Bank turmoil led Fed officials to forecast fewer rate hikes
WASHINGTON — Turmoil in the banking system after two major banks collapsed led many Federal Reserve officials to envision fewer rate increases this year out of concern that banks will reduce their lending and weaken the economy. The heightened uncertainty surrounding the banking sector also helped Fed officials coalesce around their decision to raise their benchmark rate by just a quarter-point, rather than a half-point, despite signs that inflation was still too hot, according to minutes of the Fed’s March 22-23 meeting. The Fed also revealed Wednesday that its staff economists have forecast that a pullback in lending resulting from the banking turmoil will cause a “mild recession” starting later this year.
Musk says owning Twitter ‘painful’ but needed to be done
LONDON — Billionaire Elon Musk has told the BBC that running Twitter has been “quite painful” but that the social media company is now roughly breaking even after he acquired it late last year. In an interview also streamed live late Tuesday on Twitter Spaces, Musk discussed his ownership of the online platform, including layoffs, misinformation and his work style. He told the U.K. broadcaster at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters that owning Twitter “has not been boring” and has been “quite a rollercoaster.” It was a rare chance for a mainstream news outlet to interview Musk, who also owns Tesla and SpaceX.
NPR quits Elon Musk’s Twitter over ‘government-funded’ label
NEW YORK — National Public Radio is quitting Twitter over the social media company’s recent actions under owner Elon Musk to stamp it with labels that NPR says undermine its credibility. NPR said its organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because Twitter is falsely implying that it is not editorially independent. Last week, Twitter labeled NPR as “state-affiliated media” on the social media site, a term also used for state-controlled media outlets in authoritarian regimes. Twitter later changed the label to “Government-funded media” and gave it to some other public news organizations, such as the BBC.
Juul Labs agrees to pay $462 million settlement to 6 states
NEW YORK — Embattled electronic cigarette-maker Juul Labs Inc. will pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia. It is the largest settlement the company has reached so far concerning its role in the youth vaping surge. The agreement with New York, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Washington, D.C. marks the latest in a string of recent legal settlements Juul has reached across the country with cities and states. Like some other settlements, this latest agreement includes various restrictions on the marketing, sale and distribution of the company’s vaping products.
Stocks dip after inflation data, Fed economists’ warning
NEW YORK — Stocks closed lower following the latest update on inflation and the latest warning of a possible recession. The S&P 500 lost 0.4% Wednesday after bouncing between small gains and losses through the day. The Nasdaq composite slid 0.9%, and the Dow also fell. Minutes from the Fed’s last meeting revealed that its staff economists have forecast that a pullback in lending resulting from turmoil in the banking industry will cause a “mild recession” starting later this year. A report earlier in the morning showed that prices at the consumer level were 5% higher last month than a year earlier.
New streaming app to ‘Max’ programming from HBO, Discovery
LOS ANGELES — Warner Bros. Discovery has unveiled a streaming service combining iconic HBO programming such as “The Sopranos” with a mix of unscripted TV series. It’s a push to reap more subscribers from what so far has been a muddled media merger. The $16-per-month service, called Max, will be released May 23 in the U.S. and automatically replace the company’s existing HBO Max in what is being promised as a seamless transition. The existing Discovery Plus app featuring reality and unscripted series such as “Fixer Upper” from a collection of TV networks will still be offered.
Stiff EPA emission limits to boost US electric vehicle sales
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is proposing strict new automobile pollution limits that would require up to two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2032. That’s a nearly tenfold increase over current electric vehicle sales. The proposed regulation was announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency. The regulation would set tailpipe emissions limits for the 2027 through 2032 model years that call for far more new EVs than the auto industry agreed to sell less than two years ago. If finalized next year, the plan would represent the strongest push yet toward a once almost unthinkable shift from gasoline-powered cars and trucks to battery-powered vehicles.
The S&P 500 fell 16.99 points, or 0.4%, to 4,091.95. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 38.29 points, or 0.1%, to 33,646.50. The Nasdaq composite lost 102.54 points, or 0.9% to 11,929.34. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies dropped 12.90 points, or 0.7%, to 1,773.70.
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