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☆ Ban Noncompetes, and Set Millions of Americans Free - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Adam Westbrook | Emily Holzknecht | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It may also contain language that puts restrictions on your life even after you leave that job. These are noncompete clauses, the focus of the Opinion video above. Once the domain of high-flying executives privy to trade secrets or other highly sensitive information, noncompete clauses have become the scourge of employees of all kinds. Many low-wage workers — including hairstylists, fast-food line cooks and security guards — are now burdened by them. In a hopeful development, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a rule this year that would ban the use of noncompete clauses in future employment contracts and void such clauses in existing contracts.

Organizations: Federal Trade Commission Locations: United States

☆ For DeSantis, Overflowing War Chest Obscures the Challenges Ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Rebecca Davis O Brien | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

He is prohibited by law from transferring that “soft” money — dollars raised without federally imposed limits — into a presidential campaign. “Can he take that money, which was raised through his state PAC, and use it to advance his presidential campaign directly or through a federal super PAC supporting him?” said Saurav Ghosh, a former F.E.C. enforcement lawyer who is now the director of federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center, a watchdog group. Representatives of Mr. DeSantis did not respond to requests for comment. Should he decide to run for president, he will be a grass-roots-fueled force to be reckoned with.”

☆ Romanian farmers block borders in protest over Ukrainian grain imports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUCHAREST, April 7 (Reuters) - Thousands of farmers protested across Romania on Friday over the impact of Ukrainian grain imports on prices, blocking traffic and border checkpoints with tractors and trucks and urging the European Commission to intervene. Anger is rising among farmers in Central and Eastern Europe over a flood of cheap Ukrainian grain imports, exempt from customs fees until June 2024, which have hurt prices and sales of local producers. Across the country, thousands of farmers used tractors, trucks and other machinery to block roads and borders. It decided to hand out compensation worth 56.3 million euros to Polish, Bulgarian and Romanian farmers, with more to come. On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he expected decisions to be announced in coming days and weeks to alleviate anger among Polish farmers.

☆ New EU debt rules have way to avoid past mistakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Rebecca Christie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

BRUSSELS, April 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The European Union’s new set of fiscal rules need to answer two simple questions: will they help the bloc’s economy grow? The fiscal rules are at the crossroads of the EU’s monetary union and budgetary sovereignty. Past rounds of budget rules have carried the threat of top-level sanctions but the enforcers could not follow through. EU countries need to encourage scale-up financing and allow more cross-border cooperation. New rules need to put the future ahead of philosophy to have a chance to work.

☆ Stocks finished the quarter surprisingly strong. What’s next?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The tech-heavy Nasdaq made a remarkable resurgence, soaring nearly 17% in its best quarterly gain since the fourth quarter of 2020. The labor market has remained red hot, despite the Fed’s aggressive tightening campaign. The number of job openings fell in January , signaling a slight cooling but still hot labor market. The March jobs report. Friday: March jobs report and February consumer credit.

☆ Stocks bounced back this quarter, but it’s too early to celebrate
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The broad-based S&P 500 seesawed throughout the quarter, ending January on a high note before tumbling in February, rising again in March and ultimately ending the quarter up about 7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq made a remarkable resurgence, soaring nearly 17% in its best quarterly gain since the fourth quarter of 2020. That comes after a tough 2022 for tech stocks, as investors sought out less risky avenues to ride out turbulence from the Fed’s interest rate hike campaign. Bond prices rose as investors wagered that the Federal Reserve won’t raise rates as high as previously expected due to the banking crisis. Wall Street largely shrugged it all off, however, with stocks recouping their losses — and then some — as investors started snapping up tech stocks, boosting the broader equity market.

☆ Stocks bounced back in the first quarter, but it’s too early to celebrate
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

☆ Crypto Giant Binance Offered Perks to ‘Flash Boys,’ Regulator’s Lawsuit Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Alexander Osipovich | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A regulator’s lawsuit against crypto exchange Binance Holdings Ltd. has shed light on the secretive role of high-frequency traders in crypto and how Binance sought to curry favor with such big-ticket customers. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s lawsuit, filed Monday, shows that Binance ran a “VIP” program for big trading firms that gave them various perks including slightly faster access to the exchange’s core systems than other customers enjoyed.

☆ Europe drought: This once-thriving lake has all but dried up -- a story repeated across Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

While in the United States, the snow and rain that have pummeled California have helped fill reservoirs and ease unrelenting drought, winter has been far from kind to many parts of Europe. A buoy is seen on the banks of the partially dry Lake Montbel as France faces a record winter dry spell. “Lake Montbel remains at an abnormally low level,” Franck Solacroup, the regional director of the Adour-Garonne Water Agency, which covers the area that includes Lake Montbel, told CNN. Farmers like Rouquet, who rely on the lake, are having to make tough decisions on what to grow. “This is the most extreme winter in terms of low snow cover,” she told CNN.

