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| Good morning and happy Thursday. It's Jayme Deerwester, back on Daily Money duty. Many thanks to Brett Molina for dishing the Money, Tech and Travel headlines while I was locked in a room finishing a project. On top of that, he picked some good Mood Music tracks for y'all. |
| As expected, the Federal Reserve rolled out the heavy artillery in its bid to fight a historic inflation spike that has shown little letup. Jerome Powell and his crew raised the key short-term interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point Wednesday – its largest hike since 1994 – to a range of 1.5% to 1.75%. |
Why did the Fed just do its biggest rate hike since 1994? |
| OK, so what was this rate hike supposed to accomplish? And why was this one so big? |
| The Fed lifts rates to curb borrowing, cool off an overheated economy and fend off inflation spikes. It lowers them to spur borrowing, economic activity and job growth. Fed officials ratcheted up their rate hike plans amid signs that inflation appears more entrenched than they thought, according to reports by Barclays and The Wall Street Journal. |
| Wednesday's increase and its new projections are likely to ripple through the economy, sharply pushing up rates for credit cards, home equity lines of credit and mortgages, among other loans. Fixed, 30-year mortgages have climbed to 5.23% from 3.22% early this year on the expectation of Fed moves. |
| The silver lining: Americans, particularly seniors, should reap the benefits of higher bank savings rates after years of piddling returns. |
📰 More stories you shouldn't miss 📰 |
| What a difference a decimal point makes: California gas station manager fired after accidentally making gas 69 cents per gallon, not $6.99. |
| Ford recalls 2.9M cars: Shifting problem impacts Escape, Edge, Fusion, Transit vans. |
| New build blues: Supply chain woes, worker shortages slow down construction. |
| Attention, homebuyers: Here's why you need to look at properties during the week. |
| Catch Netflix freeloaders: How to tell if unauthorized users have your login info. |
Is it actually dangerous to use a cellphone while pumping gas? |
| The risk of your phone igniting an explosion at the pump is "very, very low," says Michael Marando, staff liaison for the National Fire Protection Association. |
| Researchers tested the theory numerous times to see if the urban legend was fact. It never worked. The show "Mythbusters" even once tried to do it, to no avail. |
| "So far, we have been unable to document any incidents that were sparked by a cellular telephone. In fact, many researchers have tried to ignite fuel vapors with a cell phone and failed," adds the Petroleum Equipment Institute, citing multiple studies. |
| It's still not a great idea: Using your phone while fueling up is a distraction. The biggest worry is if the pump isn't properly put into the car, or gasoline spills out. |
| An often overlooked warning that has proven to ignite gas explosions: Don't sit in your car while gas is pumping. |
| "If you go into the vehicle, and then you sit down in your seat, and then you come back out of the vehicle to touch the gas nozzle, you could create a static charge on you. And that static charge could lead to a spark that could create an ignition," Marando explains. |
🎵 Mood music 🎵 |
| To paraphrase "Golden Girls" matriarch Sophia Petrillo, picture it: "Sicily, 2010. Lady Gaga and Beyoncé are trying to have a good time at the club but their on-again, off-again boyfriends won't stop calling them on the 'Telephone.' " |
| "Boy, the way you blowin' up my phone won't make me leave no faster, put my coat on no faster, leave my girls no faster. I should've left my phone at home 'cause this is a disaster. Callin' like a collector. Sorry, I cannot answer." |
| New to the newsletter? Subscribe to The Daily Money to get the best consumer and financial news from USA TODAY delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. And give our Daily Money Mood Music Spotify playlist a listen. It features every song quoted here. |
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