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☆ The Justice Department investigated Jeffrey Epstein's death. Then it went silent.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

Jeffrey Epstein's death in a federal jail was seen as a shocking Justice Department failure. But more than three years later, the office still hasn't released its report into the circumstances of Epstein's death. "We all took it by surprise," Mark Epstein told Insider. Barr tasked the Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, and the FBI with investigating "the circumstances of Mr. Epstein's death." Mark Epstein told Insider that he spoke to his brother about once a month in the years before his death.

☆ Morning Bid: Job runes, China offer sliver of rate hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

That certainly ups the ante for Friday's monthly employment report and next week's consumer price index releases. But the rate at which people were leaving jobs voluntarily was falling and layoffs were up. Another pause for thought came from China's February inflation numbers that show annual consumer price rises slowed to just 1%, the lowest rate in a year. More broadly on Thursday, interest rates markets retained their dramatic re-pricing and relatively resilient stock markets tilted negative again. The implied end-2023 rate is now above 5.50% - more than a full percentage point above where it was assumed on February 1.

☆ House Republicans target the CFPB as the agency takes aim at 'junk fees'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers discussed ways to reform, or altogether defund, the nation's foremost consumer protection agency on Thursday, as the regulator takes aim at illegal "junk fees" levied on consumers. GOP lawmakers in the hearing criticized the Biden administration's push to eradicate "junk fees," largely regulated by the CFPB. On Wednesday, the agency released a list of illegal junk fees encompassing deposit accounts; auto and mortgage loan servicing; and payday and title lending. Subcommittee member Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., said Chopra has used junk fees as an excuse to expand his authority. The CFPB's working definition of junk fees is "any fee they don't like," argued Devin Watkins, an attorney at the conservative-leaning Competitive Enterprise Institute.

☆ Fed's Barr says crypto needs 'guardrails' to realize benefits
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Pete Schroeder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - The top regulatory official for the U.S. Federal Reserve said cryptocurrency technology still could have "potential transformative" effects on the financial system, but needs "guardrails" to realize them. Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr said recent turmoil in crypto markets make clear the sector could still pose a risk to traditional banks, but that the impact has been limited as regulators urge caution. Barr stopped short of saying banks have no role to play in crypto, but rather said regulators are busy figuring out what firms could do in the space while remaining safe and sound. He noted that technology behind crypto could make financial markets and payments systems more efficient and affordable. "Our goal is to create guardrails, while making room for innovation that can benefit consumers and the financial system more broadly," he said.

☆ Opko Health soars after deal with Merck for experimental Epstein-Barr vaccine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 8 (Reuters) - Opko Health Inc (OPK.O) said on Wednesday it signed a deal with Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) potentially worth up to $922.5 million for its experimental Epstein-Barr virus vaccine. Merck will take over the clinical and regulatory activities related to the vaccine, as well its commercialization once the drugmaker files a joint application with Opko unit ModeX Therapeutics to test it in humans, the company said. Opko will receive an upfront payment of $50 million and is eligible for milestone payments of up to $872.5 million, plus royalties on global sales. There is currently no vaccine for the Epstein-Barr virus, which is the leading cause of mononucleosis, or mono, commonly called the "kissing disease". Reporting by Aditya Samal in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja DesaiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Stock futures are flat as Wall Street weighs likelihood of higher rate hikes: Live updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

U.S. stock futures were flat on Wednesday night as traders processed fresh job market data and comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped by 0.01% and 0.03%, respectively. During the regular session, the Dow dipped 58.06 points, or 0.18%, marking its second negative session in a row. These mixed results came after new numbers on the job market led investors to believe that higher rate hikes are more likely. "The global economy is more resilient than many realized, which will make inflation stickier and is extending central bankers' terminal rate target.

☆ The rise, fall, and comeback of Victoria's Secret, America's biggest lingerie retailer
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Mary Hanbury | Áine Cain | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

He named the brand after the Victorian era in England, wanting to evoke the refinement of this period in his lingerie. Victoria's Secret vintage catalog 1982. Victoria's SecretHis vision was summed up by Slate's Naomi Barr in 2013: "Raymond imagined a Victorian boudoir, replete with dark wood, oriental rugs, and silk drapery. He chose the name 'Victoria' to evoke the propriety and respectability associated with the Victorian era; outwardly refined, Victoria's 'secrets' were hidden beneath." He went on to open a handful of Victoria's Secret stores and launched its famous catalog.

☆ The U.S. Must Defeat Mexico’s Drug Cartels
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( William P. Barr | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

America can no longer tolerate narco-terrorist cartels. Operating from havens in Mexico, their production of deadly drugs on an industrial scale is flooding our country with this poison. Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R., Texas) and Michael Waltz (R., Fla.) have proposed a joint resolution giving the president authority to use the U.S. military against these cartels in Mexico. Overdose deaths every year—more than 100,000—exceed the number of Americans killed in action during the bloodiest year of World War II. Given the explosion in illicit drug deaths since then, this estimate now seems conservative.

