FazzNoth

Nickname: @FazzNoth Video author: Super Name of the game: Street Fighter 6 Link video: Rate this video 1-10:-

Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Reunion continues Square Enix’s trend of creating mind-meltingly long and stupid titles for their remakes, remasters and reimaginings of all things Final Fantasy VII, with this title being the second of the three. A remaster of the 2007 (2008 outside of Japan) PlayStation Portable game, what I’ll from now on refer to as Crisis Core Reunion aims to create a solid, modern version of the game for every platform under the sun, no doubt due to Final Fantasy VII’s increased relevance thanks to Square Enix’s ongoing remake series of the title. By that metric, the company certainly succeeded. Crisis Core Reunion takes what used to be confined to the old, unpo[CENSORED]r handheld device and not only ports it to every platform you could hope for, but also updates the graphics considerably from their original grainy aspect ratio. Assuredly a remaster and not a remake, there are no major (or even minor, from what I can tell) changes to the game’s script or scenarios, unlike 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, which essentially creates a new timeline for the series to follow. As I never owned a PSP and I’m a new fan of Final Fantasy VII thanks to the remake, I never experienced Crisis Core when it originally came out. As such, I’m judging a portable game from 2007 by the standards of playing a console game in 2022. Given the circumstances, Crisis Core Reunion stands on its own pretty well. But judged by its own merits in the present day, the game fares less favorably. The game stars Zack Fair (Caleb Pierce), a young and overly energetic member of the nefarious Shinra’s SOLDIER program, where the strongest members of the company do its bidding. Although Shinra is definitely led by Bad Guys, the blame is shielded from Zack as he just tries to do his best without knowing the shady stuff his bosses are up to. There are two parts of Crisis Core’s story. The first part is the stuff with the cast of Final Fantasy VII, including Zack hanging out and completing missions with Aerith (Briana White), Cloud (Cody Christian) and a pre-evil Sephiroth (Tyler Hoechlin), among others. Although “completing missions” with Aerith means doing a long quest in order to build the dinkiest little flower wagon whereas with Cloud, Sephiroth and the gang it means fighting enemies, it’s all mostly interesting stuff that builds out these beloved characters’ backstories and motivations prior to the events of Final Fantasy VII. The second part, which takes up a larger percentage of the game than I’d have liked, deals with characters that seem new to me, especially the game’s main antagonists, Angeal (Bill Millsap) and Genesis (Shaun Conde). Both sprout single giant wings out of their backs, which of course means they’re evil now and they have to fight Zack and the rest of Shinra (even though Shinra is also evil… look, it’s confusing). I feel like some of this story might have made more sense had I played through the original Final Fantasy VII, but as is, there was a lot of stuff that just flew right over my head and devolved into a lot of nonsense. The gameplay is comparatively simple, feeling a lot like the combat from Final Fantasy VII Remake even though Crisis Core obviously came first. There isn’t the cool mechanic from the remake where you can stop time to choose from a series of moves, but you’re still able to attack and dodge in real time while choosing from various spells and special moves you can upgrade and swap out with materia as time goes on. It didn’t blow me away, but combat was mostly unchallenging yet engaging throughout, aside from one point where I had to grind out a few side quest missions to progress. I call it grinding because that’s really what the side quests feel like. There’s little to no story to contextualize why you’re doing what you’re doing. You just fight a bunch of enemies in a separate liminal space until they’re all gone. There are a lot of these quests, but they’re all optional and aside from that one point, I never felt underleveled from not doing them. I was also let down by the game’s ending, which I had heard from many was the best part of the game. After heading in one direction for hours, the game’s final few minutes shifts somewhere entirely different. I won’t spoil what happens, but it’s almost entirely cutscenes and seems like an abrupt ending that didn’t hit me emotionally in the way I think it was intended to. Overall, I enjoyed Crisis Core Reunion’s 10-ish-hour story well enough, and I’m grateful to know more about Zack before his anticipated reappearance in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Unfortunately, the game’s age shows, with the random encounters and constricted corridors designed for a handheld released in 2004 not holding up as well on modern platforms in 2022. Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Reunion was developed by Tose and Square Enix and published by Square Enix. Our review is based on the PlayStation 5 version. It is also available for the Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/crisis-core-final-fantasy-vii-reunion-review/

