Here is what happened on Wednesday in the U.S. stocks market.
The stock market was subdued ahead of the year-end FOMC meeting. In the late-day trading session, stocks rallied when the Fed statement came out, which injected faith into investors because it showed the determination to fight inflation without restraining economic growth.
Key takeaways - Hawkish talk, dovish action
1. Speed up tapering, on track to end bond buying mid-March
2. Keep the federal funds rate in a target range of 0% to 0.25%
3. Fed forecasts three rate hikes in 2022 and three more in 2023
4. Interest rates policies are closely related to employment data
Why did the market jump on the Fed's decision?
1. Traders have prepared for the worst. It could be an explanation to the rally on a Fed hawkish decision. Since the last Fed meeting, the market already expected hawkish decisions such as tapering speed up and interest hikes.
2. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell balanced his rates outlook with a positive outlook of the economy.
3. Investors are somewhat encouraged by the Fed's recognition and determination to fight inflation.
“It seemed like there was some hedging demand into the event, perhaps relief that the event has happened, regardless of outcome,” said Danny Kirsch, head of options at Cornerstone Macro LLC. “The event is gone, sell your hedge and move on.”
The bottom line
Daily fluctuations of the stock markets are directly or indirectly affected by the changes in macroeconomic factors.
Therefore, knowing more about the Federal Reserve is helpful for your trading. Click to access the free course:
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$S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$

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2021 in Review: Grow Together to the Moon!
Elon Musk is not just an entrepreneur who starts businesses but a dreamer who wants to accomplish great things.
He wanted to reduce the carbon footprints, so $Tesla (TSLA.US)$ came out.
He also wanted to help humankind "colonize" Mars, so he established SpaceX.
He fulfills his dreams step by step and takes human civilization to the next level.
Apart from all the great works, he's like the Thanos in real life. He is visionary but controversial. His tweets are so powerful that they may cause significant damage or make quite a contribution (IDK) to our portfolio. Let's see how did he "snap" in 2021.
If you follow Musk to invest, you may find yourself playing the game of "He loves me... He loves me not. He loves me. He loves me not… "
The tag of being capricious has been slapped on his back since a long time ago. Well, his unpredictable actions indeed came to us with big shocks. However, we can't deny that his companies give decent returns to shareholders.
Do you think this dude can keep surprising us and making his name the word of the year again in 2022?
Do you agree or disagree with the word "Musk" here?
Which words do you think could best describe the 2022 stock market?
Comment below with your word of the year "candidates" to let us know.
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Word of the Year: Apes
Word of the Year: Vaccine

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Stocks set for steady open; Pound dips on omicron
Stocks looked set for a steady open Monday at the start of a key week for central bank policy decisions amid elevated inflation and questions about the impact of the omicron virus variant on growth.
Futures earlier pointed higher for Australia, Japan and Hong Kong. The $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ closed at a record high Friday on bets the U.S. economy can weather the Federal Reserve's move to reduce stimulus to curb price pressures.
Goldman Sachs says risk of major stocks drawdown modest for now
$Goldman Sachs (GS.US)$ strategists said there's little reason to expect a major retreat in U.S. stocks in the months ahead, even as the breadth of the rally that has pushed the S&P 500 index into successive records is getting increasingly narrow.
"The macro environment does not suggest drawdown risk is elevated in the coming months," the strategists wrote, highlighting that earnings and margins continue to surpass expectations, a low risk of recession, and share prices already reflecting the likely Fed tightening.
Airbnb, Lucid and Zscaler added to Nasdaq 100 tech benchmark
Six stocks, including $Airbnb (ABNB.US)$ and $Lucid Group (LCID.US)$, will be added to the Nasdaq 100 index as part of its annual reconstitution, which adjusts the tech benchmark's membership for changes in market capitalization.
$Fortinet (FTNT.US)$, $Palo Alto Networks (PANW.US)$, $Zscaler (ZS.US)$ and $Datadog (DDOG.US)$ will also be added to the index. All changes are effective as of the close on Dec. 17, the same day as the rebalancing of the S&P 500 Index takes effect.
ETF inflows top $1 trillion for first time
This year's inflows into ETFs world-wide crossed the $1 trillion mark for the first time at the end of November, surpassing last year's total of $735.7 billion, according to Morningstar Inc. data. That wave of money, along with rising markets, pushed global ETF assets to nearly $9.5 trillion, more than double where the industry stood at the end of 2018.
Most of that money has gone into low-cost U.S. funds that track indexes run by Vanguard Group, $Blackrock (BLK.US)$ and $State Street (STT.US)$ , which together control more than three-quarters of all U.S. ETF assets.
Own everything but 'bubble assets' tech and crypto, recommends Institutional Investor hall of famer Rich Bernstein
Institutional Investor hall of famer Rich Bernstein is a market bull whose playbook excludes some of Wall Street's most popular groups. He blames a risky see-saw dynamic playing out in the marketplace.
"On one side, we have all that I would call the bubble assets: tech, innovation, cryptocurrencies," the Richard Bernstein Advisors CEO and CIO told CNBC on Friday. "On the other side of this see-saw, you have literally everything else in the world. I think if you're looking at 2022 into 2023, you want to be in the everything else in the world side of that see-saw."
Amazon Web Services explains outage and will make it easier to track future ones
A major Amazon Web Services outage on Tuesday started after network devices got overloaded, the company said on Friday.
$Amazon (AMZN.US)$ ran into issues updating the public and taking support inquiries, and now will revamp those systems.
Inflation surge pushes U.S. real interest rates into more deeply negative territory
Inflation rose 6.8% from a year ago in November, slightly higher than estimates according to the consumer price index released Friday. Excluding food and energy, the CPI increased 4.9%, in line with expectations.
Surging prices for food, energy and shelter accounted for much of the gains.
Uber, Lyft drivers want more protection as rising crime keeps many off the roads
Ride-sharing companies $Uber Technologies (UBER.US)$ and $Lyft Inc (LYFT.US)$ —which were already caused by Covid-19 concerns—are grappling with a rise in violent crimes and implementing new safety measures and policies to try to better protect the drivers still on their systems. Drivers aren't returning as quickly as consumers, despite big bonuses from companies and the expiration of temporary unemployment benefits extended to gig workers.
Source: Bloomberg, WSJ, CNBC