☆ The Fed and a big jobs report could drive the market in the week ahead, as investors watch rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The seesaw-like tension between interest rates and stock prices should remain in play in the week ahead, as investors focus on comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and the February employment report. There are few earnings in the week ahead, so economic data will likely be a main driver for stocks, along with the comments from Powell. The futures market is pricing in a high chance for a quarter point, or 25 basis point hike in March. Week ahead calendar Monday Earnings: WW International, ThredUp, Trip.com, Lordstown Motor, Ciena, Grindr 10:00 a.m. Initial claims 10:00 a.m. Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr Friday Earnings: Embraer 8:30 a.m. Employment report 2:00 p.m. Federal budget

☆ House Passes Bill Taking Aim at ESG Investments
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Eric Bazail-Eimil | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Ting Shen for The Wall Street JournalThe Labor Department late last year drafted the new rule under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The House passed a Republican-led bill Tuesday disapproving of a new Biden administration regulation that would allow retirement-plan managers to consider climate change and other factors when they make investment decisions. The legislation to overturn the regulation on environmental, social and governance guidelines, or ESG, passed 216-204. One Democrat joined with Republicans in support of the measure, which was introduced by Rep. Andrew Barr (R. Ky.).

☆ US House Republicans target ESG investments in latest culture war salvo
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( David Morgan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The measure is the latest salvo in the Republican culture war against the use of issues that promote environmental interests, social equality and corporate responsibility in business and investment decisions. "Retirement plans should be solely focused on delivering maximum returns, not advancing a political agenda," said Republican Representative Andy Barr, who introduced the House resolution. "If Congress doesn't block the Department of Labor's rule greenlighting ESG investing in retirement plans, retirees will suffer diminished returns on the investment of their hard-earned money." The measure is widely expected to pass the House, where Republicans hold a slim 222-212 seat majority. Two Democratic absences could give Republicans the simple majority necessary to pass the measure and send it to Biden's desk.

☆ Holiday Inn-owner IHG profit jumps on holiday demand, higher room rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 21 (Reuters) - Holiday Inn-owner IHG Plc (IHG.L) reported higher full-year profit on Tuesday, helped by strong occupancy demand during the holidays and higher room prices, and said it would buyback shares worth an additional $750 million in 2023. The Crowne Plaza, Regent and Hualuxe owner said the Americas market saw the strongest recovery, with RevPAR in the year up 3.3% from 2019, while Greater China was down 38% as travel restrictions were still in place. Hotel chains were affected by uneven recovery in China as a rise in COVID-19 infections led to indefinite lockdowns. The latest additional buyback comes after the company said in August it would back shares worth $500 million. Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ IHG CEO: Demand returning to pre-pandemic levels
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailIHG CEO: Demand returning to pre-pandemic levelsKeith Barr, CEO at IHG, discusses the company's results, the removal of Chinese Covid restrictions, and employment trends in the hospitality and leisure industry.

☆ Hotels share revival shrugs off two crises
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 21 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Hotel groups are in restoration mode. Chief Executive Keith Barr reckons the year ahead will continue to see strong demand, boosted by China’s re-opening. In 2019, the People’s Republic accounted for around 10% of the hotel market, and its citizens spent over $250 billion on international tourism, according to the World Tourism Organisation. Yet Covid-19 may still hurt spending in the Middle kingdom, and geopolitical tensions may lead to fewer Chinese people travelling. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Fact Check-Claim that ABC ordered to pay $208 million to Roseanne Barr stems from satire
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A story about ABC being ordered by a jury to pay $208 million to Roseanne Barr for “stealing her show” originates from a satirical website, but users online are sharing the claim as if it were true. A tweet said: “ABC was ordered by The Jury to pay $208 million to Roseanne Barr for stealing her Show...” (here). Some of the posts link to a story on Freedom Fictions that says Roseanne Barr won “a huge court case against ABC” for “stealing her show, ‘The Conners’” (archive.ph/jp4tH). Reuters has reached out to Roseanne Barr and ABC’s The Conners for comment. A story about ABC being ordered to pay Roseanne Barr $208 million originates from a satirical website.

☆ Apple and Google have a symbiotic deal: ChatGPT will pressure the former to evaluate this relationship
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Google has long benefited from a costly deal to be the default search engine on Apple devices. On top of the Apple deal, Google controls Android and Chrome, with roughly 71% and 65% of the smartphone and browser markets, respectively. Based on its understanding of Google's deal with Apple, Bernstein believes that a 3-year default search deal is coming up for renewal later this year. It's unclear whether Apple would want to change the default search engine to Bing, but it's always had a contentious relationship with Google. Apple's services business, which includes the search deal, was a bright spot in the company's most recent earnings report.

