Updated throughout the day
January 27, 2016 4:00 p.m. ET/January 27, 2016 5:00 a.m. HKT
Dammit, Janet. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that “economic growth slowed” since December, and stocks slumped in response. The Fed also said inflation isn’t speeding toward the 2% target as they hoped, meaning the central bank will be very cautious about rising interest rates again this year. But, March isn’t off the table, and the economy should grow “at a moderate pace.” The Dow closed down almost 1.4% after hovering near zero much of the day. The S&P 500 lost about 1.1%, and the Nasdaq tanked 2.2%, blowing away the positive day for stocks Tuesday.
Here is what else you need to know:
Facebook surpasses 1.59 billion users. The social media platform surpassed its Q4 earnings estimates, reporting $5.84 billion in revenue or $0.79 earnings per share. Facebook had 1.55 billion users and $4.5 billion in revenue during the third quarter. TechCrunch
Libor brokers acquitted of fraud. The six former brokers were accused of manipulating the benchmark interest rate, but a jury unanimously acquitted five of the brokers Wednesday. The sixth broker, ICAP’s Darrell Read, was acquitted on one count, but the jury is still deliberating on another against him. Wall Street Journal (paywall)
Aberdeen hemorrhaging assets. Aberdeen Asset Management reported more than $13 billion in outflows during the last three months of 2015, nearly twice as much as the same period in 2014. The firm has been bleeding funds thanks to the tumultuous emerging markets. CNBC
Former SEC leader joins law firm. Norm Champ, head of the SEC’s division of investment management until early last year, will join Kirkland & Ellis LLP in the firm’s private-funds group. Champ is known for helping put tighter restrictions on the mutual fund industry. Wall Street Journal (paywall)
“Billions” picked up for second season. Just two episodes into its debut, the Showtime depiction of finance corruption will produce a second season. The series stars Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti in a story inspired by the criminal charges against hedgie Steven Cohen. New York Post
Donald Trump to boycott debate. The Republican frontrunner is shunning the last presidential debate before the Iowa caucuses because of his personal conflicts with moderator Megyn Kelly of Fox News. Trump says he’ll be hosting his own event at the same time as the debate to raise money for wounded veterans. BBC
Oregon protesters arrested, one dead. Ammon Bundy, the leader behind an armed seizing of a wildlife refuge in Oregon, was arrested along with six others Tuesday during a traffic stop. An unidentified protester was killed during the arrest. New York Times
United Technologies reports revenue decline. UTC’s fourth quarter revenue was $14.39 billion, down 4.5% from a year before. Net income attributable to shareowners was up to $3.28 billion from $1.47 billion in 2014. Reuters
RBS ‘clean up’ to push it into 2015 loss. In a statement, the taxpayer-backed U.K. bank said the ‘clean up’ plan is set to hit annual profit by £2.5B and will push it into a loss for 2015. It also said it was setting aside another £500m to pay for PPI and £1.5B for bad housing debts in the US. In addition, it will write down £498M from its private bank Coutts. BBC
You won’t believe this…
Seriously mom, put on some clothes. A British primary school wrote a letter to parents telling them to pull themselves together in the morning and wear real clothes to drop their children off in order to demonstrate better standards for their children. Apparently being an adult means getting dressed in the morning. The Guardian
Lionel Messi’s biggest fan is in Afghanistan. A five-year-old boy named Murtaza Ahmadi saw his love of the football star go viral when a photo of him wearing a striped plastic bag with Messi’s name and number written on it spread across the Internet. Ahmadi loves the player, but his family is too poor to buy the boy a jersey. Since the photo went out, other Messi fans have been trying to track down the boy. CNN
Photo: Jeff Boulter