Wall Street Today | Fed lifts rates by 0.75 points again

The Federal Reserve continued a sprint to reverse its easy-money policies by approving another unusually large interest rate increase and signaling more rises were likely coming to combat inflation that is running at a 40-year high. Officials agreed unanimously Wednesday to lift their benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 2.25% and 2.5%.
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The Senate on Wednesday approved a $280 billion bill aimed at boosting the semiconductor industry crucial to modern technology. The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 would spend $52.7 billion on direct financial assistance for the construction and expansion of semiconductor manufacturing facilities, as well as other programs. It adds $24 billion in tax incentives and other provisions.
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The Food and Drug Administration signed off on a Bavarian Nordic A/S monkeypox vaccine plant, a move that allows use in the U.S. of 786,000 doses made at the facility in Denmark. The FDA said Wednesday it had validated the quality of the shots made at the plant and they met the agency's standards.
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Facebook parent $Meta Platforms (META.US)$ Inc. posted its first decline in revenue and issued a muted outlook as the company struggles to adjust to macroeconomic forces and growing competition from rival TikTok.
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$Shopify (SHOP.US)$ Inc. posted a quarterly loss and warned it would post losses in the rest of the year as e-commerce growth slows, a day after the company said it would cut 10% of its employees. Shopify posted a second-quarter net loss of $1.21 billion, compared with net income of $876 million in the year-earlier quarter.
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$Apple (AAPL.US)$ Inc. has enlisted one of Lamborghini's top car-development managers in a sign that it's stepping up work on a self-driving electric vehicle, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
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Electronics retailer $Best Buy (BBY.US)$ Co. cut its sales and profit forecast for the year as inflation has tempered demand, becoming the latest retailer that has issued a warning ahead of its quarterly financial report.
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$Rivian Automotive (RIVN.US)$ Inc. laid off 6% of its 14,000 employees on Wednesday, according to an internal email sent to staffers at the electric-vehicle startup and viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
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Mobile-phone chip supplier $Qualcomm (QCOM.US)$ Inc. cut its smartphone shipment forecast for this year and issued a muted sales outlook, reflecting slowing consumer appetite for smartphones as soaring inflation and economic uncertainty cause people to curtail discretionary spending.
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