Stimmy season’s officially over... The Fed is set to start raising interest rates this week — for the first time in three years. Typically, higher rates help curb sky-high inflation that drives up the cost of everything from groceries to gas. But Fed Chair Powell said the war in Ukraine could spook the US economy in unforeseen ways, partly why Goldman Sachs has cut its US growth forecast for the year. All the uncertainty is why Powell is signaling a quarter-point rate hike on Wednesday, instead of the half-point predicted just a month ago.
It’s all in the delivery… There’s a race to deliver your latest Revolve impulse buy. Despite labor and supply strains, sales boomed for FedEx and UPS last year as shoppers kept ordering online post-lockdown. UPS profits tripled last quarter thanks partly to its stable union workforce. Meanwhile, despite record holiday deliveries, FedEx’s profit fell as it splurged on hiring extra workers. Still, FedEx is buying $5B of its shares and underscored its “confidence” in its biz. We’ll see if it’s still optimistic when it reports Thursday.