I think there’s little I can say about 2018’s Spider-Man game that hasn’t been said already. One of my favorite PS4 exclusives, it was the one game that did the impossible, removing the old Spider-Man 2 game from the mid-2000s from the throne of “best superhero game of all time”. A “spin-off-quel” of sorts, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, came out two years later, as a launch title for the PS5. I… did not play it at the time. I was being consumed by the twin threat that was playing Demon’s Souls and Cyberpunk 2077 pretty much at the same time, so I had to ignore Miles Morales for a while. With its brand new PC release, and the fact Sony’s Steam releases have been pretty good as of late, I now have the perfect chance to find out what I’ve been missing. Let’s swing into the action.My biggest worry before playing Miles Morales proper, was that fear I was going to play what was essentially a standalone DLC, with very little substance when compared to its big brother. Being short and unmemorable, all while being sold at a near-AAA price. Also, was I really going to go through an origin story when the 2018 original itself skipped that tried and true “with great power blablabla” nonsense we’re all tired of hearing? Neither of these concerns were warranted, however. I definitely should not doubt Insomniac’s ability to deliver great experiences at a fraction of the development time required by other studios. Miles Morales, as you all know by now, is its own thing. It deserves to be held in the same regard as the 2018 Spider-Man game, despite its shorter length, and it’s a phenomenal game as a whole. There are tons of elements in Miles Morales that make this game stand out, but first and foremost, we need to talk about its plot. This is the main reason I fell for the game so quickly. I’m not saying the plot from the 2018 Spider-Man game wasn’t good (it was AMAZING, pardon the pun), but Miles Morales hits differently. It knows the titular hero isn’t as mature or ready to tackle cosmic beings, world-destroying menaces, and the like. The game threw some big baddies at me, with a sizeable threat, but it also managed to make the overarching plot really personal, down-to-earth, and relatable. Miles doesn’t know that many people, he is still fresh as a Spider-Man (although he has received training), he is trying to become a superhero as cool and important as Peter Parker himself. Speaking of… Peter is mostly absent from the game as a whole. He shows up in the very beginning of the game, as the mentor to Miles, and from then on mostly via phone conversations, as he is on vacation. Yes, it sounds a bit bizarre, a bit lame, but it works for the whole “my mentor is gone so I need to mature by myself” vibe of the plot. Also, the less I have to see this ultra-childish Peter Parker face, the better. It just doesn’t look anywhere near as acceptable from the 2018 game, save for the character’s voice. Every other character looks great in cutscenes, Pete is the only one who decided to reside in the deepest marshes of the uncanny valley. Thank goodness for mods. But graphically, Miles Morales is clearly superior to its 2018 counterpart, not only because it features an option for ray-tracing (I never even bothered using it), but because it just looks much better in general… while running at double the framerate. It allows for much smoother gameplay, especially when it comes to swinging around an icy cold Manhattan with your webs. Not only that, but the four year interim between the original Spider-Man game and the PC version of Miles Morales made me finally get 100% used to the web swinging traversal system, making going from A to B one hell of a fun breeze. The same can be said about the camera. Either I got used to it or Insomniac tweaked it a bit. Whatever the case, it feels better than before. One thing I loved from Spider-Man: Miles Morales is that Insomniac did its best to make Miles feel more than just a skin swap of Peter Parker. Not only does he move around town in a more joyful, “I still haven’t lost my innocence” kind of way, but his combat moveset is more varied than Pete’s, all due to his comic book superpowers being featured in the game. For the uninitiated, or those who have sinfully not watched Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (seriously, go watch that right freaking now), Miles has a few extra superpowers when compared to Peter Parker. He can control electricity, meaning that he can throw electric webs at circuits to solve puzzles, perform area of effect bursts of energy, and stun brutes with a massive Venom Punch. Furthermore, he has cloaking skills, making stealth sections even more fun, if not a cakewalk. I loved these new abilities and gadgets, but I have to say I still don’t like how Insomniac wants me to perform three button combinations for some of these skills. Being a much shorter game, Spider-Man: Miles Morales needed to add some extra features to make its overall package feel less like a standalone DLC and more like the actual game it is. It all boils down to the Friendly Neighbor app, which throws a few scripted (and well-animated) tasks at you, with better writing and payoffs than the side activities from the 2018 game. Those are still here as well, but in less numbers. It’s less about quantity, more about quality in this case, and I’m more than okay with this approach.I have no major complaints about Spider-Man: Miles Morales. If anything, I have just minor nitpicks or the feeling that, maybe, the 2018 game did something better than this one. That would mostly center around the voice acting, which is good, let me be clear, but not as good as the previous game. Nadji Jeter does a good job as Miles himself, but he doesn’t come anywhere near as Yuri Lowenthal’s now-iconic role as Peter. Then again, it’s just a minor gripe. Even if I didn’t like the voice acting that much, I did like the soundtrack, be it the score comprised of orchestral tunes mixed with trap beats, or the half a dozen licensed songs included in the mix, such as Gente de Zona’s “La Gozadera“.A likeable protagonist, new abilities and a personal, down-to-earth story made up for the fact Spider-Man: Miles Morales is shorter than its 2018 predecessor. It’s a game with enough qualities to stand on its own, one that proves that Miles isn’t just some fluke character being pushed by Marvel over the past few years. Not only that, but this PC port is the real deal, with some pretty good optimization and performance. Whether you play this on a PC or PS5, you’ll have a blast. Though I may now think this version is slightly better than its console counterpart just for the fact you change Peter’s face to the 2018 one with a mod… https://www.google.com/amp/s/waytoomany.games/2022/12/26/review-spider-man-miles-morales-pc/amp/

