Washington Financial News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The leadership of Silicon Valley Bank and its government supervisors failed to quickly recognize risks looming in the firm before its March failure, according to a report from the Federal Reserve's inspector general.

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.1% annual pace from April through June, extending its sturdy performance in the face of higher interest rates, the government said Thursday, leaving its previous estimate unchanged

With persistent gridlock in Washington, a government shutdown looks more and more likely ahead of this weekend's deadline

Federal health advisers have voted overwhelmingly against recommending approval of an experimental treatment for Lou Gehrig's disease, the fatal muscle-wasting disease

WASHINGTON—If House Republicans can’t pass spending legislation by the end of this week, how painful would a government shutdown be? To some extent, that is up to the White House. When the federal government ran out of money in the mid-1990s, President Bill Clinton tried to “emphasize the pain" of the shutdown, his then-budget director later said, betting that the funding lapse would backfire on Republicans.

WASHINGTON—A gusher of cash is starting to pour out of Washington to carry out the Biden administration’s plan to strengthen the U.S. power grid and make it more resilient to outages and extreme weather. The Energy Department on Thursday is set to announce a new round of grants to tribes, territories and 11 states including Arizona, Florida and West Virginia as part of a $2.3 billion program designed to advance a key piece of the White House’s clean-energy drive.

oil prices nearing $100 a barrel compounded concerns about persistently high global interest rates. There was brief respite from the dollar's strength in currency markets [/FRX], but it was Wednesday's big drop in U.S. crude stocks that heightened nerves about another supply-side shock just when the global economy needs it least. U.S.

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. economy maintained a fairly strong pace of growth in the second quarter, the government confirmed on Thursday, and appears to have gathered momentum this quarter amid a resilient labor market.

By Moira Warburton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) that accused the online retail giant of overcharging customers and independent sellers on its platforms as the $1 trillion company sought to illegally maintain monopoly power.

By Marc Jones

Treasury yields and uncertainty about the path ahead for interest rates. Investors were also attuned to developments in Washington as divisions among U.S. lawmakers put the federal government at risk of a partial shutdown by the weekend. A possible shutdown has added to worries for stock investors as they grapple with benchmark Treasury yields that have climbed to 16-year highs after the Federal Reserve last week signaled a hawkish long-term path for interest rates. At the same time, as the S&P 500 has sharply pared its year-to-date gain, some investors are wondering if the market is close to a bottom. «At some point people will start to buy stocks for the fourth quarter, and the third-quarter selling might be almost done,» said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel. «At a certain level, people are going to get back in thinking the fourth quarter might be a pretty good one.» The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 68.61 points, or 0.2%, to 33,550.27, the S&P 500 gained 0.98 points, or 0.02%, at 4,274.51 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 29.24 points, or 0.22%, to 13,092.85. During the session, the S&P 500 rose as much as 0.4% and fell as much as 0.8% before paring losses. Among S&P 500 sectors, the rate-sensitive utilities group fell most, dropping 1.9%.

US State Department on Wednesday informed that the India-Canada diplomatic standoff regarding the killing of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar didn't come up during last week's meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Jaishankar had met his US counterpart Blinken in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa were also present at the Quad meeting. «That was not a bilateral meeting.

President Joe Biden has vetoed Republican-sponsored bills intended to undo federal protections for two endangered species that have seen their populations plummet over the years

Apple Apple Inc.'s lucrative agreement to use Alphabet Inc.'s Google as the default search engine for the iPhone includes a provision that the two tech giants will “support and defend” the deal against government scrutiny, a top Apple executive said at an antitrust trial. Their long time contract was renegotiated in 2016 to include the provision, Apple's Senior Vice President of Services Eddy Cue disclosed Tuesday in a Washington federal court, where the US government is pressing its claim that Google operates a monopoly in the search business. Cue, the architect of the most recent version of the agreement, said the provision for a joint defence was added at Google's request. He said it was handled by company lawyers so he couldn't speak directly to why it was included.

US Treasury yields were little changed to modestly higher on Wednesday, as traders took a breather after a months-long sell-off fueled by expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep rates high for some time to bring inflation down to its 2% target. Yields, however, are expected to stay high, with the latest pullback seen as a minor blip. «In the near term, there is pro-active reluctance to buy (Treasuries) particularly given the speed of the latest sell-off,» said Ben Jeffrey, rates strategist, at BMO Capital in New York. «There are definitely enough risks out there in terms of labor market growth and the economy, as well as the risk of a government shutdown that will eventually help to bring some demand and push rates lower,» he added. In the credit default swaps market, the threat of another government shutdown sent one-year credit default swaps to their widest since June 1, when the US government was on the cusp of a technical sovereign default as politicians in Washington haggled over the borrowing limit. U.S. one-year credit default swaps widened to 22 bps on Wednesday, from 21 bps at Tuesday's close.

By Sarah N. Lynch

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) set a date on Wednesday for its internal judge to hear its arguments on why Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) should not be allowed to buy games maker Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI).

(Reuters) -The top U.S. markets regulator on Wednesday told Washington lawmakers that a looming shutdown of the federal government would reduce his agency's staffing to «skeletal» levels, blocking it from approving companies' Wall Street debuts and hindering its ability to respond to any market turmoil.