🚀 Fed meeting takeaways

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Market Overview
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Year To Date Performances:

1. The Federal Reserve has officially hit the pause button on its easing cycle, holding the benchmark funds rate steady at 3.5% to 3.75% this Wednesday and signalling a "wait-and-see" approach that left markets largely indifferent. Despite persistent pressure from President Trump for lower rates and rare public dissents from Governors Stephen Miran and Christopher Waller—who both agitated for a further quarter-point cut—Chair Jerome Powell maintained a disciplined, almost stoic neutrality during a press conference that he used to sidestep political landmines. Powell’s core message focused on a labor market in stasis and a temporary "tariff-fueled" inflation bump, suggesting that while the door to future cuts remains ajar, the bar for crossing it has been significantly raised as the economy continues to show surprising resilience. As the central bank prepares for a seismic leadership change this May, this meeting served as a final stand for institutional independence, with Powell offering a blunt parting philosophy for his eventual successor: "Stay out of elected politics."

2. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has signalled a significant de-escalation in the diplomatic standoff over Greenland, announcing that high-level technical talks in Washington have successfully put the relationship "back on track." This "thaw" follows a tumultuous period where President Trump threatened 10% to 25% tariffs on Denmark and its European allies and refused to rule out military force to acquire the territory—a stance he finally walked back during last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos. While Trump continues to tout the "concept" of a deal involving "ownership" and the integration of Greenland into his "Golden Dome" missile defense shield, the Danish and Greenlandic governments remain firm that sovereignty is a non-negotiable red line. The current path forward focuses on a trilateral "framework" brokered with NATO assistance, shifting the conversation away from territorial acquisition toward enhanced Arctic security, joint mineral exploration, and updated defense protocols that aim to keep Russian and Chinese influence at bay without redrawing international borders.

3. Microsoft’s latest earnings report has sent a chill through the tech sector as shares tumbled 7% in after-hours trading, revealing a company caught between massive AI ambition and the gravity of slowing cloud expansion. While the software giant managed to beat top-line revenue expectations with $81.3 billion, the slight deceleration in Azure growth to 39% and a "light" operating margin forecast of 45.1% suggest that the sheer cost of building out the AI frontier is beginning to bite. Investors were particularly rattled by the revelation that a staggering 45% of Microsoft’s $625 billion commercial backlog is now tied directly to the fortunes of OpenAI, raising urgent questions about revenue concentration even as the company boasts 15 million paid Copilot seats. CEO Satya Nadella’s aggressive push—adding nearly one gigawatt of total capacity in a single quarter—highlights a "build at any cost" strategy that has pushed capital expenditures to a record $37.5 billion, a figure that seems to have finally exhausted Wall Street's patience for infrastructure-led growth.

   Headlines

   1. Senator Amy Klobuchar has announced that she is running for Governor of Minnesota.

   2. Home Depot is laying off 800 workers and ending all remote work policies.