The leader of conservative advocacy group Empower Mississippi is launching a new nonprofit news organization in 2023 and will absorb the assets and work of conservative blog Y’all Politics. Russ Latino, president of Empower, wrote in a Dec. 27 email to his friends and family that he will launch a new venture, called Magnolia Tribune, which was founded in response to “a significant gap in the current (media) marketplace.” “Mississippi has a positive story to tell. We will tell it,” Latino wrote. “Faith in traditional media has been undermined by blatant bias and often by careless reporting of complex issues. We will work to restore trust.” Leaders of the new organization have been developing the concept for months, pitching it to their allies across the political spectrum and in nonprofit circles since the fall. Latino, an attorney who previously worked for the Koch Brothers-funded conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, has never worked in professional journalism. Latino has long served as a conservative voice at the Capitol and in Jackson. He has advocated for conservative causes at numerous press conferences at the Capitol over the years. In 2021, he was selected by Republican legislative leaders to testify at a hearing in favor of eliminating the individual income tax. He has also served as a fill-in host on SuperTalk Radio, a conservative network that broadcasts across the state. On a webpage soliciting donations for the news outlet, Latino writes that Magnolia Tribune will be a “non-profit, non-partisan newsroom.” In his Tuesday email to colleagues, he writes that “our commentary will often appeal to conservatives.” Latino did not clarify in his email whether the newsroom will be a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit under IRS guidelines, which bar partisanship. “The concept is to be an in-state Wall Street Journal, with reliable straight news, unique business and culture coverage, and thoughtful perspective,” Latino wrote to his friends on Tuesday. “Our goal will be to balance the media ecosystem to ensure that all points of view are heard. While our commentary will often appeal to conservatives, we will not shy from providing a platform for divergent viewpoints. We believe that people benefit from hearing the whole story and being able to make their own decisions with good information.” The new outfit will absorb the assets and work of Y’all Politics, a political blog founded in 2004 by Alan Lange. Lange has boasted his cozy relationships with Republican elected officials, long amplifying their perspectives and even attacking traditional media in the state seen as too critical of his colleagues. Y’all Politics employs a small staff of reporters who closely cover legislative sessions and major statewide political interest stories. Y’all Politics, Latino wrote on Tuesday, will cease operation in January 2023. While Y’all Politics staff will reportedly move over to the new organization, Lange has told people he’s close with that he will not be directly involved with Magnolia Tribune. Empower Mississippi, which Latino said on Tuesday he will leave, actively lobbies lawmakers at the state Capitol for conservative causes and champions specific legislation. In recent years, Empower has pushed for increased funding for charter schools and other “school choice” initiatives, tax reforms like eliminating the individual income tax, and criminal justice reforms. Latino said he is raising money for Magnolia Tribune and will build the team “over the next several months and beyond.” “The news media serves a vital function in a thriving democracy,” Latino wrote on the fundraiser page. “When healthy, it informs citizens, presents a robust marketplace of diverse ideas, and holds leaders accountable. Unfortunately, upheaval in the media landscape has resulted in news that is often agenda-driven, intentionally negative, and hostile to alternate viewpoints. Mississippi is not immune from this trend. It doesn’t have to be this way, though.” https://mississippitoday.org/2022/12/27/mississippi-conservative-news-outlet/