☆ Fed releases 2023 stress test scenarios for banks, including extra new shock for big firms
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Pete Schroeder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday released the hypothetical economic strains they will use to test the strength of big bank finances in its 2023 stress test, and floated the possibility of using multiple scenarios in the future. Banks with large trading operations will also be tested against a global market shock, as the Fed has done in years prior. But new this year is an extra market shock applied to the eight largest firms, including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup. The Fed did not detail what that market shock would look like, but noted it would not contribute to a firm's capital requirements. The 2023 test marks the first under Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr, who had previously floated multiple scenarios as a way to better gauge such risks.

☆ Morning Bid: Powell confesses 'This time it's different'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Any fear of a radical Fed rethink on the back of the jobs numbers seemed wide of the mark. "This cycle is different from other cycles...it has just confounded all sorts of attempts to predict," Powell admitted. And many think last week's jobs report should similarly be treated with care. They included a minimum tax for billionaires and a quadrupling of the tax on corporate stock buybacks. Brands, Eaton Corp, etcUS terminal rateReuters GraphicsReuters GraphicsReuters GraphicsBy Mike Dolan, Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky <a href="mailto:mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com" target="_blank">mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com</a>.

☆ Morning Bid: The Powell Put
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Wayne Cole. Wall Street must be hoping Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell would speak in public every day. Given a chance to react hawkishly to the bumper January payrolls report, Powell demurred and chose to stay boringly balanced on the rate outlook. Asked if he regretted using "disinflation" 11 times in his media conference last week, he said no, he would do the same again. Hardly earth shattering stuff, but for markets these days if Powell is not all-out in-your-face hawkish, then he's dovish.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has spoken and luckily for bulls and bears, there was something for everyone, so where Asian markets go on Wednesday is something a coin flip. With an expected interest rate rise in India taking center stage regionally, investors in Asia will be digesting the mixed U.S. picture that saw stocks rise but the dollar and Treasuries ease lower on Tuesday. But he also said "it will take some time" to get the inflation genie back in the 2% bottle. The Reserve Bank of India is likely to raise its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 6.50%, which most economists reckon will be the last of the hiking cycle. With the rupee within a whisker of October's record low, however, traders will be on RBI intervention alert.

☆ Morning Bid: Powell's state of the union
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Jerome Powell makes his first speech since the Fed's latest quarter-point interest rate rise last week. More importantly, it's his first chance to comment on Friday's seemingly blockbuster U.S. employment report for January. Perhaps just as significantly, they now price year-end Fed rates higher than the 4.5-4.75% range they are at right now. Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic on Monday said of the jobs readout: "It'll probably mean we have to do a little more work." Investors will watch Biden's State of the Union with one eye on the potentially destabilising debt ceiling standoff with Congress.

☆ Earnings and Fed Chair Powell will again drive markets in the week ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

With few economic releases and the earnings season starting to wind down, an appearance by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell Tuesday could be among the newsiest events for markets in the week ahead. The Fed chair is speaking at the Economic Club of Washington D.C. at midday Tuesday. If he wanted to walk back anything, he could have done it then," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley. Economists said Friday's surprisingly strong jobs report should encourage the Fed to push forward with planned rate hikes. Earnings, earnings, earnings But there continues to be earnings news.

☆ The Fed slows down its interest rate hikes again as inflation continues to cool and recession fears loom
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates 25 basis points on Wednesday. This announcement comes on the heels of data showing inflation cooling down in the country. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced it is raising interest rates by 25 basis points, marking a slowdown from its December hike of 50 basis points. The Fed's continued actions to slow its interest rate hikes is a promising sign for those concerned about a recession this year. But some Democratic lawmakers have been cautioning Powell on the risks of continuing to raise interest rates because it could lead to a recession.

☆ Irn-bru maker A.G. Barr sees FY profit, revenue beating expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 31 (Reuters) - A.G. Barr (BAG.L) said on Tuesday it expects its full-year revenue and profit to beat market expectations, helped by price hikes and steady demand for its cocktail mixes and beverages. The company raised prices last year to deal with surging costs and launched new products as it benefited from greater at-home consumption of food and drinks that held even after the pandemic and despite pubs and restaurants reopening. The maker of the orange fizzy drink Irn Bru forecast revenue of 315 million pounds ($389 million) for the year ended Jan. 28 and said it expects full-year profit to be slightly ahead of market expectations. Analysts expect the group to report an annual revenue of 302 million pounds and a pretax profit of 42.6 million pounds, according to company-compiled estimates. ($1 = 0.8100 pounds)Reporting by Muhammed Husain in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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