USA OUTLOOK April 08 TO 12

USA OUTLOOK

April 08 TO 12

Wall St ends flat as investors await CPI, earnings

U.S. stocks were essentially unchanged at the close of a choppy session on Monday, with a solar eclipse offering distraction ahead of crucial inflation data and the kick-off of first-quarter earnings season.

The S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab and the Dow (.DJI), opens new tab posted minimal losses while the Nasdaq (.IXIC), opens new tab ended nominally higher. All three were held in check by the highest benchmark U.S. Treasury yields since November in the wake of Friday's blowout employment report.

That report heightened chances that the Federal Reserve could delay implementing its first interest rate cut at its monthly Federal Open Market Committee meetings longer than previously expected.

"Wall Street is adjusting expectations to reflect the fact that the Fed could be slower to lower interest rates and that now the greatest likelihood is for a rate cut to occur at the July FOMC meeting, rather than June," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist of CFRA Research in New York.

Souce:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/futures-muted-bond-yields-rise-2024-04-08/

US court upholds EPA decision to approve California electricvehicle rules

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to grant California a waiver to set its own tailpipe emissions limits and electric-vehicle requirements.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a legal challenge from 17 Republican-led states and entitiesthatsellorproduceliquidfuels.TheEPAin March 2022 under President Joe Biden restored California's ability to set its own zero-emission vehicle sales mandate and tailpipe emissions limits through 2025, reversing a 2019 decision by then-President Donald Trump.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said the "court sided with common sense and public health against the fossil fuel industry and Republican-led states. This ruling reaffirms California’s longstanding right to address pollution from cars and trucks."

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US electricity and gasoline prices push up energy sector inflation

U.S. electricityand gasoline prices increased sharply in March, with electricity up 0.9% and gasoline up 1.7%, leading the energy sector to far outpace broader inflation for the month, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released on Wednesday.

Energy prices, which include electricity, gasoline, fuel oil and other power and oil-related goods and services, jumped by 1.1% last month compared to a 0.4% rise in the broader Consumer Price Index, BLS data showed.

For the last 12 months, energy prices were up 2.1%, lowerthantheoverall3.5%inflation.Gasolinegained 1.3% for the past year, while electricity jumped 5%.

Rapidly rising demand from data-intensive processing and manufacturing, coupled with lengthening delays to expand the country's electrical grids with renewable power supply and transmission lines, have accelerated the rise in the country's electric bills.

US moves to hike maximum fines to $5 million for making false statements to CFIUS

The Biden administration is proposing to raise to $5 million the maximum fine it can impose for making misstatements to CFIUS, a powerful U.S. committee that screens foreign investments in the United States for national security risks, a senior Treasury official said on Thursday.

The penalty ceiling for that violation currently stands at $250,000. The Treasury Department, which leads the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), announced plans to increase limits in a press release on Thursday.

"When somebody lies to the Committee, that matters, sometimes to a greater degree than $250,000 can deter" the official said, briefing reporters on the rules proposal on Thursday afternoon.

Axios was first to report the change in dollar amount.

The proposal is a sign of CFIUS's increasing focus on enforcement.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-electricity-gasoline-prices-push-up-energysector-inflation-2024-04-10/

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US Senate panel chair issues subpoena in Supreme Court ethics probe

The chair of the Democratic-led U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena, opens new tab on Thursday to influential conservative legal figure Leonard Leo as part of an ethics inquiry, opens new tab spurred by reports of undisclosed largesse, opens new tab directed to some conservative Supreme Court justices.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The Supreme Court in late 2023, opens new tab announced its first formal code of conduct governing the ethical behavior of its justices, following months of outside pressure over revelations of their undisclosed luxury trips and hobnobbing with wealthy benefactors.

The Judiciary Committee in November voted to authorize subpoenas for Leo, a legal activist and co-chair of the Federalist Society who was instrumental in compiling Republican former President Donald Trump's list of potential Supreme Court nominees, and for Harlan Crow, a billionaire Republican donor and benefactor of conservative Justice Clarence Thomas.

Souce:

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-panel-chair-issues-subpoenasupreme-court-ethics-probe-2024-04-12/

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