Washington Financial News

09.12 / 18:43

IPO Provident IPOs SEC’s Gary Gensler Seeks to Level Playing Field Between SPACs, Traditional IPOs

WASHINGTON—Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler took aim Thursday at blank-check companies known as special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, saying they provide ordinary investors with insufficient protection against information asymmetries, conflicts of interest and fraud.

09.12 / 17:15

UPS Racing Democrats Race to Prevent Child Tax Credit Payments From Lapsing

WASHINGTON—Democrats are racing to keep monthly child tax credit deposits flowing to households, using the payments’ potential lapse to build momentum for finishing their roughly $2 trillion education, healthcare and climate bill before December ends.

08.12 / 20:31

Digital Waters Future lawmakers Crypto chiefs tell lawmakers the tech behind digital coins is promising for the future

WASHINGTON — Cryptocurrency chief executives appeared before Congress on 8 December to argue that their technologies hold promise for the future, as lawmakers and regulators wrestle with how to bring the more-than-$2tn market under government oversight.

08.12 / 01:23

BLOCK National Saule Omarova, Biden’s Nominee to Oversee National Banks, Withdraws

WASHINGTON—Saule Omarova, President Biden’s nominee to oversee large national banks, withdrew from consideration on Tuesday, amid opposition from Republicans and moderate Democrats who had sought to block her nomination, the White House said.

07.12 / 23:45

EPA Cuts Ethanol Requirement for Gasoline

WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency proposed reducing the amount of ethanol and other biofuels that must be blended into gasoline this year and retroactively lowered last year’s target—a win for refiners who warned that raising the requirement would lift prices at the pump.

07.12 / 21:31

Cooper lawmakers Deal Lawmakers Close In on Debt-Ceiling Deal

WASHINGTON—House leaders introduced legislation that would pave the way for Democrats to raise the debt ceiling in the Senate without Republican support, as lawmakers closed in on a procedural agreement to resolve the partisan clash over lifting the government’s borrowing limit.

07.12 / 16:43

Manufacturing BURST Democrats’ Corporate Minimum Tax Plan Brings Late Lobbying Burst From Companies

WASHINGTON—Congress is poised to create a new corporate minimum tax, and pension advocates, renewable-energy backers and manufacturers are pushing for changes before the plan is finalized.

05.12 / 13:53

Retreat From Globalization Adds to Inflation Risks

WASHINGTON—While supply-chain disruptions, labor shortages and fiscal stimulus have all been blamed for the rise in short-term inflation, another long-term force could also be at work: “deglobalization.”

03.12 / 17:45

MET Support Biden Struggles to Win Support Among Democrats for Vacant Wall Street Regulation Posts

WASHINGTON—The White House’s desire to appease both liberal and moderate Democrats has left several top Wall Street regulatory posts unfilled, slowing the implementation of President Biden’s agenda nearly a year into the administration.

03.12 / 13:04

UPS Biden tightens rules for travellers amid Omicron fears

WASHINGTON — President Biden on 2 December announced plans to tighten up Covid-19 testing timelines for travellers entering the US and extend a mask mandate on airplanes and other public transportation as part of a broad administration effort to combat the Omicron variant.

03.12 / 01:31

BLOCK Holdings Deal FTC Challenges Nvidia’s $40 Billion Deal for Arm Holdings

WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sued to block U.S. chip supplier Nvidia Corp.’s proposed $40 billion takeover of chip-design specialist Arm Holdings, arguing the chip-industry deal is anticompetitive.

02.12 / 21:37

Deal Democrats and Republicans Reach Deal to Try to Prevent Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON—Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement to extend government funding through Feb. 18, taking the first step toward avoiding a government shutdown this weekend.

02.12 / 13:39

lawmakers Deal Government Shutdown Deadline Approaches as Deal Eludes Lawmakers

WASHINGTON—Lawmakers worked Wednesday to reach an agreement on a short-term spending patch to avoid a potential partial government shutdown this weekend, with Democrats and Republicans still haggling over the details of the funding extension.

01.12 / 00:04

UPS Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac to Back Home Loans of Nearly $1 Million

WASHINGTON—Starting next year, home buyers in high-cost areas of the country will be able to borrow nearly $1 million for a mortgage loan backed by the government, a reflection of the rapid appreciation in home prices nationally.

30.11 / 22:55

Variant COVID-19 Vaccine WTO Omicron Variant Adds Urgency to Covid-19 Vaccine Talks, WTO Chief Says

WASHINGTON—The new Omicron Covid-19 variant has added urgency for the World Trade Organization to act faster on vaccines, the group’s leader said Tuesday, as the variant disrupted contentious negotiations aimed at boosting vaccine supplies to poorer countries around the world.

30.11 / 20:17

UPS Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac to Back High-Cost Home Loans of Nearly $1 Million

29.11 / 18:55

Rental Assistance to Be Redirected Based on Demand

WASHINGTON—The Treasury Department is redirecting rental-assistance money from some states and localities that haven’t used the bulk of their funds to others facing backlogs of aid requests, according to administration officials.

28.11 / 16:43

Lowe's Biden’s Economic Plans Collide With Inflation Reality

WASHINGTON—President Biden took office with a raft of economic plans to better position the U.S. to compete on the world stage and jump-start a labor market ravaged by the pandemic. Ten months into his term, Mr. Biden is facing a new set of economic challenges.

27.11 / 01:09

Mark Warner Centrist Senate Democrats Signal Opposition to Biden Banking Nominee

WASHINGTON—A group of Senate Democrats have privately voiced their opposition to President Biden’s nomination of Saule Omarova to become a top banking regulator, likely scuttling the academic’s chances of confirmation.

23.11 / 20:09

FIVE reserves U.S., Other Countries to Tap Strategic Oil Reserves in Bid to Tame Inflation

WASHINGTON—The U.S. and five other countries including China will tap their national strategic petroleum reserves in an attempt to bring down gasoline prices that have become a sore spot with motorists and a big contributor to inflation, the White House said.

23.11 / 18:26

Man Biden Pick of Powell for Fed Chairman Marks Rare Split With Warren

WASHINGTON—Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s opposition to President Biden’s renomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell marks her most public break with her one-time presidential rival, whose economic policy and personnel choices she has helped shape.

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