Business Highlights: Wells Fargo settlement, Trump’s taxes
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Wells Fargo to pay $3.7B over consumer law violations
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer banking giant Wells Fargo agreed to pay $3.7 billion to settle charges that it harmed consumers by charging illegal fees and interest on auto loans and mortgages, as well as incorrectly applied overdraft fees against savings and checking accounts. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday ordered Wells to repay $2 billion to consumers and enacted a $1.7 billion penalty against the bank. It’s the largest fine to date against Wells, which has spent years trying to rehabilitate itself after a series of scandals tied to its sales practices. The bank remains under supervision of the Federal Reserve.
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Congress moves to ban TikTok from US government devices
WASHINGTON (AP) — TikTok would be banned from most U.S. government devices under a spending bill Congress unveiled early Tuesday. It’s the latest push by American lawmakers against the Chinese-owned social media app. The $1.7 trillion package includes requirements for the Biden administration to prohibit most uses of TikTok or any other app created by its owner, ByteDance Ltd. The requirements would apply to the executive branch and don’t appear to cover Congress, where a handful of lawmakers maintain TikTok accounts. A spokesperson for TikTok calls the ban a “political gesture” that is not needed to protect national security since TikTok is developing security and data privacy plans to secure the platform in the U.S.
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Trump taxes: House panel mulls releasing long-sought returns
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee is meeting to vote on whether to publicly release years of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns. The meeting could be the last opportunity for Democrats to disclose information about Trump’s filings before Republicans take control of Congress next year. Committee Chairman Richard Neal has kept close hold on the panel’s actions, but pressure is high on its members to make their findings public as Trump mounts a third White House run. The committee received six years of tax returns for Trump and some of his businesses from the Treasury Department last month.
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Stocks rise, bond yields jump after Japan surprises markets
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed modestly higher on Wall Street, while bond markets around the world felt pain after a surprise move from Japan’s central bank cranked the pressure even higher on the already slowing global economy. The S&P 500 closed 0.1% higher Tuesday after flipping between small losses and gains in the morning. The biggest action was in the bond market, where yields pushed higher after one of the world’s last bastions of super-low and economy-aiding interest rates made moves that could allow rates to climb more than otherwise. Higher rates slow the economy and drag down on prices for stocks and other investments.
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Amazon to make big business changes in EU settlement
Amazon will make major changes to its business practices to end competition probes in Europe by giving customers more visible choices when buying products and, for Prime members, more delivery options. The EU’s executive Commission said Tuesday it accepted the legally binding commitments from Amazon to resolve two antitrust investigations. The deal allows the company to avoid a legal battle with the E.U.’s top antitrust watchdog that could have ended with potentially huge fines. In one big change, the company promised to give products from rival sellers equal visibility in the “buy box,” a premium piece of real estate on its website and app that leads to higher sales.
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Analysis: Musk and Trump, 2 disrupters face reckoning
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump and Elon Musk share a reputation as disrupters. Now, they’re grappling with tribulations that may be unlike anything thrown at them before. Trump and Musk are known for their egos and have used Twitter to showcase their eccentricities. This week they face a reckoning, brought on in part by their relationship to the social media site now owned by Musk, the Tesla CEO. Trump is confronted with a congressional committee’s recommendation to the Justice Department that he be criminally prosecuted for his part in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by his supporters. Musk set up a Twitter poll in which most respondents said he should step down.
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In a surprise move, Bank of Japan loosens bond yield cap
The Bank of Japan broadened caps for a benchmark government bond yield, a surprise move that pushed bond yields higher globally and dinged Asian stocks. The central bank on Tuesday said that it would allow the yield curve on the 10-year Japanese Government Bond to range 50 basis points either side of its 0% target, up from the previous cap of 25 basis points. It did not mention inflation in its policy statement, but inflation has been running above the central bank’s 2% target rate. Japan had been a holdout among major industrialized nations in allowing yields to rise. Europe nations and the U.S. have been hiking rates aggressively to battle inflation.
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Rule delay makes big EV tax credit possible early next year
WASHINGTON (AP) — People who want to buy an electric vehicle could get a bigger-than-expected tax credit come Jan. 1 because of a delay by the Treasury Department in drawing up rules for the tax breaks. The department says it won’t finish the rules that govern where battery minerals and parts have to be sourced until sometime in March. As a result, it appears that buyers of EVs assembled in North America with batteries made in the U.S., Canada or Mexico will be eligible for a full $7,500 tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act. The act calls for the batteries’ minerals and parts to also come from North America in order to get the full tax break, but that provision has been temporarily put on hold.
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg takes witness stand in FTC case
SAN JOSE, California (AP) — Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook parent company Meta, is on the witness stand in a California courtroom as part of the U.S. antitrust regulators’ effort to stop the tech giant from buying a virtual reality startup. At issue is whether Meta’s acquisition of the small company that makes a VR fitness app called Supernatural will hurt competition in the emerging virtual reality market. The Federal Trade Commission argues that if the deal is allowed to go through, it would violate antitrust laws and dampen innovation. It argues that would hurt consumers who may face higher prices and fewer options outside of Meta-controlled platforms.
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The S&P 500 rose 3.96 points, or 0.1%, to 3,821.62. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 92.20 points, or 0.3%, to 32,849.74. The Nasdaq added 1.08 points, or less than 0.1%, to 10,547.11. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies tacked on 9.44 points, or 0.5%, to 1,748.02.