| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a prophetic dot plot of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Today's AgendaWall Street, We Almost Have LiftoffThis week's Federal Reserve meeting was considered the most important of Jerome Powell's career. So just how worried is the Fed chair about the highest inflation reading in decades? Prices have been rising for housing, cars, baby diapers, even those fried-chicken sandwiches you all like so much. In fact, it seems like everything is going up except interest rates, which the Federal Open Market Committee once again left at — squints — nope, still can't see them. That may soon begin to change, or not. Powell has managed to keep everyone guessing while his crew drops hints that they're starting to feel a tad hawkish, Brian Chappatta writes. According to policy makers' "dot plot" — a tarot card for investors — they now expect two interest-rate increases by the end of 2023, which is two more than they had expected as of March. The Fed's statement also removed a key line about how the Covid-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc across the U.S. economy, because, well, it's not really doing that anymore. That's in large part to emergency measures taken by the Fed and Congress and even larger part to extraordinarily effective vaccines. But Powell cautioned the market not to read too much into the tarot cards. The Fed is committed to making "outcome-based decisions" rather than relying on projections, an approach that may not work out so well. We are past the point of the Fed needing to think about thinking about tapering. It needs to go right ahead and start, writes Mohamed A. El-Erian, who worries that if it doesn't it'll have to slam on the policy brakes down the road. Further FOMC Reading: Powell has plenty of justification for staying the course, because unemployment hasn't improved as much as hoped. — John Authers The Other MeetingU.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin held their summit on Wednesday in Geneva. "Short and sweet" probably doesn't capture it. But it was fairly short, with their meetings lasting a total of just 2 1/2 hours even though U.S. officials initially said it could be four hours or more. Rather than seek any breakthroughs, the summit seemed to be more conservatively aimed at lowering the geopolitical temperature. Among the many tensions simmering in the background, hackers linked to Russia were determined to be behind the recent ransomware attacks of Colonial Pipeline Co., JBS SA and SolarWinds Corp. — each case providing a scary glimpse of the potentially catastrophic consequences of digital assaults on U.S. infrastructure and national security. Neither dismissiveness toward Putin nor attempts to embarrass him will accomplish much, but when it comes to cybersecurity it's time to skip the niceties. With U.S. corporations, government agencies, hospitals, utilities and already strained supply chains at risk, Biden must take bolder action, Timothy L. O'Brien writes. Bonus Presidential Reading: Former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the U.S. election were more elaborate than once thought, making his grip on the Republican Party all the more troubling. — Jonathan Bernstein Meme Stocks Are So VintageShares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. are trading at almost nine times forward sales estimates, giving a movie-theater chain that nearly ran out of cash this year an inexplicable $28 billion valuation. Still, if you think that price-to-sales ratio is absurdly rich, you'll be shocked to hear what pandemic-era favorites Zoom Video Communications Inc. and Tesla Inc. are valued at. Hundreds of stocks in the Russell 3000 Index are technically more expensive than AMC and another Reddit favorite, GameStop Inc., Nir Kaissar writes. Sure, some gravity-defying companies may be trying to develop lifesaving medicines that could someday earn billions of dollars, but are those outcomes any more assured than a bunch of tech executives with Amazon pedigrees restoring GameStop? This is hardly the first time investors have tried to send stocks to the moon, Nir writes, recalling the Nifty Fifty and the dot-com bubble. What's different now is there's no longer a "you must be this tall to ride" sign to get on the market roller coaster. Anyone with a dollar and a smartphone can strap in at their own risk. Telltale ChartsDoctors shouldn't get rich from an unproven Alzheimer's drug that costs an unjustifiable $56,000 a year, writes Max Nisen. Meanwhile, more hospitals will merge in the wake of the pandemic, sending health-care costs even higher, Bloomberg's editorial board writes. What is 5G? Tara Lachapelle visited this AT&T Inc. 5G wireless-service site in Manhattan, and she has answers to your biggest questions. (Yes, we're cheating, this isn't a chart, but it is telltale.)  Photographer: Tara Lachapelle Further ReadingMining companies are fighting climate disclosures for fear investors will act on them, which is kind of the point. — Liam Denning This "Silicon Valley insider-trading ring" involved a high school teacher passing on tips to someone who owed him a gambling debt. — Matt Levine Without government intervention, companies aren't incentivized enough to fix America's supply-chain problems. — Noah Smith A carbon tax that promotes energy conservation would be a bipartisan way to pay for infrastructure spending. — Michael R. Strain NATO is targeting the three C's: China, cyberattacks and climate change. — James Stavridis The outgoing mayor of New York discusses the race to lead the city. — Howard Wolfson ICYMI Google is opening its first retail store one block from Apple's in New York. For $50,000, this helmet will read your mind, and its founder wants to make them as common as smartphones. A closely held maker of semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines is selling junk bonds to pay its owners a dividend. KickersWall Street can finally work remotely from a bamboo jungle mansion in Bali. Advertisers want to sell you things while you sleep. Fellow writers, if for some reason you've always dreamed of penning a masterpiece using Lego, good news. Notes: Please send mind-reading helmets and complaints to Tara Lachapelle at tlachapelle@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. | 
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