Sticky Inflation, Fed Picks, German Contraction: Eco Day

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Welcome to Friday, Americas. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

• Economists have largely dismissed the Biden administration’s efforts to blame the inflation surge in part on big companies padding profits, but some warn that these firms could still keep prices higher for longer
• President Biden plans to nominate Sarah Bloom Raskin to be the Federal Reserve’s top banking regulator and economists Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to be governors, people familiar with the decision said Thursday, completing his overhaul of leadership at the U.S. central bank
• Germany’s economy contracted by as much as 1% in the final quarter of 2021 as the emergence of the coronavirus’s omicron strain added to drags on output from supply snarls and the fastest inflation in three decades
• Meanwhile, the U.K. economy surpassed its pre-pandemic size in November for the first time with surprisingly strong growth before the omicron variant of the coronavirus struck
• Turkey’s newly appointed finance chief said inflation will peak months earlier and at a level far lower than predicted by top Wall Street banks
• Finally, here’s how the euro area’s newest recruits are grappling with one of its major drawbacks

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