $48,844.48 | | | | | Apple | $179.30 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 6:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: The major indexes went from red to solidly green after the Fed announced steps to wind down its Covid-era stimulus policies and curb surging inflation. After another strong day, Apple is staring down a $3 trillion market cap.
- BBB drama: Democrats' hopes are dimming that they'll be able to pass President Biden's $2 trillion social spending bill, known as Build Back Better, before the end of the year as they originally planned, NBC News reports. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), a key vote, doesn't support it in its current form.
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Fresh Invest Season 2 might be over, but we're not finished! We wrap up highlights and key investing takeaways from the previous 14 episodes in our recap. Listen here. | | Francis Scialabba, OSHUA DANIEL/Unsplash, Rudy Sulgan/Getty Images Yesterday, the Fed flipped the bird: It signaled a major pivot from a dovish monetary policy (keeping interest rates low, letting the economy run hot) to a hawkish strategy (raising interest rates, slowing down economic growth) in a bid to tamp down surging consumer prices. The central bank said it will reduce its economy-juicing, bond-buying program at double the pace it had originally announced in early November. When it stops purchasing bonds altogether, which will likely be in March, it plans to begin hiking interest rates to cool down the economy. And how many hikes will there be? Most of the Fed's 18 officials foresee at least three rate increases next year, which shows how worried they've become about inflation in just the last three months. In September, half of Fed officials believed they wouldn't have to hike rates at all until 2023. Big picture: Inflation has replaced the Covid economic crisis at the top of the Fed's "must tackle ASAP" list. Here's why: - Consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in 39 years in November, and it wasn't just due to volatile goods, like food and energy. Items across the economy, from rents to home furniture, also rose a concerning amount.
- And this week, producer prices gained at their fastest pace on record. Higher prices paid by producers often trickle down and hit consumers' wallets.
At the same time, job gains have been strong and the unemployment rate has plunged to 4.2%, the lowest level since the pandemic began. "We are making rapid progress towards maximum employment," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said yesterday. Bottom line: For months, Powell stressed that inflation was "transitory" and related to quirks of the economy reopening. Now he's singing a different tune. "The risk of higher inflation becoming entrenched has increased. I don't think it's high at this moment, but I think it's increased," Powell said. Cue the hawkish pivot.—NF | | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Nancy Pelosi believes that if she wants to YOLO into AMC or Peloton, that's her right as a citizen in a free market economy. At her weekly press conference yesterday, the House Speaker said she is against any potential bans of Congressional members and their spouses holding or trading individual stocks. The TikTok trader's queen. This year, young traders flocked to social media to share their newest investment hack: Nancy Pelosi + Ctrl+C. Because of the STOCK Act, sitting lawmakers and their families can trade individual stocks but have to disclose them within 45 days. - Most of the Pelosi household's trades come from her husband, but she became the face of the "follow the House leader" investing strategy. Taking into account her husband's assets, Pelosi is one of the wealthiest members of Congress.
Zoom out: 49 members of Congress and 182 senior congressional staffers have violated the STOCK Act, per an Insider report published this week. Progressive politicians and angry internet people galore have all spoken out against stock trading by lawmakers, arguing that since they make the rules, they have access to insider knowledge.—MM | | Gathering thousands of health care execs in person? JPMorgan knows that's probs not the best look with Omicron lurking. On Wednesday, the bank said it won't hold its 40th Annual Healthcare Conference in person in San Francisco next month. The event, one of the biggest in the biotech industry, will go virtual instead. The guest list was getting thin anyways. Industry leaders Moderna and Amgen both bailed on Tuesday, and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals CEO John Maraganore tweeted that the conference "should go virtual to avoid a super-spreader event and a PR disaster for our industry!" - He may not be exaggerating. The event has been so notoriously crowded in the past that attendees conducted meetings in the restrooms in 2019.
- And at a different health care conference, held by Biogen in Feb. 2020, thousands of people were infected with the coronavirus.
