Market Bizzz

Brent crude futures dropped 49 cents, or 0.6%, to $84.65 per barrel by 0105 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures shed 46 cents, also a 0.6% loss, to $78.03. Both benchmarks were headed for a weekly decline of about 2%.

Two Fed officials said on Thursday the U.S. central bank likely should have lifted interest rates more than it did earlier this month, and warned that additional hikes in borrowing costs are essential to lower inflation back to desired levels.

Williams on Tuesday sounded a touch more hawkish note, and said that ending 2023 with the benchmark overnight interest rate between 5.00% and 5.50% “seems to be the right kind of framing” for the policy outlook.

It is rare but not unprecedented for Berkshire to quickly undo a multi-billion dollar investment in a company’s stock. In the first quarter of 2022, Berkshire sold nearly all of what had been an $8.3 billion stake in Verizon Communications Inc that it amassed in late 2020.

Analysts expect headline CPI to rise 0.5% in January, with the core number seen advancing to 0.4% from 0.3% the previous month, according to a Reuters poll. On an annual basis, CPI likely eased to 6.2%, from 6.5% in December.

The yen dropped sharply last year to a 32-year low of 151.94 per dollar as U.S. rates rose and Japanese rates stayed near zero, but it has since recouped those losses as the Fed looks to pause its tightening while speculation increase that the BOJ will move away from its ultra-loose policy.