Author: News Room

Visa and Mastercard settled a dispute with US retailers over credit-card swipe fees.The settlement could ultimately affect credit-card reward programs.Banks aren’t likely to abandon rewards programs, but they could get less rewarding. One of the great American pastimes — using your credit card to accumulate points — could be about to change.On Tuesday, Visa and Mastercard settled with US retailers over a longstanding dispute tied to credit-card swipe fees.The crux of the issue is interchange fees, which networks like Visa and Mastercard charge merchants for processing their transactions. Under the agreement, which still needs to be approved by the courts,…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden’s approval ratings ticked up slightly in the last month, according to a poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos, as more Americans named extremism and threats to democracy as their top worry ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Two-fifths of Americans surveyed said they approved of Biden’s performance, while 56% said they disapproved. That was a slight increase from last month’s poll, which showed that 37% of respondents approved of Biden, close to the lowest level of his presidency. The online poll was conducted March 22-24, after Biden’s annual State of the Union address to Congress,…

By Alden Bentley and Amanda Cooper NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Wall Street turned modestly lower in late trade on Tuesday, mostly in sync with subdued global share market movements, while the yen hovered near 2022 intervention levels after more official Japanese jawboning to deter shorting of the currency since last week’s monetary policy tightening. Treasury yields barely moved, reflecting muted trading across asset classes ahead of Good Friday, when U.S. markets and many other financial centers will be closed. The closed down 14.61 points, or 0.28%, at 5,203.58. the fell 31.31 points, or 0.08%, to 39,282.33, and the fell 68.77…

Investing.com — U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly swelled last week, the API reported Tuesday, belying the recent trend of larger declines fueled by the ongoing recovery in refinery activity.  , the U.S. benchmark, traded at $81.25 a barrel following the report after settling down 0.4% at $81.62 a barrel. increased by about 9.3 million barrels for the week ended Mar. 22, compared with a decline of 1.5M barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting an decrease of about 1.2M barrels.  The API data also showed that gasoline inventories fell by about 4.4M barrels, and distillate stockpiles…

EUR/USD drops below 1.0840 due to USD strength, buoyed by durable goods data and stable consumer confidence. ECB rate cut hints fuel speculation amid divided Fed views on easing. Market eyes Eurozone indicators, US inflation data for future EUR/USD direction. The Euro retraces against the US Dollar from weekly highs hit at 1.0864 and tumbles toward the 1.0820 region on Tuesday amidst a buoyant Greenback. At the time of writing, the EUR/USD trades at 1.0828 down 0.08%. EUR/USD adjusts amid strong US economic data and mixed ECB and Fed signals Economic data from the United States (US) bolstered the Greenback,…

As the world gets into a frenzy around the coming Bitcoin halving – and the price of bitcoin (BTC) as a result – it’s important to take a moment for a reality check. This feature is part of CoinDesk’s “Future of Bitcoin” package published to coincide with the fourth Bitcoin “halving” in April 2024.David Bailey is chief marketing officer for Azteco. The halving is a non-event for the vast majority of the world. At its core, it’s a simple evolution in how much the people who process bitcoin transactions get paid. All electronic payments, whether made via credit card, Venmo…

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a drug from Merck designed to treat a progressive and life-threatening lung condition in a win for both the drugmaker and for patients suffering from the rare disease.The agency greenlighted the therapy, which will be marketed as Winrevair, for adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension. The decision is a big step for the roughly 40,000 people in the U.S. living with that disease because Winrevair is the first drug to target the root cause of the condition. Other available medicines only help manage symptoms. The condition refers to when the small blood vessels in the…

North Carolina pastor Mark Harris has won the Republican nomination for North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District, making him the likely next member of Congress from this red district some five years after his apparent victory in an earlier House election was thrown out over ballot fraud allegations. The North Carolina State Board of Elections finalized the results on Tuesday, confirming that Harris will win more than the 30% necessary to avoid a runoff. Harris had finished atop a crowded GOP primary field with just over 30% of the vote in the March 5 primary election, surpassing the state threshold for…

Topline Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas appeared to reach an impasse Tuesday as Israel recalled its cease-fire negotiating team from Doha, according to multiple media outlets—though some officials remain optimistic the stalemate is only temporary. Key Facts The breakdown in discussions occurred after Hamas rejected a potential U.S.-led compromise deal on Monday, posting a statement to Telegram reiterating its demands for, among other things, a “comprehensive cease-fire” and Israel’s “withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,” which the group said Israel did not adequately address, according to the Jerusalem Post. Netanyahu’s office subsequently issued a statement claiming the rejection demonstrated Hamas’…

Former President Donald Trump has long expressed his vitriolic opinions on NATO, often suggesting some European members don’t pay their “fair share” and take advantage of the US.But as Russia’s bloody war in Ukraine enters its third year, and the threat to NATO countries, particularly those on Russia’s borders, grows, the Baltic states are investing in their defense more than ever.At a Hudson Institute event in Washington DC on Monday morning, days before the 20th anniversary of their countries’ ascensions into NATO, the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia explained the gravity of the current war in Ukraine and…