The daily business briefing: January 4, 2024

1. Fed minutes indicate caution on lowering interest rates

Federal Reserve policymakers determined at their last meeting that inflationary pressures were easing but they stressed the importance of keeping interest rates high "until inflation was clearly moving down sustainably" toward the central bank's 2% target, according to minutes from their last meeting released Wednesday. The Fed held rates unchanged for the third straight time but indicated that they expected to make three rate cuts in 2024. Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated after the meeting that the central bank was probably ending its aggressive campaign to raise borrowing costs to slow the economy and contain inflation, but the minutes indicated that some officials thought more hikes were "possible." The Associated Press

2. Junior doctors strike in Britain

Thousands of junior doctors started a six-day strike in England on Wednesday to demand better pay. The strike as planned will be the longest in the history of the 75-year-old National Health Service. The service was forced to cancel thousands of appointments during a period of peak winter demand. Doctors represented by the British Medical Association and workers in other sectors have held a wave of shorter walkouts in the last year to demand better pay to help them keep up with high inflation. "Morale across the health service is at an all-time low," the BMA said, adding that "the government has the chance to show those doctors they still have a future working in this country." Reuters

3. Labor officials accuse SpaceX of illegally firing Musk critics

A regional office of the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday accused SpaceX of illegally firing eight employees for circulating a letter that called for the rocket company to distance itself from social media comments made by founder and CEO Elon Musk. The letter also called for SpaceX to clarify its harassment policies and enforce them more consistently, according to The New York Times. The labor board complaint said SpaceX's president and chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, and other executives had illegally barred employees from circulating the letter. "At SpaceX the rockets may be reusable, but the people who build them are treated as expendable," said Paige Holland-Thielen, one of the employees fired in 2022. The New York Times

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4. Wall Street's bumpy 2024 start continues

The S&P 500 fell for a second straight day Wednesday, starting 2024 on a down note after 2023's gains. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 1.2%. Stocks rose late last year after the Federal Reserve signaled it was done raising interest rates now that inflation is cooling, but investors now are fretting over when and how much the Fed will cut rates this year. "You still have this antagonist and protagonist theme: recession or soft landing," Matt Lloyd, a chief market strategist at Advisors Asset Management, told The Wall Street Journal. Futures tied to the three of the main U.S. averages were mixed early Thursday. The Wall Street Journal, CNBC

5. Carrefour pulls PepsiCo products off shelves over price hikes

French retailer Carrefour has told customers it will stop selling PepsiCo products like Pepsi and Lay's potato chips at its stores in France starting Thursday "due to unacceptable price increases." PepsiCo did not immediately comment. The U.S. company said in October it planned "modest" price hikes this year after demand remained strong following price increases last year. The company raised its 2023 profit forecast three times. Last year, Carrefour put stickers on some products with higher prices but reduced size, warning of "shrinkflation." Over the past year, grocery chains in Germany, Belgium and other countries have halted orders from some consumer goods companies in a tug-of-war over price hikes. RFI, Reuters