Daily News Brief for Thursday, November 3rd, 2022 [Daily News Brief]

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief for Thursday, November 3rd, 2022. Good to be back with you all, let’s get right into the news!   https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/0....2/fed-hikes-by-anoth   Fed approves 0.75-point hike to take rates to highest since 2008 and hints at change in policy ahead   The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved a fourth consecutive three-quarter point interest rate increase and signaled a potential change in how it will approach monetary policy to bring down inflation.   In a well-telegraphed move that markets had been expecting for weeks, the central bank raised its short-term borrowing rate by 0.75 percentage point to a target range of 3.75%-4%, the highest level since January 2008.   The move continued the most aggressive pace of monetary policy tightening since the early 1980s, the last time inflation ran this high.   Along with anticipating the rate hike, markets also had been looking for language indicating that this could be the last 0.75-point, or 75 basis point, move.   The new statement hinted at that policy change, saying when determining future hikes, the Fed “will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments.”   Economists are hoping this is the much talked about “step-down” in policy that could see a rate increase of half a point at the December meeting and then a few smaller hikes in 2023.   This week’s statement also expanded on previous language simply declaring that “ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate.“   The new language read, “The Committee anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time.”   Stocks initially rose following the announcement, but turned negative during Chairman Jerome Powell’s news conference as the market tried to gauge whether the Fed thinks it can implement a less restrictive policy that would include a slower pace of rate hikes to achieve its inflation goals.   On balance, Powell dismissed the idea that the Fed may be pausing soon though he said he expects a discussion at the next meeting or two about slowing the pace of tightening.   He also reiterated that it may take resolve and patience to get inflation down.   The rate increase comes as recent inflation readings show prices remain near 40-year highs. A historically tight jobs market in which there are nearly two openings for every unemployed worker is pushing up wages, a trend the Fed is seeking to head off as it tightens money supply.   Concerns are rising that the Fed, in its efforts to bring down the cost of living, also will pull the economy into recession. Powell has said he still sees a path to a “soft landing” in which there is not a severe contraction, but the U.S. economy this year has shown virtually no growth even as the full impact from the rate hikes has yet to kick in.   At the same time, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure showed the cost of living rose 6.2% in September from a year ago – 5.1% even excluding food and energy costs. GDP declined in both the first and second quarters, meeting a common definition of recession, though it rebounded to 2.6% in the third quarter largely because of an unusual rise in exports. At the same time, housing demand has plunged as 30-year mortgage rates have soared past 7% in recent days.   On Wall Street, markets have been rallying in anticipation that the Fed soon might start to ease back as worries grow over the longer-term impact of higher rates.   The Dow Jones Industrial Average  has gained more than 13% over the past month, in part because of an earnings season that wasn’t as bad as feared but also due to growing hopes for a recalibration of Fed policy. Treasury yields also have come off their highest levels since the early days of the financial crisis, though they remain elevated. The benchmark 10-year note most recently was around 4.09%.   There is little if any expectation that the rate hikes will halt anytime soon, so the anticipation is just for a slower pace. Futures traders are pricing a near coin-flip chance of a half-point increase in December, against another three-quarter point move.   https://thepostmillennial.com/....bidens-cdc-replaces-   Biden's CDC replaces word 'woman' with 'pregnant person' in flu vaccine guidance   The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has removed the word woman from sections of its safety guidance on flu vaccines during pregnancy.   According to the Daily Mail, gendered terms such as woman, women, mother and she/her pronouns were all erased from the Q & A section of the Flu Vaccine Safety and Pregnancy page in August of last year. The words were replaced with gender-neutral language such as “pregnant people” and the gender-neutral pronoun “their.”   However, the words woman and mother still appear in other sections of the CDC website, such as the Vaccines During Pregnancy FAQ page.   “Influenza is more likely to cause severe illness in pregnant people,” says the CDC. “Flu shots given during pregnancy help protect the ‘pregnant parent’ and the baby from flu.”   Those advocating for the use of gender-neutral language in the healthcare setting argue that the intention is to ensure that everyone feels included.    So for example because a tiny number of females who identify as men may become pregnant, the word woman should be removed from maternity care to include them.   But feminist campaigners have suggested that the so-called inclusive language only appears to go one way. Ovarian cancer apparently now affects “people” not women, but prostate cancer still affects men.   Healthline referred to “men” and “vulva-owners” last year on its HPV information pages.   Meanwhile, MedicineNet.com kept the definition of male as “the sex that produces spermatozoa” but redefined female as being a complicated mix of chromosomal anomalies and gender identity.   This has led some to speculate that this new inclusive language is not so much about being inclusive of everybody and more about ensuring that the word woman is never used in a way that excludes males who identify as women, while at the same time not reminding those males of their biology.   New Saint Andrews: Today’s culture shifts like sand. But New Saint Andrews College is established on Christ, the immovable rock. It is a premier institution that forges evangelical leaders who don’t fear or hate the world. 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