Happy Thursday! Let’s all do everything we can to make sure January 6, 2022, is a better day than January 6, 2021. 

And while we’re at it, let’s just go ahead and make 2022 a better year than 2021.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• The South African Medical Research Council reported Wednesday that, despite a record number of daily COVID-19 cases being recorded in recent weeks, excess deaths in the country peaked at just more than 3,000 per week during the Omicron wave, far below the weekly excess-death peaks of the Beta wave (16,115 last January) and Delta wave (10,000 last July).

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell sharply on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve released minutes from its December meeting showing Federal Open Markets Committee members “generally” believe the central bank may need to raise interest rates “sooner or at a faster pace than participants had earlier anticipated.”