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☆ Biden promised student-loan borrowers cheaper payments and more debt relief. The government might not have enough money for everyone to actually get those benefits.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

With broad student-debt relief, many student-loan borrowers anticipate reforms to payment programs. Congress didn't increase funding for Federal Student Aid last year, and the impacts already show. Federal student-loan borrowers are facing a consequential year ahead. Alex Wong/Getty Images'We really need to be worried and concerned'The issue of a lack of funding, and how it impacts student-loan borrowers, has been on some Democratic lawmakers' radars. "That's why I'll continue to fight for the increased funding the Student Aid Administration needs to provide quality services and support at-risk borrowers," she said.

☆ Pandemic-related asylum restrictions known as Title 42 expire, straining U.S. immigration system
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

The expired rule, known as Title 42, was in place since March 2020. While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. Migrants cross the Rio Bravo river to turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents before Title 42 ends, in Matamoros, Mexico May 10, 2023. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had already warned of more crowded Border Patrol facilities to come. They were quickly apprehended by Border Patrol agents.

☆ Vivek Ramaswamy's firm courts GOP officials as he pushes businesses to stay out of politics
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Scott Olson | Getty ImagesRepublican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy built his White House bid around urging companies to stay out of politics. The messages show Ramaswamy's firm actively engaged with GOP state leaders who have defended the fossil fuel industry and criticized environmentally conscious investment standards. Ramaswamy on Thursday defended the firm's engagement with GOP officials, saying bigger firms BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street have conducted similar practices with state officials across the country. Strive has become one of the more vocal opponents of ESG investing and has gained enough notoriety to challenge the likes of fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil . Ron DeSantis, have often attacked ESG investing standards and corporations that support social causes — an increasingly common refrain within the GOP.

☆ I Got My Name From Connie Chung. So Did They. - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Connie Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +21 min

In my freshman class alone, there was a Connie Zheng, a Connie Guo, a Connie Xu, a few Connie Chengs, and multiple Connie Wangs. That ayi was Constance Yu-Hwa Chung, or, as the world knows her, Connie Chung. Connie Chung hosting the “CBS Evening News” in 1991, the year after the author named herself Connie. Connie Wang Connie Koh Connie Yang Connie Tang Connie Jang Connie Chung Connie Moy Connie Huang Connie Kwok Connie Chang Connie Sun Connie Chung, center, surrounded by 10 members of Generation Connie. Clockwise from top right, Connie Yang, Connie Tang, Connie Moy, Connie Sun, Connie Chang, Connie Kwok, Connie Huang, Connie Jang, Connie Wang and Connie Koh.

☆ We got an inside look at a presentation showing the future of Microsoft's $20 billion health-tech acquisition. It revealed how new AI models could transform how we go to the doctor.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Blake Dodge | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Microsoft bought Nuance in 2022 for nearly $20 billion to expand its reach in healthcare. CHICAGO — In 2022, Microsoft bought Nuance for nearly $20 billion to supercharge its growth in the healthcare industry. It's the first tool in Nuance's pipeline to combine the company's own AI models with that of OpenAI, ChatGPT's creator and a deep Microsoft partner. Even back in 2015, enthusiasm for the idea was palpable, Peter Durlach, Nuance's chief strategy officer, told Insider in April. In a conference presentation, Andrea Barrett, a physician assistant and Nuance consultant, demonstrates products using generative AI.

SINGAPORE, May 11 (Reuters) - If the global energy transition is to be delivered in the coming decades, the mining industry believes there is one certainty. One thing most mining and energy transition analysts agree on is that there is currently insufficient copper production to meet anticipated demand as the world moves to electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies. If this is the case, the question is then why the future price of copper is relatively flat relative to the current price. It now takes an average of 23 years from discovery of a copper resource to a producing mine, according to data shown at the conference by Michael Langford, the executive director of consultants Airguide. The industry view is that many of the people demanding an energy transition the loudest are the very same people working hardest to make it virtually impossible to produce the necessary metals.

