The daily business briefing: December 16, 2021

The Fed says it will end bond purchases faster to fight inflation, Moderna says booster restores protection against Omicron, and more

Moderna vaccine
(Image credit: Fred Tanneau/AFP/Getty Images)

1. Fed to taper bond purchases faster to fight inflation

The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it will taper the bond purchases it has used to boost the economy during the coronavirus pandemic faster than previously planned, to fight rising inflation. The Fed has said it wants to end the asset purchases before raising historically low interest rates, so the change also will pave the way for the central bank to lift rates sooner than previously planned. The Fed signaled that it expects to raise rates three times next year. The policy shift came at the end of a two-day meeting following news that inflation jumped to 6.8 percent in November compared to a year earlier, the biggest increase in nearly four decades.

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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.