Federal Reserve officials discussed a faster timetable for raising interest rates, December meeting minutes show, signaling greater discomfort with inflation.

The focus on automating hotel operational processes intensified due to the industry labor crisis. Contactless check-in/check-out and automation of day-to-day room rate setting are two leading examples of technology that will be increasingly adopted and refined in response to the lack of staff to complete processes manually.

Entities tied to Adam Neumann, who built office co-working giant WeWork, have been quietly acquiring majority stakes in more than 4,000 apartments valued at more than $1 billion in Miami, Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and other U.S. cities. Many of these investments occurred within the past year.

While some investors expect that inflation, which reached a 39-year high in November, has peaked, others are worried that Omicron could prolong supply-chain disruptions, adding further pressure to prices.

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index — comprising 20 of the largest hotel companies publicly traded on a U.S. stock exchange by market capitalization — was up 11.5% year to date as of Nov. 30. By comparison, the index finished 2020 down 13.2%.

The S&P 500 is headed toward a 28% advance for 2021 and has hit 70 highs. It is the third straight year of double-digit gains for the broad index, and the second in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite have gained 19% and 22%, respectively, this year, helping send the major indexes to their best three-year performance since 1999.

In the first eight months of the year, IPO shares rose. In November, 2021’s class of IPOs were trading up 12% on average. By late December, they traded 9% below their IPO prices.

Oak Hill has agreed to buy 110 North Wacker Drive from Howard Hughes Corp. in a deal that values the 1.5-million-square-foot skyscraper at more than $1 billion. That would be the highest price paid for a Chicago property building since the beginning of the pandemic.

The cash committed to venture-capital firms and private-equity firms, so-called dry powder hit about $440 billion for venture capitalists and roughly $310 billion for growth-focused PE firms earlier this month.

Blackstone Inc. has agreed to buy Bluerock Residential Growth REIT Inc. in a deal valued at $3.6 billion, extending its push into U.S. rental housing.