Vox Sentences - The US economy had a great 4th quarter

The US economy dodged a recession in 2022; Israel launches a deadly West Bank raid.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

No recession... for now

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

• The US economy grew faster than expected in the final months of 2022 despite inflation and rising interest rates, according to Commerce Department figures released Thursday. [Reuters / Lucia Mutikani]
• US gross domestic product — a broad measure of economic activity — increased at a 2.9 percent annualized rate from October through December, fueled by strong consumer spending and growing factory inventories. [Associated Press / Paul Wiseman]
• The Federal Reserve has aggressively hiked interest rates to tamp down near-record inflation, leading to concerns over an economic slowdown, but GDP remained sturdy, at 2.1 percent overall for all of 2022. [Axios / Courtenay Brown]
• However, the hikes have slowed the housing market, which faces a tough year due to rising construction costs. [NPR / Scott Horsley]
• To calm markets and encourage further growth, economists say Congress should negotiate the debt ceiling, and the Federal Reserve should carefully navigate further interest rate hikes. [New York Times / Ben Casselman]

A deadly raid in Jenin

• Thursday, the Israeli military raided a Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin, killing at least nine people including a 61-year-old woman, and wounding 20 others. [Washington Post / Sufian Taha, Victoria Bisset, and Miriam Berger]
• The violence marks the deadliest Israeli attack in the West Bank in years and comes amid increased Israel-Palestine tensions. [NPR / Daniel Estrin]
• Israel claims it was carrying out anti-terrorism operations against militants who were planning an imminent attack. [CNN / Abeer Salman, Celine Alkhaldi, and Hadas Gold]
• The Palestinian government suspended security cooperation with Israeli police over the deaths. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with leaders of both communities next week. [Axios / Barak Ravid]

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Vox’s Dylan Matthews explains the FairTax — the Republican plan to replace federal taxes with a 30 percent sales tax on everything. [Vox / Dylan Matthews]

• The FBI on Thursday announced it had hacked ransomware group Hive and prevented the theft of $130 million from 300 victims. [Reuters / Sarah N. Lynch and Raphael Satter]
• Five former Memphis police officers were charged with second-degree murder Thursday in connection with the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols following a traffic stop. [ABC News / Nakylah Carter and Mark Osborne]
• Wednesday, Meta lifted the two-year ban on Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts after deciding he no longer poses a threat to public safety. [Vox / Shirin Ghaffary]

“The US economy isn’t falling off a cliff, but it is losing stamina and risks contracting early this year. That should limit the Fed to just two more small rate increases in coming months.″

[Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Economics, on the latest economic data / AP]

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