 Good morning and Happy St. Patrick's Day! To celebrate, we wrote a cheesy limerick (a type of poem that's actually of English origin, but owes its name to Limerick in Ireland). OK here goes:
There was a drained worker on staff
At most he could muster a weak laugh
When we queried why
His passion ran dry
Turns out he was just drinking decaf Have fun out there. Don't use this as a pickup line. —Neal Freyman, Matty Merritt, Jamie Wilde | | | |  | Nasdaq | 13,436.55 | | | | | S&P | 4,357.86 | | | | | Dow | 34,063.10 | | | | | 10-Year | 2.196% | | | | | Bitcoin | $41,067.70 | | | | | Berkshire | $504,036.00 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 7:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: Stocks boomed on a day when, to no one's surprise, the Fed said it would hike interest rates. Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares closed above a half-million dollars for the first time ever—a testament to Warren Buffett's recent hot streak.
- Ukraine: After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave an impassioned address to Congress asking for more help, the White House acted. President Biden pledged $800 million worth of military aid, including 100 drones, 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, and 2,000 anti-armor missiles, and also called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal."
| | Francis Scialabba The Federal Reserve voted yesterday to raise interest rates for the first time since 2018 because, inflation. It's the beginning of the high-wire balancing act facing Chair Jerome Powell: Lean one way and soaring inflation could become entrenched, taking an ever-bigger bite out of Americans' wallets. Lean the other, and breakneck economic growth could slow down too much. Meanwhile, hurricane-level winds are swirling in all directions. What is the Fed actually doing here? It's raising what's known as the "federal funds rate" by a quarter percentage point. The federal funds rate acts as a bat signal for interest rates across the economy, which will eventually filter down to consumers. When the Fed hikes interest rates, you'll see rates on mortgages, student loans, credit cards, and more start to tick up as well. Higher borrowing costs are meant to curb investments by consumers and businesses, as well as encourage saving. That's what the economy needs right now: Consumer prices grew 7.9% annually in February, far more than the Fed's 2% long-run target. With inflation that high, a 0.25% rate hike isn't going to do the trick. The Fed signaled it could raise rates as many as six more times this year in order to yank inflation back to more manageable levels. But risks abound Just as the US economy was putting the Covid recession in the rearview, war broke out in Europe, and then spiraling cases forced lockdowns in China's industrial hubs. While far away, both of those developments could put upward pressure on prices (as we've seen with gas) and hit the economy at the same time the Fed is aiming to apply its own brakes. Given all of these unknown variables, experts are saying the Fed faces one of its toughest challenges ever. But Jerome Powell, for one, thinks the economy is strong enough to absorb these interest rate hikes. He said yesterday that the "probability of a recession within the next year is not particularly elevated."—NF | | Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images  Americans rallied against anti-Asian violence. Protesters gathered in more than a dozen US cities one year after six women of Asian descent were killed in a mass shooting in the Atlanta area. 10,905 hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were recorded between March 19, 2020, and the end of last year, according to the nonprofit Stop AAPI Hate.
 Starbucks's CEO is retiring. Kevin Johnson announced that, after five years on the job, he has made his final cold brew. His tenure as CEO will be defined by a digital ordering push during the Covid pandemic and growing unionization efforts among employees. Former CEO Howard Schultz is pulling a Tom Brady and stepping back into the position until a permanent boss is found—you really feel for the person who paid $1.1 million for Schultz's last coffee cup at auction.
 The MNF booth gets a makeover. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are leaving Fox Sports for ESPN, where they'll call games for Monday Night Football. The star announcing duo (Buck is very good, don't listen to the haters) will be paid handsomely: Buck's deal is worth $75 million over five years, and Aikman will be paid $90 million—on par with CBS's Tony Romo for the richest annual NFL TV salary, per the NY Post.
| | Sopa Images/Getty Images Nearly 3 million Ukrainians have fled the country since Russian forces invaded. Most of them—roughly 1.8 million—have arrived in neighboring Poland, and as many as 300,000 have settled in the capital, Warsaw. - For context, it's as if the entire city of Pittsburgh moved to Warsaw in just three weeks.
They've received a hero's welcome. The city's government, businesses, and citizens mobilized remarkably fast and have opened 22 shelters in the city, enrolled nearly 2,800 Ukrainian children into its school system, donated food, and coordinated volunteer counselors and translators. Still, Warsaw and the rest of Poland are bursting at the seams, and they won't be able to sustain what has become the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II on their own. Some services in bigger Polish cities are reaching capacity and officials are asking organizations like the UN to help spread out incoming Ukrainians. - "The West has to wake up and send a strong signal that they [refugees] are welcome, not only in Poland and Romania and Slovakia, but everywhere," Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski told CBS.