☆ Stocks rise as U.S. inflation trends lower, bond yields slide
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Herbert Lash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The odds of the Fed cutting rates later this year also increased. Consumer prices decelerated to 4.9% year-on-year, the 10th straight month of slowdown as prices react to the Fed's rate-tightening cycle. The two-year Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with rate expectations, slid from 4.05% before the CPI news and dropped to 3.908%. The dollar index eased 0.20% and equity markets rose as the CPI data suggested the Fed's most aggressive rate hikes in four decades were yielding results. U.S. crude futures fell 1.6% to settle at $72.56 a barrel, and Brent settled down 1.3% at $76.41 a barrel.

The likelihood the Fed cuts rates later this year also increased. "The Fed does not aim get rate policy right just in time, they aim to get it right over time." Consumer prices decelerated to 4.9% year-on-year, the 10th straight month of slowdown as prices react to the Fed's rate-tightening cycle. The two-year Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with rate expectations, slid from 4.05% before the CPI news and dropped to 3.904%. Gold prices slipped as the CPI data was viewed as mixed and triggered profit-taking by some investors.

Equity markets initially rose as the CPI data suggested the Fed's most aggressive rate hikes in four decades were yielding results. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the world (.MIWD00000PUS) edged down 0.06%, while stocks on Wall Street wavered after an early rally. CHINA CRACKDOWNForeign exchange markets had been treading water while markets weighed policymakers' rhetoric against traders' conviction that U.S. interest rates should fall. Emerging markets currencies rallied on Wednesday following the U.S. data, with MSCI's index (.MIEM00000CUS) up 0.15%. U.S. crude recently fell 2.06% to $72.19 per barrel and Brent was at $76.00, down 1.86% on the day.

☆ Stocks tiptoe higher as US inflation data offers hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Lawrence White | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MSCI's gauge of global equity performance (.MIWD00000PUS) rose 0.03% after the Labor Department's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 4.9% year-over-year in April, against expectations of 5%. "Bigger picture, I think the market is hyper fixated on the ‘pause’ but a pause is still restrictive overall," he said. The dollar index hit a session low of 101.36 after the headline April inflation data, while benchmark 10-year German bond yields edged down 4 basis points. Emerging markets currencies rallied on Wednesday following the U.S. data, with MSCI's index (.MIEM00000CUS) up 0.26%. Spot gold turned positive after the CPI data, last trading up 0.3%.

☆ Stocks stumble in jittery mood ahead of US inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

S&P 500 futures were steady and European futures rose 0.1%. "That's the thing that'd get taken out if CPI numbers come in on the higher side," said ING economist Rob Carnell. "It doesn't look particularly sensible if inflation is falling at too slow a rate and that could feed through into higher longer-term treasury yields as well." Interest rate futures imply about a 60% chance the Federal Reserve cuts rates in September, according to the CME FedWatch tool. "But the debt ceiling drama, and market participants’ focus on rate cuts is unlikely to change much from one CPI report.

☆ Stocks stumble as investors' nerves show ahead of US inflation data
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

SINGAPORE, May 10 (Reuters) - Stocks were struggling to advance in Asia and the dollar was firm on Wednesday ahead of U.S. consumer price data that could damage hopes for interest rate cuts later this year if inflation fails to show much of a decline. Overnight the S&P 500 (.SPX) fell 0.5% and S&P 500 futures were steady in the Asian morning. A firm U.S. dollar pushed the euro back below $1.10 to $1.0971. Treasuries were broadly steady overnight, though debt-ceiling brinkmanship is warping the bills market as investors avoid bills maturing early in June. The dollar was also firm at 135.14 yen and has lifted slightly from recent lows on the Aussie , kiwi and sterling .

