gHello.

As expected, the Fed took a hawkish tone on inflation following its meeting on Wednesday.

The US central bank has announced that it will accelerate the reduction of its massive bond buying program, adding that it expects three interest rate hikes next week.

The decision to contain price pressures came after US inflation hit 6.8% in November, the highest rate since 1982. Fed Chairman Jay Powell noted the risks of omicron , but minimized the economic risk of the new variant.

It precedes the Bank of England’s decision on interest rates, expected at noon. The European Central Bank will also be making its final policy update this afternoon.

5 things to start your day

1) Rising inflation gives Andrew Bailey an even bigger headache Costs set to continue to rise, putting monetary policy committee under enormous pressure to raise interest rates

2) Heathrow authorized to increase fees by seven times the rate of inflation The hike will apply for the first six months of next year as airline and airport bosses vie for a final deal

3) Rishi Sunak urged to “come out of hiding” to save pubs and restaurants Businesses have called on the Chancellor to provide financial support as new restrictions are implemented

4) Sadiq Khan threatens to raise £ 20 council tax to bail out metro The mayor also plans to raise the age for free travel on London’s public transport network, unless the government grants TfL a multibillion pound bailout

5) New German Chancellor encourages immigration Olaf Scholz says he will allow multiple nationalities, meaning immigrants can keep their current nationality while becoming German

What happened during the night

All three of Wall Street’s major indices rallied after the Federal Reserve said it was accelerating its decline in financial support for a pandemic, and much of Asia followed suit: Tokyo rose further by 1pc as the dollar’s rise against the yen helped exporters, while Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta are also on the rise.

Coming today

• Business : Go-Ahead Group, IntegraFin, Hyve Group (Annual results); ITM power (Interim); Petrofac, Serco, Hunting (Commercial update)
• Economy: Bank of England interest rate decision (UK), ECB decision on interest rates (EU), PMI (UK, US, EU), unemployment benefit claims (WE), use (EU), starts (WE)