*By Lauren Babbage*
A two-day meeting of the the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee was to begin Tuesday, when central bank officials will consider a potential second rate hike this year.
There are a number of challenges the committee will face, in addition to an uptick in inflation. The economy may be near full employment, but wages haven't increased. The country's fiscal spending, according to the Congressional Budget Office, may increase the national debt as a percent of GDP to a higher level than Italy in five years.
One might expect to see the economy pullback, but that's not been the case.
"It's like 2 A.M., everyone has been partying all night, and the federal government comes out and goes, 'No no, we're going to keep going for a lot more hours' and now the Fed has to try to keep everyone healthy," said Lenore Hawkins, the chief macro strategist at Tematica Research. "That's like, alright, start doing the shots of espresso, but the Fed is trying to keep everyone from getting the jitters. This is not an easy thing for them to do."
Investors were spooked last week when the 10-year Treasury note hit 3 percent for a brief period, and Hawkins said that nervousness will continue.
The market is seeing a decrease in liquidity, which means an increase in volatility, she said. That is heightened by the increasing debt of the U.S. Treasury.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-fed-interest-rate-face-off).
Jack Daniels was at the U.S. Supreme Court today. The whiskey-makers argued that a dog toy company violated federal trademark law with a product that parodies the distiller's iconic bottle. The toy is the Bad Spaniels Silly Squeaker toy by VIP products. The first amendment case pits the rights of a famous trademark holder against parody products. Jack Daniel says the toy damages its reputation, especially the references to dog poop.
Alcohol brand White Claw is moving into spirits amid an industrywide shift away from hard seltzers. The spiked seltzer brand announced a new line of regular and flavored White Claw premium vodkas. The bottles are available in select markets across North America and come in an unflavored option as well as pineapple mango and black cherry white Claw has dominated the Heart Seltzer market for years. Now bringing the category into the mainstream as more consumers sought those low calorie alcohol drinks.
Stocks are holding relatively steady Wednesday as Wall Street bides its time until the Federal Reserve’s announcement in the afternoon about whether it will tighten the screws further on the economy.
Meme stocks are rising before the opening bell Wednesday after GameStop, one of the most heavily traded off-brand stocks during the pandemic, posted a surprise profit for the fourth quarter.
The rising cost of groceries is pushing more consumers to use Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services for necessities such as groceries, according to new data from Adobe Analytics.
White Claw helped make hard seltzer a staple for American drinkers. Now it's getting into the spirit business with its own vodka brand because of new rules passed during the pandemic.
