The daily business briefing: December 15, 2016

The Fed raises interest rates, Yahoo says 1 billion accounts exposed by data breach, and more

The Yahoo logo on a computer
(Image credit: Getty Images)

1. Fed raises interest rates for second time since 2008 financial crisis

Federal Reserve policy makers raised interest rates a quarter of a percentage point as expected on Thursday at the close of a two-day meeting. The hike, putting the federal funds rate between 0.5 percent and 0.75 percent, was just the second since the 2008 financial crisis. The last increase came in December 2015. The Fed's Open Market Committee signaled that it would step up the pace of rate increases in 2017, forecasting three more hikes next year instead of the two envisioned as of September. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said the committee was adapting to expectations of Trump administration tax cuts, deregulation, and stimulus spending, but that the "very modest adjustment" to the Fed's plans on interest rates should be "understood as a reflection of the confidence we have in the progress the economy has made."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.