Under current guidelines, single women are barred from freezing their eggs, with assisted reproductive technologies only available to married women with fertility issues. In recent months, some provinces have extended childbirth benefits for unmarried women, and in the southwestern province of Sichuan province single women are increasingly undergoing IVF treatments in private clinics. SOCIAL STIGMALike many Chinese women, Xu spent her twenties and early thirties focused on career development, but was constantly reminded of women's fertility decline with age. "I think society should stop this stigma and recognise the diverse circumstances of single women, as well as their courage and independence." "I hope that all single women can achieve bodily autonomy and reproductive autonomy, and that everyone is allowed to have the space for making independent choices," she said.

☆ Southeast Asian leaders pledge crackdown on human traffickers online scams
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Kate Lamb | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia, May 10 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian leaders pledged on Wednesday to crack down ononline scams operated by human traffickers to prey on vulnerable job seekers, particularly in the poorest countries of the region. Meeting in Indonesia for a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the leaders called for a regional approach to combat human trafficking. Issuing the first declaration by ASEAN on the danger of traffickers' cyber scams, the leaders noted "the increasing abuse of technology in facilitating trafficking in persons in Southeast Asia and globally, proliferated through the use and abuse of social media and other online platforms". There has been a spike in cases of people enslaved in cyber scams, and more than 1,000 victims have been rescued just in recent days. ASEAN's efforts to combat human trafficking will include enhancing the capacity of law enforcement agencies to investigate, collect data, exchange information and conduct joint exercises, the declaration said.

Sembcorp, which is 49.3% owned by Singapore's state investor Temasek Holdings, has hired HSBC (HSBA.L) to run the sale of SembWaste, according to the sources. First-round of non-binding bids are due by early June, said one of the sources, declining to be named as the matter is private. Last year, SembWaste's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization was S$50 million ($37.75 million), one of the sources added. Last year, Singapore's asset manager Keppel consortium bought a 80% stake in environmental services firm 800 Super Holdings for S$304 million. SembWaste is one of three public waste collectors appointed by Singapore's National Environment Agency to provide waste and recyclable collection services to residential, schools and trade premises in the city-state, according to its website.

☆ Don't look now, but Wall Street bonuses are already trending in the wrong direction
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Wall Street, I'm sorry to say your 2023 bonus is already on some shaky ground. I realize we're not even halfway through the year, but after an awful first quarter, bonuses in plenty of areas of finance are trending in the wrong direction. It's a mixed bag, with some areas trending toward a double-digit percentage increase over 2022, while others are heading the opposite way. If that isn't a certainty, you can bet people, especially those earlier in their career, will look for greener pastures. Six of the largest European and US oil companies have a combined nearly $160 billion in cash and cash equivalents on their balance sheets, The Wall Street Journal reports.

SINGAPORE, May 9 (Reuters) - China's imports of major commodities lost momentum in April as the strong start to the year faded amid uncertainty about the strength and composition of the recovery in the world's second-biggest economy. Crude imports were the lowest since January and the decline places a question mark over just how strong demand is in the world's largest oil importer. One factor worth noting is that China's exports of refined fuels also dropped sharply in April to 3.75 million tonnes, down 31.2% from 5.75 million tonnes in March. Part of the strength in China's crude imports in the first quarter was driven by a massive 59.8% surge in exports of refined fuels. Iron ore imports dropped to 90.44 million tonnes in April, down 9.8% from March but up 5.1% from April last year.

☆ Chinese investment in Europe shifts to greenfield battery projects - report
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Victoria Waldersee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, May 9 (Reuters) - Chinese investment in Europe is shifting from mergers and acquisitions to greenfield projects mainly in battery production for electric vehicles, according to 2022 data analysed by independent research providers MERICS and Rhodium Group. Greenfield investment made up 57% of total foreign direct investment by China in Europe in 2022, overtaking mergers and acquisitions for the first time since 2008, according to the report released on Tuesday. "We are witnessing a major shift in how Chinese companies invest in Europe... Chinese firms have become major players in Europe's green transition," Agatha Kratz, director of the Rhodium Group, said in a statement. Setting up operations from scratch in Europe allows Chinese players to avoid tariffs and transport costs and shield themselves from political tension that could impede exports and imports, the report said. While screenings of Chinese investments in Europe have increased, the region still remains more open politically to China than the United States which has cracked down on Chinese battery imports via the Inflation Reduction Act, it added.

