Federal Reserve officials discussed a faster timetable for raising interest rates, December meeting minutes show, signaling greater discomfort with inflation.

While some investors expect that inflation, which reached a 39-year high in November, has peaked, others are worried that Omicron could prolong supply-chain disruptions, adding further pressure to prices.

The S&P 500 is headed toward a 28% advance for 2021 and has hit 70 highs. It is the third straight year of double-digit gains for the broad index, and the second in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite have gained 19% and 22%, respectively, this year, helping send the major indexes to their best three-year performance since 1999.

In the first eight months of the year, IPO shares rose. In November, 2021’s class of IPOs were trading up 12% on average. By late December, they traded 9% below their IPO prices.

The cash committed to venture-capital firms and private-equity firms, so-called dry powder hit about $440 billion for venture capitalists and roughly $310 billion for growth-focused PE firms earlier this month.

Since Feb 21., 2020, just before the pandemic tanked markets, self-storage shares in the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index have returned about 84% between price gains and dividend payments.

There are 15.3 million 529 plan accounts with total assets of $464.3 billion, an average account value of $30,287.

Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, inched up by 18,000 to 206,000 for the week ended Dec. 11 from a revised 188,000—the lowest level in 52 years. New jobless claims have been steadily declining throughout the year.

An index of lithium prices doubled between May and November and is up some 240% for the year. The index is at its highest level in data going back five years.

U.S. inflation hit a 39-year high of 6.8% last month. Consumer demand and supply shortages continue to pressure prices.