☆ William Hill to Pay Record $23.7 Million in Settlement With U.K. Gambling Commission
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

William Hill units that operate online gambling sites will pay most of the settlement amount. Gambling company William Hill will pay about £19.2 million, equivalent to $23.7 million, in the U.K. Gambling Commission’s largest ever enforcement action, as the regulator presses an aggressive crackdown on anti-money-laundering failures. Three William Hill units have entered into settlements over alleged anti-money-laundering failures and alleged problems ensuring responsible gambling, the Gambling Commission said Tuesday. William Hill is owned by 888 Holdings PLC, a publicly traded gambling company, following a 2022 acquisition. William Hill’s U.S. operations weren’t part of the transaction.

☆ Commission Planning America’s 250th Anniversary Attempts Reset
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Jess Bravin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Rosie Rios, head of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, is meeting with members Monday to update them on her plans for relaunching the project. WASHINGTON—President Biden’s choice to head the nation’s coming 250th anniversary commemorations is planning to relaunch the project on July 4, promising to get beyond the internal squabbles, mismanagement allegations and mushrooming litigation that have paralyzed the project for years. At a closed-door meeting Monday, Rosie Rios , chair of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, was set to update members on her plans, which include gathering suggestions from the public about how the anniversary should be observed and asking Congress to nearly double the commission’s annual appropriation to $15 million.

CNN —New rules from the US government could soon let Americans more easily cancel free trials and subscriptions they no longer want, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The proposed rule change announced Thursday would apply to vast swaths of the US economy, covering both digital and physical subscriptions. Americans should not have to jump through hoops or be hounded by unwanted retention offers just to cancel their subscriptions, FTC Chair Lina Khan told reporters on a conference call Wednesday. The FTC in 2021 warned companies against deploying illegal dark patterns that trick or trap consumers into subscription services. Gyms, newspapers, phone companies and other businesses have faced lawsuits for imposing obstacles on consumers who try to cancel their services.

☆ Water’s big moment risks getting lost in the weeds
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Antony Currie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The latest is research published last Thursday by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water. The sum, though, is just $140 million, and the U.S. government’s International Development Finance Corporation is pouring in three-quarter of the proceeds. But there is a decent investment case for water without state or supranational support. Without them, water’s big moment risks getting lost in the weeds. Follow @AntonyMCurrie on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSThe United Nations 2023 Water Conference starts on March 22, World Water Day, in New York.

☆ SVB fall casts shadow on early-stage U.S. biotech
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Patrick Wingrove | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

March 13 (Reuters) - The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O) will leave early-stage biotechnology companies with a funding void, investors and analysts said on Monday, but larger, publicly-traded drug companies should escape unscathed. About 50% of U.S. biotech companies, developing drugs for everything from cancer to heart disease and rare conditions, banked with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), including a large number of private firms, according to WBB financial analyst and managing partner Steve Brozak. Analysts said the direct impact to U.S. biotech companies overall was limited, although several drugmakers such as Axsome Therapeutics Inc (AXSM.O) and Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Inc (RYTM.O) disclosed cash deposits with the bank. Startup-focused lender SVB Financial Group last week became the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis, sending shockwaves through the global financial system and prompting regulators to step in to contain the fallout. SVB’s demise likely leaves smaller biotech clients without an alternative lender, said Brozak, since other banks will now probably raise their funding thresholds to points that make investment difficult for smaller entities.

☆ Twitter and Elon Musk Face Legal Risks in FTC Probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—New details about the Federal Trade Commission’s probe into Twitter Inc. point to the significant and potentially costly legal risks the company faces as Elon Musk tries to get the company on the road to long-term profitability. The FTC’s hundreds of written demands to the company in recent months, reported by The Wall Street Journal earlier this week, show it is investigating Mr. Musk’s personal role in high-profile decisions including massive layoffs, rapid changes to Twitter’s features and the sharing of internal company records with journalists.

LATEST DATAThe week ended Feb. 7, the last available week of CoT data, featured mild declines across most-active CBOT corn, wheat, soybean and soy product futures. In the four weeks ended March 7, most-active CBOT corn is down 6% and CBOT wheat has fallen 7%. Daily fund estimates collected by Reuters suggest that between Feb. 8 and March 7, commodity funds were net sellers of 42,500 CBOT corn futures and 38,000 CBOT wheat futures. Funds’ net long in soybean meal would be record-large per the trade estimates. CBOT corn and wheat have recently traded as if the Ukraine grain export deal will be extended before its March 18 expiration despite Russia’s resistance.

☆ Fact Check-The EU did not issue statement calling for Nigeria’s president-elect to be disqualified
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A document that questions the integrity of Nigeria’s 2023 general election and recommends disqualifying president-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been falsely attributed to the European Union and a U.S. observer mission. The fake statement includes the EU flag and the logos of the U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI) and International Republican Institute (IRI), two non-profits that support and promote democratic processes. The EU delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said in two tweets that the statement was fake (here), (here). Meanwhile, an authentic preliminary statement from the EU Election Observation Mission to Nigeria can be seen (here), while a statement – also preliminary - from the NDI/IRI delegation can be found (here). The EU, NDI and IRI say the statement is fake.

