Economics & Finance: 2022 year in review

With inflation scaling 40-year peaks, and the Federal Reserve belatedly responding by unleashing its most aggressive tightening campaign in just as long, the world of economics and finance saw its fair share of important moments in 2022 — let’s revisit some of them now, as we look back upon the year that was.

26 January: Fed telegraphs that rate rises are on the way

After huge federal government budget deficits, and extraordinarily loose monetary policy from the Fed in the wake of the COVID pandemic, the Fed’s first FOMC meeting of 2022 kicked off amidst a CPI that was running at 7%.

The Fed’s minutes noted that “with inflation well above 2 percent and a strong labor market, the Committee expects it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate.”

You don’t say!

Additionally, the FOMC stated that it will bring its asset purchases to an end in early March, concluding its latest installment of QE, which this time around added $4.8tn of assets to its balance sh…