 Fed Chairman Jerome Powell at news conference in Washington, DC, on May 4. | Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve approved a rare 0.50% interest rate hike, bringing its benchmark federal funds rate to a range of 0.75% to 1%. In addition to the rate increase, the Fed said it would start reducing its $9T asset portfolio in June in hopes that both actions would help curb rising inflation, which is at a 40-year high. More: - Starting June 1, the Fed will allow up to $30B in Treasury securities and $17.5B in mortgage securities to roll off every month through August.
- After August, the Fed will allow up to $60B in Treasurys and $35B in mortgage securities to roll off every month.
- Fed officials estimate the process will allow up to $3T in securities to run off the portfolio over the next few years.
- In March 2020, the Fed increased purchases of securities to help offset the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The Fed’s holdings have doubled since then to $5.8T in Treasurys and $2.7B in mortgage securities.
- The Fed stopped those purchases in March 2022.
- Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a live press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.
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 AirBnB CEO Brian Chesky Airbnb released its Q1 2022 earnings on Tuesday, surpassing analysts’ expectations across the board. The company reported 102.1 million nights and experiences booked in Q1, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, and topping 100 million for the first time. Airbnb reported revenue of $1.5B, up 70% YoY. Net loss narrowed to $19M or 3 cents a share, down from $1.2B reported same period last year. The company plans to make an announcement on May 11, with CEO Brian Chesky referring to it as the biggest change to Airbnb in a decade. More: - Gross Booking Value (GBV) was $17.2B, up 67% YoY.
- Long-term stays of 28 days or more remained the company’s fastest-growing category, accounting for 21% of gross nights booked in Q1.
- The company expects growth to stay strong in Q2 as travel rebounds, expecting Q2 revenue of $2.03B to $2.13B.
- Last week the company announced it would allow its employees to work from anywhere without suffering a pay cut.
- Employees would be able to work and live in over 170 countries for up to 90 days a year in each location.
- To date, the company has offered more than 14,000 Ukrainian refugees temporary housing through Airbnb Europe.
- Airbnb committed to offering up to 100,000 refugees fleeing the war free temporary housing.
- Airbnb reported about 600,000 nights have been booked in Ukraine by people booking listings to support hosts with no intention to stay.
- GBV from those bookings totaled $20M in Q1.
- Airbnb waved guest and host fees for these bookings.
- Airbnb shares rose over 6% in after-market trading on Tuesday.
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 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen | AP Photo The EU has proposed a ban on imports of Russian oil and gas products within the next six months. The bloc’s executive body is also proposing to remove Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, and two other Russian banks from the Swift financial messaging system and ban three major Russian state-owned broadcasters from the EU. All 27 member countries would need to agree on the sanctions package for it to go into effect. More: - At Wednesday morning's discussions of the proposal, Hungary asked for a slower transition away from Russian oil.
- Poland and the Baltic states said the transition as laid out in the proposal was too slow.
- EU officials are aiming to have a decision this week.
- News of the proposed ban sent oil prices up over 4%; Brent crude futures were trading at $109.36 a barrel.
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Uber released its Q1 2022 earnings on Wednesday, reporting an almost 60% growth in mobility bookings. The company reported total revenue of $6.85B, up 136% YoY. Net loss widened to $5.9B, or $3.03 a share, up from a loss of $108M reported last year. Uber said the losses were primarily due to its equity investments in Grab, Aurora, and Didi and $359M in stock-based compensation. More: - Adjusted EBITDA was $168M, up from a loss of $359M reported same period last year.
- Gross Bookings was $26.45B, up 35% YoY.
- Mobility came in at $10.7B, up 58% YoY.
- Delivery was $13.9B, up 12% YoY.
- Freight was $1.8B, up from $302M reported last year.
- Uber reported 1.71 billion trips in Q1, about 19 million trips a day, up 18% YoY.
- Uber shares were down 8% by afternoon trading.
*NOTE: Inside.com's founder and CEO, Jason Calacanis, is an investor in Uber.
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 Starbucks location in Cheektowaga, N.Y. | Image: Libby March for The New York Times Starbucks released its Q2 fiscal year 2022 earnings on Tuesday, reporting a 23% drop in same-store sales in China due to the country’s recent COVID-19 lockdown measures. Globally, same-store sales were up 7% YoY; it was up 12% YoY in the U.S. The coffee chain reported $7.6B in total revenue, up 15% YoY. Net income came in at $674.5M, or 58 cents a share, a ~2% increase YoY. More: - The company reinstated its former CEO, Howard Schultz, in April to serve as interim CEO in hopes of curbing the growing union push at its coffee stores.
- Since November, about 50 company-owned locations have voted in favor of unionizing.
- Since taking the leadership helm, Schultz has suspended the company’s share repurchase program.
- During the company’s earnings call on Tuesday, Schultz announced plans to spend $1B in 2022 on wage increases, better training for new employees, and store upgrades.
- The company said it would not offer these new benefits to workers at its 50 unionized stores, noting that changes at those locations would happen through bargaining.
- Starbucks shares rose ~5% in after-market trading on Tuesday.
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Lyft shares fell over 25% in after-market trading on Tuesday after reporting less-than-expected earnings for Q1 2022. The ride-hailing company reported revenue of $875.6M, up 44% YoY. Net loss narrowed to $196.9M, or 7 cents a share, down from a loss of $427.3M reported for the same period last year. Q1 2022's net loss includes $163.2M of stock-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses. More: - Active riders grew to 17.8 million, up ~32% YoY, but a decline from 18.73 million reported in Q4 2021.
- Revenue per active rider was $49.18, up 9% YoY.
- Lyft expects Q2 revenue to fall between $950M and $1B.
- The company plans to spend more on driver incentives in Q2.
- Lyft shares were down over 30% by afternoon trading on Wednesday.
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Quick Hits - B2B businesses are switching to e-commerce. Now, it’s your turn. Learn three persuasive approaches that communicate the value of digital to decision-makers.*
- Google is cutting its twice-a-year employee performance review down to once a year to improve morale and reduce the amount of time employees spend preparing for the assessments. CEO Sundar Pichai announced the new policy on Wednesday.
- Eight attorneys general, including those of New York, Illinois, and Washington state, wrote a letter to President Biden asking him to forgive all federal student loan debt.
- Intuit, the company behind TurboTax, has agreed to pay $141M in restitution to 4.4 million low-income customers charged for using the TurboTax Free Edition. All 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have signed the agreement.
- The U.S. trade deficit reached a new record of $109.8B in March, with clothing, computer, and vehicles driving the increased demand for imported goods. The trade gap in goods and services increased by 22.3% in March on a month-to-month basis.
- The SEC is investigating Chinese ride-hailing company Didi’s $4.4B New York IPO. News of the probe sent shares of the company down 7% in after-market trading on Tuesday. Didi had its IPO in June. Two days later, Chinese authorities opened an investigation into the company and asked app stores to remove the company’s app from their platform.
- SeedInvest launches a pitch competition for historically underrepresented founders. Over $40,000 in prizes. Pitch to Baron Davis and Jesse Draper. Learn more.*
*This is a sponsored post.
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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 @VanessaOmeo or through email at vanessa@inside.com |  | | 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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