Wall Street Today | Fed minutes point to earlier hikes, balance-sheet rundown

Stocks in Asia are set to open weaker after a selloff in U.S. technology shares and Treasuries accelerated once Federal Reserve minutes signaled interest-rate hikes may be more aggressive than many had expected.

Federal Reserve officials said a strengthening economy and higher inflation could lead to earlier and faster interest-rate increases than previously expected, with some policy makers also favoring starting to shrink the balance sheet soon after.

"Participants generally noted that, given their individual outlooks for the economy, the labor market, and inflation, it may become warranted to increase the federal funds rate sooner or at a faster pace than participants had earlier anticipated," according to minutes published Wednesday of the Dec. 14-15 meeting of the U.S. central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, when it pivoted to a more aggressive inflation-fighting stance.

AMC closed 11% lower in New York, while GameStop declined 13%, helping send the basket of meme stocks tracked by Bloomberg to its lowest close since Jan. 21 when the market was swept up in the rise of retail trader-driven surges.

The Silver Spring, Maryland-based firm said in a statement Wednesday that investors will have the option to receive a cash dividend of 5 cents a share or the Bitcoin equivalent based on the price on a given date. The "Bividend" will be payable March 17.

The reveal comes as Facebook-parent Meta and others attempt to capitalize on the "metaverse."

Stellantis will use Amazon Web Services and other Amazon technology to develop new smart cockpit software. Amazon will be the first commercial customer of Stellantis' Ram ProMaster battery-electric vehicle when it arrives in 2023.

As inflation-adjusted yields rise on conviction the Federal Reserve will tighten policy in earnest this year, Wells Fargo Securities and Morgan Stanley are telling clients to wager against high-flying technology firms that were among the biggest beneficiaries of the low-rate era -- in favor of cheaper stocks that gain from the pandemic recovery.

The energy crisis roiling markets in Europe is a preview of what the U.S. will face over the next 10 years as it shifts to cleaner power sources, according to Ed Morse, Citigroup's global head of commodities research.