Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday officials were keeping their options open over how much to raise interest rates this month after investors interpreted his comments Tuesday to suggest a half-percentage-point increase was likely.

Some 74% of the 1,000 consumers surveyed said they had experienced a product or service problem in the past year, up from 66% in 2020 and only 32% in 1976. The percentage of consumers who have taken action to settle a score against a company through measures such as pestering or public shaming in person or online, has tripled to 9% from 3% in 2020.

A-rated cities and school districts are paying 3.16% for a one-year loan issued March 3, compared with 0.21% at the beginning of 2022.

The U.S. had 38,900 branded residences across more than 200 developments at the end of last year, a 40% increase from 2010. Buyers pay an average 30% premium to purchase hotel-branded residences with about 80% of branded residences affiliated, and usually co-located with, a hotel.

Cash and checks are forecast to fall to 14% of total payments this year from 42% in 2010, with the most precipitous drop coming just after the pandemic started in 2020.

Markets are now betting that inflation, as measured by the 12-month change in the consumer-price index, will fall to about 2.8% by October, from 6.4% in January.

The S&P National Home Price Index, which measures home prices across the nation, rose 5.8% in the year ended in December, down from a 7.6% annual rate the prior month. The increase was the lowest December-to-December change since 2019.

Apartment rents fell in every major metropolitan area in the U.S. over the past six months through January, a trend that is poised to continue as the biggest delivery of new apartments in nearly four decades is slated for this year.

The S&P 500 High Dividend Index—made up of the S&P 500’s top 80 dividend-paying companies—fell 1.1% including dividends last year, compared with a negative total return of 18% for the broad benchmark. In 2023, the index is up 2.5% but is trailing the S&P 500’s 4.8% advance.

In Florida, developers are increasingly eager to buy out condo owners so they can tear down an aging property and build a new one. Some owners, especially the elderly, oppose selling and having to find a new home. Yet they may have to sell if 80% of the owners in a condominium agree to a sale.