The Paws Animal Hospital recently relocated to a new facility in York County. Founded back in 2010 by Dr. Jessica Friedland, Paws Animal Hospital was originally located on 1053 Baltimore St. in York. According to Paws Animal Hospital’s office manager Jessi Ortner, after years of leasing this previous location, the hospital decided it was time to buy a home of their own. Humane PA hosts ’12 Days of Adoptions’ Paws Animal Hospital is now located at 1263 Hoff Rd. in York. According to Ortner, this facility was previously utilized as a dog kennel. After purchasing this new space approximately one year ago, it took about 4-6 months of internal renovations in order to transform the new space into the animal hospital that it is today. According to their website, Paws Animal Hospital offers an abundance of animal care services, such as: Wellness Exams Vaccinations Emergencies Bloodwork Radiographs Surgery Reproductive Services In addition to these common veterinary services, Paws Animal Hospital also offers a unique service that they refer to as ‘Paws in Balance’. According to their website, ‘Paws in Balance’ is the practice of animal acupuncture, which can have many positive physiological effects for animals, such as pain relief, promoting tissue healing, anti-inflammatory effects, and much more. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.abc27.com/local-news/animal-hospital-in-york-county-relocates-to-new-facility/amp/

China will scrap quarantine for travellers from 8 January, officials said, marking the last major shift from the country's zero-Covid policy. After almost three years of closed borders, this will reopen the country to those with work and study visas, or seeking to visit family. Travel overseas for Chinese citizens will become easier, the immigration authority said on Tuesday. Covid has spread ferociously in the wake of restrictions being lifted. Reports say hospitals are overwhelmed and elderly people are dying. The true toll - daily case counts and deaths - is currently unknown because officials have stopped releasing Covid data. Beijing had reported about 4,000 new Covid infections each day last week and few deaths. On Sunday it said it would stop publishing case numbers altogether. But British health data firm Airfinity estimated China was experiencing more than a million infections and 5,000 deaths a day. China is the last major economy in the world to move to "living with Covid" after three years of lockdowns, closed borders and mandatory quarantine for Covid cases and contacts. The so-called zero-Covid approach battered the economy and made citizens weary of restrictions and repeated tests. Resentment against the policy exploded into rare public protests against President Xi Jinping in November, which was followed by authorities dropping Covid rules just a few weeks later. Closed borders remain the last major restriction. Since March 2020, anyone entering China had to undergo mandatory quarantine at a state facility - for up to three weeks at a time. That was recently reduced to five days. But on Monday the National Health Commission announced that Covid would be formally downgraded to a Class B infectious disease on 8 January. That meant quarantine would be axed - although incoming travellers will still need to take a PCR test. A cap on the daily number of flights allowed into China would also be scrapped. Authorities said they would also "optimise" visa arrangements for foreigners wishing to come to China for work and study, as well as family visits and reunions. It's unclear if that includes tourist visas, but officials said a pilot programme would begin for international cruise ships. Chinese citizens wishing to apply for passports to travel abroad will also be able to do so from 8 January, the immigration authority announced on Tuesday. Prior to the pandemic, the number of outbound tourists from China stood at 155 million in 2019, according to Statista. This number dropped to 20 million in 2020. The new rules have been welcomed by many Chinese who will now be able to travel overseas again. The country's top online travel agencies reported a spike in traffic within hours of the announcement. Many people will be hoping to visit family and loved ones during Chinese New Year, which begins on 22 January. But many have also expressed anger over the sudden freedom after years of controls. "I'm happy about it but also speechless. If we're doing this [reopening] anyway - why did I have to suffer all the daily Covid tests and lockdowns this year?" said Rachel Liu, who lives in Shanghai. She said she had endured three months of lockdown in April, but nearly everyone in her family had become infected with the virus in recent weeks. She said her parents, grandparents and partner - living across three different cities in Xi'an, Shanghai and Hangzhou - had all come down with fever last week. Many have also expressed concern online about borders reopening as Covid cases peak in China. "Why can't we wait until this wave passes to open up? The medical workers are already worn out, and old people won't survive two infections in one month," read one top-liked comment on Weibo. People in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, which experience chilly temperatures in the winter, say they're running out of flu and cold medicine. It's feared that hundreds of deaths may be going unreported as crematoriums are overwhelmed. In the capital, Beijing, authorities say they are planning to distribute the Pfizer tablets, Paxlovid, in order to try and reduce the severity of infections and ease the pressure on hospitals. But health centres contacted by The Global Times on Monday said the drug had yet to be delivered. On Monday, President Xi issued his first remarks on the changes, calling on officials to do what was "feasible" to save lives. State media quoted him saying the country faced a new situation with pandemic control, and needed a more targeted response. China's about-turn on how it manages the pandemic has put Mr Xi in a tough spot. He was the driving force behind zero-Covid, which many blamed for restricting people's lives excessively and crippling the economy. But having abandoned it, analysts say he now has to take responsibility for the huge wave of infections and hospital admissions. Many have questioned why the country was not better prepared. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-64097497.amp

