The Fed met mid-December and as an outcome of that meeting, it was determined that they will be doing multiple interest rate hikes this year to slow the inflation rate, which recently hit 6.8% year-over-year. The outcome of these minutes will lead to interest rate hikes beginning in March, which along with fears of global unrest led markets into the red. Now, we can all initially applaud the efforts to curb inflation especially with all that I shared regarding the shocking numbers around inflation a couple weeks ago. Although slowing the rate of inflation is great, this interest rate hike will make aspects like buying a vehicle or home on credit much more expensive meaning that the buying power will dwindle further.