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Good morning from the Financial Times.

Today is Thursday, March 17th, and this is your FT News Briefing.

The Federal Reserve raised rates yesterday for the first time since 2018.

European energy traders are asking for emergency help,

and we'll look at the rising cost of Beijing's friendship with Moscow.

I do think she and the Chinese leadership have been surprised by how steep these costs

are proving to be, especially as the war goes on.

I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day.

The Fed yesterday lifted its key interest rate a quarter of a percentage point.

It's a milestone in terms of the US economy's recovery from the pandemic.

It's also the start of the US Central Bank's battle against inflation.

Here's our US economics editor, Colby Smith.

People were definitely taken aback by the number of interest rate increases that

Fed officials signals could be in store for 2022.

I think going into this meeting, people thought officials would be signaling, let's say,

four to six interest rate increases.

In a lot of ways, I think people have just been trying to digest exactly where this puts the

Fed now in terms of its monetary policy, given that we have this very clear indication

that every meeting from this point forward is live.

Yeah, but it couldn't have taken investors that much by surprise.

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