Request Rejected. I have not seen more activity and interest from you, since your request was pending. Come back in 1 week with another request and activity as well.

Nickname: @FazzNoth Video author: Techno Gamerz Name of the game: Choo-Choo Charles Link video: Rate this video 1-10:-

As the first of the four large “Holy Grail” states to expand into mobile sports wagering, there was plenty of pressure on operators and bettors in New York a year ago to meet expectations once it became clear that then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo would legalize it — even if it would not be his preferred state-run monopoly via lottery. The application process settled upon by the New York State Gaming Commission made for strange bedfellows. One group approved had three of the industry’s heaviest hitters in FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM, with Bally Bet rounding out the quartet. The other, which had multiple parties aligned under the Kambi betting platform, included Caesars Sportsbook, BetRivers, PointsBet, WynnBET, and Resorts World. Bet365 was left at the altar having met the technical standards, but not doing enough to grow overall tax revenue for New York. PENN Entertainment, which runs Barstool Sportsbook, was left on the outside looking in. So was rapper and mogul Jay-Z, who aligned himself with Fanatics as part of a second application submitted by Kambi. When nine approved operators were announced in November, the other ground-shaking part of it was the tax rate — all FIFTY-ONE PERCENT of it, an unprecedented figure for a competitive market in the still relatively nascent U.S. sports wagering betting space. New York would have the nation’s highest tax rate on operator revenue by a wide margin, with Pennsylvania a distant second at 36%. Yet for all the grumbling from operators about the high tax rate, they willingly paid the price of admission to take their chances on the biggest market to date opening to them. Fast forward almost 12 months later, and there have been a few clear winners as New York has rewritten the post-PASPA record book when it comes to monthly handle, operator revenue, and tax revenue. January: The emperor throws down gauntlet There is something wonderful about launch month in a new market with various offers of risk-free bets, matching deposits, and other assorted giveaways as operators hope to land loyal customers and market share. Caesars opted for maximum chaos in the Empire State with an astonishing promotion of a $300 free bet in addition to matching a customer’s initial deposit up to $3,000. It was an unprecedented launch offer, one that CEO Tom Reeg had hinted in 2021 would be needed given the rebrand from William Hill. Caesars got its short-term and long-term rewards, aided by the most exciting NFL postseason in recent memory. It snared more than 40% of the market share for handle in the first three weeks of live wagering in New York and totaled $487.4 million in the process. That lead was not sustainable, given the database depth of customers that FanDuel and DraftKings had amassed through daily fantasy play, but the effects of Caesars’ promotion remain visible. It is a strong No. 3 for handle in New York’s weekly reports and generated more than $2.6 billion handle through mid-December. New York’s mobile debut was a smash hit in all key metrics, as the state grabbed the “triple crown” of monthly national records for handle, operator revenue, and state tax receipts. New York has recorded eight of the top 10 monthly handles in the post-PASPA era. https://sportshandle.com/2022-in-review-new-york-mobile-sports-betting/

