The Fed has lifted rates by 0.75 percentage point at each of its past three meetings, bringing its benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 3% and 3.25% last month—the fastest pace of increases since the 1980s. Officials have indicated they could make a fourth increase of 0.75 point at their Nov. 1-2 meeting and raise the rate above 4.5% early next year.

A U.S. Sentencing Commission report said that guilty pleas by corporations have trended downward in recent decades, reaching 90 in 2021 from a high of 304 in 2000.

With the surge in energy costs and rising interest rates weakening household demand, exports and imports should increase by just 1% in 2023, down from a previous forecast of 3.4%.

A large-scale survey revealed a wide gap between employees’ assessments of their own remote productivity and managers’ perceptions of how much gets done away from the office. Some 87% of the rank and file say they’re just as effective at home, but 80% of bosses disagree.

The yield on 10-year U.S. government bonds briefly touched 4% for the first time in more than a decade Wednesday, the latest leg of a historically steep rise that has jolted financial markets this year.

Yesterday’s blue-chip index’s decline pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average into a bear market – defined in Wall Street parlance as a drop of 20% or more from a recent high.

Ten-year Treasury yields rose to 3.545%, the highest closing level since April 2011.

Stocks suffered their worst day since 2020 as high inflation raised fears about a more-aggressive Fed. The Dow dropped nearly 1,300 points.

Deposits at U.S. banks fell by a record $370 billion in the second quarter, the first decline since 2018. Deposits fell to $19.563 trillion as of June 30, down from $19.932 trillion in March.

Tech firm startups raised $444 billion in the first eight months of 2022, down from $526 billion during the same period in 2021.