虎嗅APP·2026-03-19 00:21Economic Outlook - Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated that the U.S. economic outlook is "extremely uncertain," with rising inflation and various geopolitical factors disrupting the inflation decline [2] - The Federal Reserve decided to maintain the federal funds rate target range at 3.5% to 3.75%, marking the second consecutive meeting without a rate change, reflecting caution regarding potential inflation risks [2] - Powell projected the U.S. PCE inflation rate for February at 2.8% and core PCE at 3.0%, acknowledging that recent inflation expectations have risen due to increasing energy prices [2] Geopolitical Developments - Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei condemned the assassination of security official Larijani, vowing that "blood debts will soon be settled" [3] - Iran launched a large-scale missile attack on U.S.-related oil and energy facilities in retaliation for attacks on its energy infrastructure, indicating a new phase of conflict [5] Market Reactions - U.S. stock indices fell over 1%, with the Dow Jones down 1.63% and the S&P 500 down 1.36%, both reaching new lows since November [10] - International oil prices rose significantly, with U.S. crude oil up 3.68% to $99.05 per barrel and Brent crude up 6.8% to $106.15 per barrel [12] Corporate Developments - Microsoft is considering legal action against Amazon and OpenAI over a $50 billion cloud deal that may violate its exclusive partnership with OpenAI [6] - Tencent reported a 13% year-on-year revenue growth in Q4, reaching 194.37 billion yuan, with an annual revenue of 751.77 billion yuan and operating profit exceeding 280.66 billion yuan [14] - Alibaba Cloud and Baidu Smart Cloud announced price increases due to surging global AI demand and rising costs of core hardware [13]