The European Central Bank reportedly agreed on a new 2% inflation target and allowed moderate overshoots:
According to people familiar with the matter, European Central Bank policymakers have agreed to raise the inflation rate target to 2% and leave room for overshoot if necessary. The resolution comes from the special meeting of the European Central Bank that ended on Wednesday. An ECB spokesperson declined to comment. This decision is part of the largest monetary policy reform of the European Central Bank in two decades and marks a major shift in the central bank’s strategy. The European Central Bank expects to reverse inflation that has been below target for many years, which has put pressure on the economic potential of the euro zone. The 2% target will be a major change from the previous “slightly less than 2%” target.
The European Commission raised its economic growth forecast for the euro zone and issued a warning about inflation risks:
EU officials’ views on the euro zone’s economy have improved significantly, and they said that as the anti-epidemic restrictions have been loosened to allow demand to rebound, the risk of continued inflation has increased. The European Commission raised its forecast for the growth rate of the Eurozone to 4.8% from the previous 4.3%, and also raised its forecast for 2022 growth. It said that the economic performance in the first quarter has been better than initially expected, and recent data indicate that private consumption has begun to rebound strongly.
Fed meeting minutes: Officials are expected to continue to make progress towards reaching the reduction threshold:
The minutes of the Fed’s June meeting show that due to the highly uncertain outlook, Fed officials are not ready to communicate with the outside world about plans to reduce the scale of asset purchases, but they do want to finalize a plan in case they have to take action earlier. “Participants generally believed that the Federal Open Market Committee’s criteria for ‘substantial further progress’ have not been met, but they are expected to continue to make progress,” the Fed’s minutes of the June 15–16 meeting released on Wednesday read. “A number of participants mentioned that they expect to meet the conditions for reducing the speed of asset purchases earlier than expected in previous meetings.”
Japan plans to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo, covering the entire Olympic Games:
NHK reported that the Japanese government plans to declare a new state of emergency in Tokyo, which will last until August 22, covering the entire Olympic Games. The report did not specify the source of the information.
Trump sued Facebook, Twitter and Google for the social media ban:
Former U.S. President Donald Trump sued Facebook Inc., Twitter, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and their CEOs to further fight against the social media giants that blocked him. Trump advertised at a press conference on Wednesday that this was to defend the rights granted by the First Amendment to the Constitution. He filed three class-action lawsuits against the three technology giants and their chief executives Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai in federal court in Florida.
CNBC: Visa claims that in the first half of 2021, the use of cryptocurrency linked cards exceeded US$1 billion:
According to CNBC, Visa stated that in the first half of 2021, global consumers spent a total of more than $1 billion in cryptocurrencies on goods and services through its cryptocurrency linked cards. The company did not disclose the exact number to CNBC. CFO Vasant Prabhu told CNBC, “We are working hard to create an ecosystem that makes cryptocurrency easier to use and more like any other currency”.