Zoom out: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who usually gives the conference's keynote speech, probably isn't psyched about the switch to Zoom—and not because he's bad at Jackbox games. Dimon's previously said that virtual communications make it harder to close deals and retain customers, and he led a push to partially reopen the bank's Manhattan office in July.—JW | | | A vulnerability in the Log4j logging framework has security teams scrambling this week. But customers of Electric are stress-free, knowing Electric's team of IT gurus and security experts have them covered. But it gets better: If you're an IT decision-maker at a US-based company with 15-500 employees, Electric will gift you a Theragun Mini when you take a qualified meeting with them. And with Electric powering hybrid work with lightning-fast, chat-based support and proactive security standardization across devices, apps, and networks, this is what you'd call a win-win situation. Their 105% ROI doesn't hurt either. With IT & security stresses off your plate and a brand new Theragun Mini in hand, Electric is bringing the feel-good vibes this holiday. Get started here. | | Wpa Pool/Getty Images Stat: The UK reported the most new daily Covid-19 cases on Wednesday (78,610) since the pandemic began, and that number is only expected to rise as the super-contagious Omicron variant spreads across the country. Covid deaths remained low at 165, but experts are worried that surging cases, however mild, could overwhelm hospital systems. Quote: "It's time the reign of criminals who are destroying our city, it is time for it to come to an end." San Francisco Mayor London Breed dissed her own city in powerful terms when revealing a new police intervention for the Tenderloin neighborhood, which is suffering from a spike in crime and fentanyl overdoses. A new report out this week showed that California, and the Bay Area in particular, lost residents at an accelerated clip during the pandemic. Read: How Shein beat Amazon at its own game and reinvented fast fashion. (Rest of World) | | Shriya Patil/The The India Today Group via Getty Images The luxury fashion brand Chanel picked its newest CEO from a pool that wasn't filled with $80 perfume. The company announced that Leena Nair, an exec at the British consumer goods giant Unilever, would replace billionaire co-owner and chairman Alain Wertheimer. Who is Nair? After joining Unilever 29 years ago, she worked her way up to become the first Asian, first female, and youngest chief human resources officer at the company. - As the first luxury brand CEO of Indian origin, Nair brings Chanel into the ranks of powerful companies like Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and most recently, Twitter, which are all run by people who grew up in India.
Zoom out: Chanel's decision to hire Nair signals 1) a shift in product priorities—Chanel sells a number of other items including makeup and watches—and 2) a new company culture that values inclusivity. Her appointment will also hopefully help the brand avoid any more out-of-touch advent calendars.—MM | | - Dr. Fauci said variant-specific boosters aren't necessary at this point because studies show that boosters of Moderna's or Pfizer's vaccine are effective against Omicron.
- Bruce Springsteen sold his music rights to Sony Music Entertainment in a reported $500 million deal, perhaps the largest sum ever paid for an individual artist's body of work. Boss.
- Apple pushed back its return-to-office "to a date yet to be determined."
- bell hooks, the renowned Black feminist author, activist, and professor, died at 69.
| | SPONSORED BY THE MOTLEY FOOL | | The ultimate resolution. It's got nothing to do with eating 50 pounds of kale or, ugh, making new friends (who's got the energy?). Instead, it's all about getting your financial and investing house in order. And with The Motley Fool offering 60% off their premier stock picking service for new members for their first year, you can start your year off with the potential for big returns. How big? Since the service began, the picks have returned an average of 656% [as of 12/14/2021]. Get 60% off here. | | Good, quick pod: You'll hear the biggest stories and why they matter in just 10 minutes with the Axios Today podcast. Listen now for smart analysis and the latest scoops. Resilience: Watch one man play the piano after a tornado ripped through his house last weekend. Stay in school, kids: The vast majority of unicorn founders are not high-school dropouts, as we are sometimes led to believe. Check out the full breakdown here. | | Brew Mini: Ready to give your brain a little exercise before the workday? Play our Mini crossword. Three Headlines and a Lie Three of these news headlines are real and one is faker than your family's smiles on this year's holiday card. Can you guess the odd one out? - New Jersey man pleads guilty to $76K in chainsaw thefts from Amtrak
- Finland is suing dating site Farmers Only to expand the definition of 'farmer'
- Vladimir Putin reveals he moonlighted as a taxi driver after Soviet Union collapse
- Need to break up with someone? Baboons have found a good way to do it, study finds
| | | We made up the Finland one. | | | ✢ A Note From Fidelity Investing involves risk, including risk of loss. Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC, 900 Salem Street, Smithfield, RI 02917 | | |
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