 Fed Chairman Jerome Powell The Federal Reserve signaled plans to raise interest rates in mid-March during a live post-meeting news conference. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank approved one final round of asset purchases, which will bring the stimulus program to an end by March. Powell noted the bank's rate-setting committee would be ready to raise rates at its March 15-16 meeting as the economy no longer needed monetary policy support. The bank's board of governors voted unanimously to leave reserve balances interest rate at its current 0.15% level. More: - In March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fed cut its benchmark interest rate almost to zero and started buying Treasury and mortgage-backed securities as cushions for the economy.
- The bank released a one-page document outlining principles to begin the process of reducing its $9T securities portfolio.
- The bank signaled it would soon rate its benchmark short-term borrowing rate by 0.25%.
- The Fed also indicated it would soon raise the target range for its federal funds' rate, given inflation is at the highest it has been in 40 years and the economy is experiencing a strong labor market.
- Following the Fed's updates, the Dow fell 129.6 points, closing at 34,168.
- The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, closing at 4,349.93, and the Nasdaq closed at 13,542.12.
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Microsoft released its Q2 FY 2022 earnings on Tuesday, beating analysts’ expectations on earnings and revenue. The tech giant reported $51.73B in revenue, a 20% increase YoY. Net income came in at $18.8B, a 21% increase YoY. Diluted earnings per share came in at $2.48, a 22% increase YoY. CEO Satya Nadella noted during the company’s earnings call that Microsoft’s Teams communication platform now has over 270 million monthly active users, and there are over 1.4 billion monthly active devices running Windows 10 or Windows 11. More: - Productivity and Business Processes unit, which includes its Office products and LinkedIn, reported $15.9B in revenue, a 19% increase YoY.
- Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud unit, which includes Azure, reported $18.33B in revenue, a 26% increase YoY.
- More Personal Computing unit, which includes Xbox content and services, reported $17.47B in revenue, a ~16% increase YoY.
- The company’s Windows licenses rose 25% in Q4 2021.
- Microsoft reported about $11B in share repurchases and dividends payments for the quarter, up 9% from a year earlier.
- Microsoft expects Q3 FY 2022 revenue to fall between $48.5B and $49.3B.
Zoom out: - Last week, Microsoft announced it was acquiring game maker Activision Blizzard in a deal valued at $69B.
- This is Microsoft’s largest acquisition to date.
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 Diem Consortium Diem Association, the cryptocurrency initiative backed by Meta Platforms, is considering selling its assets after failing to get Fed approval. Diem was formed in 2019 as a stable digital currency that would be pegged to the U.S. dollar. Diem had partnered with Silvergate Bank to issue its coin, which could be used to purchase other digital coins. According to a report by Bloomberg, the Federal Reserve notified Silvergate bank last year that it could not assure the bank it would allow its planned activities for the coin. More: - Diem is in talks with different investment banks to decide the best way to sell its intellectual property and return capital to its investors.
- Facebook’s Meta owns a one-third stake in the venture; the rest is owned by members of the Diem Association, including venture capital firms and tech companies.
- Diem’s website lists some of its partners, including Coinbase Global, Shopify, and Uber, and VCs like Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Union Square Ventures.
- In November, a group of regulators said they feared what would happen if a significant number of users from a tech company’s network started transacting with a new currency.
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On Wednesday, Boeing released its Q4 and full-year earnings, reporting a third straight annual loss. The airplane maker reported Q4 revenue of $14.8B, a 3% decrease YoY. Boeing reported a net loss of $4.16B or $7.69 per share in Q4, down from $8.44B reported same time in 2020. The company narrowed its full-year losses to $4.3B or $9.44 per share, down from $11.9B reported in 2020. CEO Dave Calhoun noted that 2021 was a rebuilding year for the company. More: - Boeing reported $5.5B in costs due to manufacturing flaws that delayed the delivery of its 787 Dreamliner jets.
- In 2020, the company reported incorrect spacing of the Dreamliner jets’ fuselages and other defects.
- The company has had to inspect all its undelivered 787 Dreamliner jets, paying penalties to airlines for the delays.
- Boeing did not state when it plans to resume deliveries.
- Boeing resumed delivering its 737 Max jets, which regulators and multiple countries had banned following the fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 due to a manufacturing defect that the company initially denied.
- Following the results, Boeing shares fell 5% by midday trading; it closed at $194.27, down ~5% for the day.
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 Image: AP Mattel, the maker of Barbie, won the license to make Walt Disney’s princess dolls, including toys from franchises like Frozen, Cinderella, and Pocahontas. Mattel lost the license to Hasbro in 2016. With this new arrangement, Mattel will start selling the new Disney toys in 2023. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. More: - Mattel also holds a licensing arrangement with Disney for its Pixar Animation Studio’s Toy Story and Cars franchises.
- On Wednesday, Hasbro also announced it extended its licensing deal with Lucasfilm for Star Wars and signed a new deal to develop products for its Indiana Jones franchise.
- Following the news, Mattel shares rose ~6%; it closed $20.46, up ~4% for the day.
- Hasbro shares closed at $89.79, down ~6% for the day.
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AT&T released its Q4 and full year earnings on Wednesday, beating analysts’ expectations on revenue. The company reported Q4 revenue of $41.0B, a 10% drop YoY, and full-year revenue of $168.9B, ~2% decrease from a year earlier, both due to AT&T’s sale of its U.S. video business in Q3 and its Latin America Vrio business in Q4. Q4 earnings came in at 69 cents per share, compared to a loss of almost $2 per share from a year earlier. Full-year adjusted EPS came in at $3.40, a 7% increase YoY. More: - AT&T reported 884,000 postpaid phone net additions for its cellular service in Q4 and 3.2 million for the year.
- It ended the year with 73.8 million HBO and HBO Max subscribers worldwide, a 13.1 million increase YoY.
- AT&T plans to hold a virtual analyst event in March to share the company’s expectations for its financial and operational performance pending the close of its WarnerMedia spinoff transaction.
- In May, AT&T announced it was spinning off its WarnerMedia business and merging it with Discovery to create a new publicly traded entertainment company.
- AT&T shares dropped ~6% in afternoon trading following the results. It closed at $24.25, down ~8% for the day.
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- Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer plans to retire at the end of the current court term. Justice Breyer is 83 years old; he was appointed in 1994 by former President Clinton.
- Musician Neil Young's music is being removed from Spotify's streaming platform after the musician told the platform to pick him or podcast host Joe Rogan. Young accuses Rogan of spreading false information about COVID-19 and vaccines.
- An EU court has overturned the $1.2B fine levied at Intel in 2009 by the European Commission. The EU court rejected the fine, stating the Commission didn't do a proper economic analysis of a rebate scheme.
- Chinese fast fashion brand SHEIN is considering a U.S. listing in New York later this year. According to people in the know, company founder Chris Xu is considering becoming a U.S. citizen to bypass China's stricter rules for foreign IPOs.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling. Connect with her on Twitter @Ms_Omeo. |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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