WTF Just Happened Today

Thursday, February 10, 2022

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1/ U.S. inflation accelerated to 7.5% in January compared with a year ago – the steepest year-over-year increase since February 1982. It was the eighth straight month that inflation has been above 5% despite claims by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that inflation would only be “transitory.” On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.6% from December to January. Over the past 12 months, the U.S. economy has added nearly 7 million jobs while average hourly earnings have climbed 5.7%. On an annual basis, however, inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings fell 1.7% in January from a year earlier, marking the 10th straight decline. Biden, meanwhile, said “while today’s report is elevated, forecasters continue to project inflation easing substantially by the end of 2022” and that there are “signs that we will make it through this challenge.” (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNBC / Politico / NBC News / CNN)

2/ Following the inflation report, Joe Manchin assailed the prospect of Biden’s roughly $2 trillion social and climate package, saying Congress should not add “more fuel to an economy already on fire.” Manchin effectively killed the package in December after announcing that he would not support the legislation, citing concerns about inflation and the cost of the bill. “It’s beyond time for the Federal Reserve to tackle this issue head on,” Manchin said. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard, meanwhile, said he supports raising interest rates by a full percentage point by July, calling it a “sensible response to a surprise inflationary shock.” (Bloomberg / The Hill / Business Insider)

3/ White House call records do not reflect the calls made to or from Trump during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. While there is no evidence that any official records were tampered with or deleted, the House committee investigating the attack said they’re finding few records of calls between Trump and lawmakers that have been publicly reported in the hundreds of records from the National Archives turned over after the Supreme Court ruled against Trump’s efforts to block their release. The committee, however, is still waiting for additional records from the National Archives, and from phone companies that have been subpoenaed for the personal cellphone records for more than 100 people, including Eric Trump and Kimberly Gui...

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