Big picture: Some aid workers have highlighted the difference in treatment for the current refugees with those who've previously arrived in Europe from Middle Eastern and African countries.—MM | | | If time-consuming IT situations are making you lose your cool, there's nothing like quality IT support to help you chillax … especially when it comes with a free YETI Hopper Flip 8 Soft Cooler to keep your St. Patrick's Day drinks icy. That's right: If you're an IT decision-maker at a US-based company with 10–500 employees, Electric will gift you a free YETI Hopper Flip 8 Soft Cooler when you take a qualified meeting to chat about your IT strategy. There's just nothin' cooler than proactive security standardization across devices, apps, and networks; lightning-fast, chat-based support; and a 50%+ reduction in IT costs. Brrr. We just got goosebumps. Schedule a qualified demo and collect your YETI cooler here. | | Gifak via Giphy Stat: For a quiet date night tonight, you're better off heading to Whole Foods. St. Patrick's Day is the highest grossing day of the year for US bars and restaurants, according to NielsenIQ. Compared to the average day in 2018, beer sales jumped 174% and spirits sales grew 153%. After a long winter, Chicago gets especially turnt: Stout sales in the city spiked 688% on St. Paddy's Day. Quote: "We find the discrimination against us, extremely unjust." The captain of a superyacht owned by Russian oligarch Vladimir Strzhalkovsky is a little bored these days. The ship is unable to leave its dock in Norway because no one at the port will sell it fuel. Strzhalkovsky, a former KGB agent, is not currently being sanctioned by Europe or the UK. Read: Two AP journalists have been the only international media located in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol since the war began. Here's what they're seeing. (AP News) | | Francis Scialabba Pay for their own accounts. In terrible news for everyone using their dad's girlfriend's cousin's Netflix, the streaming service is testing new features in some countries to crack down on password-sharing. Because, yes, it is actually against the terms of service for users who don't live together to share an account. The streamer will send notices to primary account holders who have been sharing their passwords beyond their households, and prompt them to pay fees for up to two freeloaders. Users will also have the option to spin off individual profiles into separate accounts, so that anyone who's kicked off the main account can keep their viewing history and content recs. The new features are part of a limited test run that will roll out in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru within the next few weeks—and may or may not expand to other countries later on. Big picture: Now that people have better things to do than binge-watch GBBO, Netflix is looking for ways to bring in more dough to "invest in great new TV and films for our members," Netflix's director of product innovation, Chengyi Long, wrote. To that end, Netflix also raised its prices this year in the US and abroad.—JW | | - An earthquake of 7.3 magnitude hit northeast Japan, temporarily shutting off power to more than 2 million customers. The earthquake struck in the same region as the one that caused a nuclear crisis in Fukushima in 2011.
- Citigroup said it would cover travel costs for employees forced to seek abortions in other states due to new laws that restrict access.
- Chris Cuomo, the former CNN anchor, is seeking a $125 million arbitration award from the network. He's arguing he was wrongly terminated in December.
- Billionaire investor Ken Griffin, fresh off his purchase of a copy of the US Constitution, is teaming up with the Chicago Cubs owners to bid on a bigger prize: Chelsea FC.
| | Two videos worth watching: 1) Why it's almost impossible to lose things in Japan and 2) the 60 Minutes segment on Ted Lasso. Prep for March Madness: Here's a collection of articles that previews the college basketball tournament and gives you tips on how to fill out your bracket (you've got just a few hours left). Did someone yell B-I-N-G-O? Emerging Tech Brew is taking SXSW coverage to the next level with tech-themed bingo. Download your board today for a chance to win some sweet Morning Brew merch. Self-care starts with legendary sleep. This meditation app teamed up with John Legend to bring you their newest sleepcast: a bedtime story narrated by the Legend himself. Start your sleep journey with John Legend here.* When the market goes wild, keep calm and diversify. Economic forces like inflation can wreak havoc on the traditional stock market, throwing your investments in flux. Learn the secret to stabilizing your portfolio with alternative assets like real estate in our interactive guide, created together with Fundrise.* *This is sponsored advertising content. | | Brew Mini: If you're lost, today's Mini will help you be found. It's called Compass, and you can play it here. Three headlines and a lie Three of these news headlines are real and one is faker than a bar promising you'll have fun on a "ladies get in free" night. Can you guess the odd one out? - Actor Stephanie Beatriz reveals she recorded Encanto song while in labor
- Talking to kids about nukes: Parents, experts suggest truth
- Jimmy Buffett launches an apparel line with Fashion Nova to reach Gen Z audience
- A government agency is hiring a "grizzly bear conflict manager" and is willing to pay up to $103,000 for the right candidate
| | | Jimmy Buffett is not starting an apparel line with Fashion Nova. | | |
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