The Fed is expected to raise rates again today to put it at 5.25% and fears are circulating that the hike will start a cascade of debt default resulting in businesses declaring bankruptcy. Debt currently owned by businesses has been held at historically low levels but now the contracts are coming due, which means they’ll have to renew at much higher levels or default on the debt and declare bankruptcy.

People will, as always, be paying attention to Powell’s speech today, looking for signs of future decisions.  Expect the market to move one way or the other at around 12:00 today.

In regional bank drama, the Banc of California will merge with PacWest, which has failed to recover from the regional bank crisis 4 months ago. They did not announce this merger until after markets closed, which is a move we’re getting used to, however fishy it may be…  Zions Bank stock is showing resilience and slowly recovering from its low, which is a positive sign that the regional bank crisis may have been successfully managed.