Fed continues rate hikes - Pharmacy opioid settlement - Ethiopia peace deal

The Fed’s latest increase [three-quarters of a percentage point] brings the federal funds rate – which acts as a benchmark for everything including business loans, credit card and mortgage rates – to between 3.75% and 4%. US stock markets rose as the Fed indicated that the pace of rate rises could start to taper but sank as [Fed chair Jerome Powell] made clear that rates could stay high for longer than the Fed had first indicated.
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Powell acknowledged that officials were considering the pace of rate rises as they assess their impact on the wider economy. But he warned it was “very premature to think about pausing." The central bank does not expect inflation or interest rates to reach the levels seen in the 80s.
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Powell said the chances of the US economy achieving a “soft landing” and avoiding recession as it fights off inflation had “narrowed”. “We’ve always said it was going to be difficult. I think to the extent rates have to go higher and stay higher for longer, it becomes harder to see the path,” he said.