Daily Pulse: The Fed Awakens, Uber Teams Up with Facebook, What You Googled This Year
They finally did it. After months of wondering if/when the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates (last month's stellar job numbers basically sealed the deal), Yellen and her cohorts took action. Benchmark interest rates will move up 0.25 percentage points, to a range of 0.25 to 0.5 percent. After that, increases will move slowly. Stocks responded well to the news, with the Dow up 224 points. The S&P 500 stock index and the Nasdaq composite were both up 1.5%.
Uber and Facebook, sitting in a tree: If you've ever wanted to call an Uber directly from Facebook Messenger (who hasn't), you're in luck. It's part of a new transportation platform within the app, which suggests that Uber won't be the only auto partner Facebook approaches on its journey toward making Messenger your one-stop shop. Re/code points out an interesting component of the deal: "You can actually request a ride, track your driver and pay for that ride all within Messenger. In other words, you don’t actually need to download the Uber app to get an Uber ride. (You do, though, need an Uber account, which you can create within Messenger.)"
Don't waste your money on that MBA: Sheryl Sandberg liked the experience of her Harvard MBA, but doesn't think it's necessary for working in tech. The COO answered a question on Quora and responded that she (and Facebook) believe degrees are secondary to skills.
"While I got great value from my experience, MBAs are not necessary at Facebook and I don’t believe they are important for working in the tech industry."
Sheryl Sandberg on Quora
This is what we're searching for: Google released its top searches of 2015. Unsurprisingly, the most-searched news story was Paris: there were 897 million searches related to the attacks. The Oscars were a distant second at 406 million searches. People were also apparently interested in how to play a game that "may or may not summon demons."
Cover Art: Traders in the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index options pit at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) react after it was announced that they Federal Reserve would increase interest rates December 16, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. The Federal Reserves raised the interest rates for the first time since 2006 by 0.25 percentage points.
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What you may have missed — and really should read:
- How One Google Software Engineer Got Over Impostor Syndrome
- This Is What's Going On With Yahoo's Spin-Off (And Why It's Important)
- Zuckerberg and Chan's Patient Approach to an Urgent Investment
- Want to recruit a Millennial? Snacks and ping pong tables won't do it.
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- Miss our last update? Catch up here: 'Oil The World's a Stage, The Fed — Finally? Chipotle's Factory-To-Table Pivot'
- Not following us on Twitter and Facebook? You really should.
Media Production Coordinator at State Bar of Wisconson
8 年"degrees are secondary to skills"....I agree wholeheartedly. But would those executives which think like that interview someone without the degree that is fully capable if given the chance? While the "School of Hard Knocks" is the most valuable training ground it doesn't get you an interview.
Banker presso Ersel
8 年As you know, markets reacted predictably, with higher short end of the USD curve, and lower long end of the curve ... firmer USD, and stronger equities. I've got also bad expectations on EM asset reaction. In Asia, we see bear flattening of rates curves and downward pressure on high-beta currencies... stay away from EM assets until 1st half of 2016 ...
Banker presso Ersel
8 年To me,FOMC policy decision was a dovish hike but not as dovish as anticipated. Firstly, the rate hike by 25bp was largely but not fully priced in. Secondly, the dot plot was not lowered much and continues to point to 100bp in hikes next year, more than the 75bp I expect and than the 50bp consensus sees. Thirdly, The statement and press conference were confident about outlook....