☆ Streaming broke the career ladder, striking Hollywood writers say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

How to train and support a new generation of writers is a sticking point in contract negotiations between the WGA, which represents 11,500 film and TV writers, and Hollywood's major studios. Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) and other streaming services began crafting shorter series in "mini rooms" with fewer writers. The WGA, however, is seeking a requirement for at least six TV writers per series, with half of them being employed throughout the production. Now, half of all writers work at minimum salary levels, the WGA said. "I want to be part of fighting for a better future," Smith said while holding a "Writers Guild of America On Strike" sign.

☆ Peter Nygard ordered to pay billionaire neighbor $203 million in damages after driveway feud escalated to accusations of arson and Ku Klux Klan links
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A hedge fund manager was awarded $203 million in damages after being defamed by former neighbor Peter Nygard. Disgraced fashion mogul Nygard accused Louis Bacon of arson, insider trading and links to the KKK. The decade-long dispute began following a quarrel over a driveway Nygard and Bacon shared. A hedge fund billionaire has been awarded $203 million after a New York court ruled he was defamed by his former Bahamas neighbor Peter Nygard following a decade-long feud ignited by a shared driveway. Lawyers told the court Bacon had spent more than $50 million in legal fees bringing several defamation cases against Nygard.

☆ Republicans want to push Manchin out of a reelection bid because they think he's the last Democrat who can win in deep red West Virginia: 'You can't say that it's impossible for him to win'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Republicans are looking to nudge Joe Manchin out of a Senate reelection bid in 2024. Still, Republican leaders aren't dismissing Manchin, as he has withstood the GOP lean of the state. And the state Senate and state House of Delegates, which had robust Democratic majorities just over a decade ago, now have GOP supermajorities. But if Manchin does run, Republicans should expect a tenacious campaigner who has shown that he won't be outworked. "He has that Clinton-esque ability to make everybody feel like he's your friend and he's listening to you and he's concerned about you," Hickey told Politico.

☆ Japan's service activity grows at record pace in April
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, May 8 - Japan's services activity grew at a record pace in April, a private-sector survey showed on Monday, helped by a boost in consumer spending following the end of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. New orders expanded at the fastest pace on record, the survey showed, citing a sharp return of spending for travel and tourism. "Around four times as many service providers expect an increase in activity as those that forecast a decline," Moore said. The subindex for employment expanded for a third month and at the fastest pace in four years, helped by stronger demand and confidence. The composite PMI, which combines the manufacturing and services figures, grew at the fastest pace since June 2022.

☆ Japan's service activity grows at record pace in April - PMI
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

☆ Republicans dismiss fears that their debt ceiling bill would make the housing crisis worse for 1 million families as 'scaremongering'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

House Republicans' debt ceiling bill would cut significant funding from federal housing services. HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said the agency would suffer "the most devastating impacts in HUD's history" if the funding cuts in the bill are made law. He went on, "It's being positioned as congressional Republicans are heartless because they want to pass these spending cuts. "The House bill reduces spending to the levels we had in 2022. The last I checked, 2022 was not a horrid apocalypse sweeping across our country," Cruz told Insider on Wednesday.

☆ Billionaires and CEOs descended on Beverly Hills to talk recession, bank failures, and more. Here's the inside track.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

On the agenda today:But first: The big takeaways from the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) speaks at the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference Mike Blake/ReutersThe big-money set jetted into LA last week for the Milken Global Conference. Biggest opportunityCampbell: The pullback in lending by banks is raising the hopes of those in the private credit industry. Read more:'Junk fees'Getty ImagesIt goes by many names: an administrative fee, a transaction fee, even a "regulatory compliance" fee. Akash Nigam, the founder and CEO of Genies, who is spending $2,400 a month on ChatGPT accounts for all his employees.

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