I feel like the news is stuck in a time loop: almost exactly the same events keep repeating, week after week.
A quick look around crypto
We haven’t talked about crypto in a while, so now seems like a good time to catch up.
The suspense...
Nothing much out of the ordinary.
Some rallies, some drops, liquidations in between, and a good chance this pattern will continue for a while.
As long as traditional markets remain in a difficult spot, crypto will probably keep feeling the effects.
The Fed’s decision
When the Fed last announced a rate cut in November, Jerome Powell said it might be the last one of the year.
A month and a half later, the Fed has nevertheless cut its policy rate by another 0.25 percentage points, from 4% to 3.75%.
This time, the decision wasn’t unanimous. Three members dissented in the FOMC vote.
The disagreements still centre on the same issues: finding a balance between high inflation and a jobs market that doesn’t seem to be improving.
The latest figures don’t make the picture any easier to read.
US unemployment claims rose by 44,000 to 236,000 last week.
That’s the largest weekly increase in almost four and a half years, since July 2021.
Some specialist reporters attribute the rise to Thanksgiving and seasonal effects.
But looking at the data as a whole, it feels more like a continuation of what we’ve been seeing for months, particularly with all the announced layoffs.
One surprising detail in the vote: one dissenter wasn’t against a cut, but thought it should have been 0.50 percentage points rather than 0.25.
It shows just how different views can be, even among the Fed’s own governors.
What about France?
First, let me reassure you: our prime minister, SĂ©bastien Lecornu, is still in his job.
His government is still trying to build alliances with other political groups to move the 2026 budget forward.
It seems to be working, because there’s been a small step ahead:
Last Tuesday, 9 December, an agreement with the Socialist Party secured first-reading approval for the social security budget: 247 votes for, 234 against and 93 abstentions.
But the bill hasn’t been definitively adopted yet. The National Assembly and Senate still haven’t agreed on a final version...
Well, it’s something. Let’s not ask for too much.