FED HELD RATES — SILENT ALARM SOUND?
The big picture: The Fed kept rates on hold for a second consecutive meeting — with the federal funds rate in a range between 3.5% and 3.75% — after three cuts late last year.
The Federal Reserve paused interest rate hikes for the second meeting in a row, holding the federal funds rate between 3.5% and 3.75%, while signaling at least one rate cut could come this year amid rising uncertainty from the Iran war and its inflationary impact on oil prices. Division remains within the Fed, with seven officials anticipating stable rates through 2026 and an equal number expecting a cut, reflecting cautious optimism as labor market momentum fades. The Fed highlighted economic uncertainty stemming from the Middle East conflict and adjusted its outlook on unemployment, dropping language about stabilization in favor of noting the jobless rate has remained largely unchanged recently.
On the morning of June 22, 1918, a locomotive pulling empty passenger cars rear-ended the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus train near Hammond, Indiana. The wreck and subsequent fire—likely ignited by the oil lamps in the circus train's wooden sleeping cars—resulted in 86 deaths and 127 injuries. Most of the dead were buried five days later in a nearby cemetery, their graves marked with nicknames like "Baldy" and "Smiley" since many bodies could not be formally identified. What caused the collision?
Drafted into the German army at age 18, Remarque served in World War I and was wounded several times. From his experience of trench warfare, he drew a grimly realistic picture of the horror of battle in his first novel and masterpiece, All Quiet on the Western Front. It was an immediate international success, and Remarque went on to write several other novels. All Quiet on the Western Front was later burned by the Nazis, who guillotined which of his family members in 1943?
This holiday in
In addition to establishing the foundations of classical mechanics and introducing his law of universal gravitation, Isaac Newton's 1687 text The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy explored his rotating bucket argument, which has been studied by scientists for centuries. In it, he opposed the dominant view of motion—devised by Rene Descartes—that space is actually the extension of matter. How did Newton use a hypothetical bucket to try to make his point?
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