☆ Nigeria’s Ruling Party Candidate Takes Early Lead in Slow Vote Count
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Gabriele Steinhauser | Gbenga Akingbule | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LAGOS, Nigeria—Early results from Nigeria’s presidential election showed a healthy lead for the ruling party’s Bola Tinubu , as the electoral commission said technical glitches were slowing down the vote count in Africa’s largest economy and most populous nation. By early afternoon Monday, results from just under a third of polling units had been loaded onto the electoral commission’s website following Saturday’s election. Parallel vote counts by civil-society organizations based on results uploaded so far showed Mr. Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress ahead of Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party, followed by the Labour Party’s Peter Obi .

☆ FTC’s Only Republican Commissioner Is Stepping Down
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson has been one of Chair Lina Khan most prominent critics. WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission’s lone Republican member said Tuesday she was resigning, describing her move as a protest against the leadership strategy and ethics of the Democratic chair of the antitrust and consumer-protection agency. Commissioner Christine Wilson decided to step down from her position after battling Chair Lina Khan over “abuses of regulatory power,” including “dishonesty and subterfuge,” Ms. Wilson wrote in an Op-Ed article in The Wall Street Journal. Ms. Wilson said she would leave the agency soon but didn’t provide a date.

Finance chiefs are coming into the year grappling with a variety of challenges, from rising interest rates and inflation to managing labor disruptions, pricing and inventory. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CFO Journal The Morning Ledger provides daily news and insights on corporate finance from the CFO Journal team. “But…there’s more and more of a belief that any kind of downturn will be short and shallow, frankly. Some finance chiefs, meanwhile, are finding opportunities to expand in the volatile economy. You can’t take everything that your vendors are sending you.”Labor woes persistHiring, however, remains a challenge for finance chiefs.

☆ Sorry crypto world, but SEC isn’t backing down on ‘regulation by enforcement’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Alison Frankel | Thomson Reuters | Alison Frankel Has Covered High-Stakes Commercial Litigation As A Columnist For Reuters Since A Dartmouth College Graduate | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Right now, Wahi argued, crypto users are simply left guessing about their exposure to SEC enforcement — and that's not sustainable. That strategy, Hodl Law asserted, didn't give token-holders fair notice about whether their coins are securities. Otherwise, Hodl Law said, Ethereum users have no idea if the SEC will swoop in with an enforcement action. The SEC also said that it's not obliged to warn crypto users about its interpretation of securities laws. It also, however, provides the first robust explanation of an argument I expect to see more often in SEC crypto cases: SEC enforcement, according to Wahi, is precluded by the Supreme Court’s recently articulated major questions doctrine.

☆ Nigerian rights panel, underfunded and overmatched, begins probe of powerful military
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja/File PhotoFeb 7 (Reuters) - A special panel named by Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission launched an investigation Tuesday into recent Reuters reports on rights abuses by the country’s army. Nigerian military leaders said the abortion program did not exist and that children were never targeted for killing. The U.S. defense and state departments, the United Nations Secretary-General, the German foreign minister, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch all called for Nigeria to investigate the Reuters findings. In a 2002 paper, two Nigerian scholars called the body "a red herring” to distract from human rights violations. In 2013, the military allegedly killed as many as 200 civilians in the town of Baga, in northeastern Borno state.

☆ Activision Blizzard Paying $35 Million to Resolve SEC Investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Activision Blizzard has settled an investigation without admitting or denying SEC allegations. WASHINGTON— Activision Blizzard Inc. agreed to pay $35 million to settle regulatory claims tied to its process for deciding how its disclosures to investors should reflect employee complaints about workplace misconduct. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation also alleged that Activision violated a whistleblower-protection rule. The company settled the probe without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations.

☆ Illumina Makes Its Interim CFO Permanent
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Kristin Broughton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Gene-sequencing company Illumina Inc. on Wednesday named Joydeep Goswami as chief financial officer, giving its interim CFO the role on a permanent basis. Mr. Goswami joined Illumina in 2019 as chief strategy and corporate development officer, overseeing strategic partnerships and acquisitions. Illumina CFO Joydeep Goswami. He added that he received a crash course in traditional areas of finance, including treasury, tax and audit, while serving as interim CFO. As CFO, Mr. Goswami plans to keep Illumina’s spending on innovation roughly constant as a percentage of revenue.

☆ EU Sets Out Options to Compete With U.S. Green Subsidies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Kim Mackrael | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BRUSSELS—The European Union’s executive body on Wednesday set out a road map for competing with American green subsidies with a range of tools that could include coordinated tax rebates and the ability to match certain U.S. incentives on a dollar-for-dollar basis. The European Commission published a document laying out its proposals for supporting Europe’s clean-tech industry and preventing what some officials fear could be a wave of decisions by European companies to shift their investments to the U.S. The commission’s ideas are set to be debated by European leaders at a summit in Brussels next week.

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