Platform: PC Publisher: Malte Glade Developer: Malte Glade Medium: Digital Players: 1 Online: No ESRB: Not rated I don’t want to reduce a game to a single screenshot, but pretty much everything you could possibly want to know about Valkie 64 can be summed up with this: Not only is the game heavily indebted to the N64 era of gaming, it’s particularly indebted to N64-era Zelda. You obviously have a female protagonist instead of a male one, but beyond that, everything here – from the blocking graphics to the sword-based combat to the fact there are gems hidden in most of the objects you break – comes straight out of the late’-90s. I mean, you could probably have guessed the same from the game’s name, but the screenshot captures it even more perfectly.Of course, the big difference between the two is that I don’t think people will be remembering Valkie 64 25 years from now with the same sort of reverence they currently hold for Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. This is because Valkie 64 doesn’t have much of an identity of its own. It wears its influences proudly, as we’ve established, and it’s enjoyable enough if you don’t expect anything more from it than simply being an homage to N64 Zelda, but beyond that? It’s tolerable, but nothing more. And honestly, even tolerating it will require making some concessions towards quality. The combat is your basic hack-and-slash: you have a sword, and you can use it to parry attacks, but generally speaking you’ll just be running at every enemy you come across and hitting it. To be fair, both the hacking and the running are better following a recent update, but they’re still nothing to write home about. The same goes for everything else here, too. The music is repetitive piano tinkling that, again, wouldn’t have been out of place in an N64 game, but it also wouldn’t be remembered today. The world, too, looks exactly like you’d imagine an N64 game would look, but there’s nothing about it that makes it stand out. Which is a perfect way to describe Valkie 64. It’s neat to see someone capture the feel of a bygone generation as well as this game does, but absent any real identity of its own, it’s hard to see why you’d play this instead of going back and replaying the originals. https://www.google.com/amp/s/gaming-age.com/2022/12/valkie-64-review-for-pc/

Stocks closed higher Friday, capping off a rough week of trading, after November inflation data showed signs of a moderation in prices that are still historically high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 177 points, or 0.5%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.2% higher. For the week, the Dow gained 0.9%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq closed 1.9% lower. Core PCE climbed 4.7% in November from a year ago, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in line with economists’ expectations. Core PCE climbed 5% in October. Personal income increased 0.4% and personal consumption expenditures, or spending, climbed 0.1% month over month. Both of those increases were lower than the previous month's climbs. “The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation continues to go down, which is good news for their most important objective, but unfortunately for the market, it is happening at the same time as consumers continue to reduce their spending,” Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance, wrote Friday. Investors also looked at consumer sentiment data Friday. According to results from the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers, the consumer sentiment index rose to 59.7 this month, which was higher than economists were expecting. “Sentiment remains relatively downbeat at 15% below a year ago, but consumers’ extremely negative attitudes have softened this month on the basis of easing pressures from inflation,” Joanne Hsu, director of surveys at the University of Michigan, said in the news release. Economic data were a major focus of investors throughout the week, who are looking to see signs of cooling inflation and what the likelihood of a recession will be. “We were reminded, yet again, that this isn't a normal holiday season,” Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL financial, wrote about the markets this week. “A clutch of solid economic data including a surprisingly solid GDP report, lower than expected continuing claims, and personal consumption data that suggests a still resilient consumer, coupled with higher expectations, had the market veer instantly into the ‘good news is bad news’ scenario.” The Federal Reserve’s efforts to tame inflation that hit 40-year highs earlier this year and concerns those efforts will push the U.S. into a recession have weighed on the market in 2022. They also have weighed on trading in December and have reduced hopes for a so-called Santa Claus rally. “The Santa rally looks to be short-lived across the pond as U.S. stocks came under pressure from renewed interest rate fears,” said Matt Britzman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown in the U.K. Third-quarter U.S. GDP growth that was revised higher “wasn’t expected and led many investors to fear interest rate hikes would continue for longer in the absence of any real data to suggest the US economy is in distress.” According to the CME FedWatch tool, about 66% of trades expect the next interest-rate hike to be 0.25-point. https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-122322/card/stock-futures-mostly-higher-ahead-of-inflation-data-VbyclnycmsBTEvdxReyi