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Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange are in talks with the Securities and Exchanges Commission about easing regulatory burdens for public companies. The reforms under discussion - which are being sought to encourage more richly valued start-ups to list - include reducing the quantum of disclosures and the costs of going public to making it harder for minority investors to agitate, according to sources. "The numbers are very clear that companies are staying private longer," Nasdaq President Nelson Griggs told Reuters.

 

Reuters

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The Federal Reserve has proposed relaxing a key capital rule for major banks. The board voted 5-2 to amend the "enhanced supplementary leverage ratio," which mandates banks to maintain a specific capital level relative to their assets. Under the new proposal, the capital requirement for holding companies will decrease from 5% to a lower percentage, while banking subsidiaries will see a reduction from 6%. American Bankers Association president Rob Nichols welcomed the proposal, calling it a vital step towards strengthening the financial system.

 

CNBC

Investment banks Stifel Financial and Piper Sandler have petitioned a judge to free them from "onerous" restrictions contained in a more than two decades-old Securities and Exchange Commission $1.5bn global settlement with 12 investment banks over analyst conflicts. The settlement in 2003 and 2004 followed a scandal over analysts issuing positive research to help Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and others win investment banking business. In a filing in Manhattan federal court, Piper and Stifel said they should not be bound to requirements in a related consent decree, while rivals not subject to the decree are held to looser standards the regulator approved in 2015.

 

Reuters

A federal judge in San Francisco has ruled for Meta Platforms against a group of authors who had argued that its use of their books without permission to train its artificial intelligence system infringed their copyrights. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said the authors had not presented sufficient evidence that Meta's AI would dilute the market for their work to demonstrate that the company's conduct was illegal under U.S. copyright law. Chhabria nevertheless said that the use of copyrighted work without permission to train AI would be unlawful in "many circumstances," observing: "This ruling does not stand for the proposition that Meta's use of copyrighted materials to train its language models is lawful . . . It stands only for the proposition that these plaintiffs made the wrong arguments and failed to develop a record in support of the right one." The ruling follows a decision on Monday that Anthropic, another major player in the AI field, had not infringed authors’ copyright.

 

Financial Times

Reuters

The Guardian

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has delivered a victory for environmentalists in the fight over “forever chemicals” known as PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances), after deciding that state regulators can mandate landowners to clean up such emerging pollutants before they are officially designated as hazardous substances. The 5-2 ruling is a defeat for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's powerful group representing businesses and manufacturers, which had argued the state couldn't enforce rules on substances before they were officially designated as hazardous.

 

U.S. News

In a defence filed with the High Court in Dublin, U.S. human resources software giant Deel has formally denied allegations of wrongdoing following claims it paid Dublin man Keith O'Brien to pass on trade secrets from Rippling, a rival firm also headquartered in the U.S. Deel said it was disputing all allegations related to the alleged “covert course of conduct.”

 

The Independent (Ireland)

Waterford News &Star

A Missouri judge has mandated that St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co. pay nearly $44m in a lawsuit involving Ryan Ferguson, whose wrongful conviction for the murder of Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt was overturned. Ferguson, who maintained his innocence, initially won $11m against police after his conviction was overturned in 2013. The insurance company delayed payment for almost three years, arguing it was not liable due to the timing of coverage. However, a jury found that St. Paul acted in bad faith. Kathleen Zellner, Ferguson's attorney, said: “It's a way to send a message to insurance companies that if there's coverage, they need to pay.” The total award includes punitive damages and compensation for Ferguson and the officers involved.

 

U.S. News

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs will likely push up inflation in the coming months. During a Senate Committee on Banking hearing on Wednesday, he said that consumers will likely have to shoulder some of the cost of the import taxes. Mr. Powell added that most Fed officials support cutting rates this year, but the central bank wants to take time to see how inflation changes in the months ahead. Though economic theory may point to tariffs as a one-off shock to prices, "that is not a law of nature," he said, detailing why the central bank wants more information about the ultimate level of tariffs and the way they impact pricing and public expectations about inflation before lowering borrowing costs any further. Meanwhile, at a post-NATO summit press conference in The Hague, President Donald Trump reiterated his recent criticism of Mr. Powell, calling him a "very stupid person," and adding that he knows, "within three or four people," who he will pick to succeed him. 

 

AP News

Politico

Reuters

Wall Street Journal

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has called on European lawmakers to expedite the legislation necessary for the launch of a digital euro. Speaking to the European Parliament, she stressed that a "legislative framework to pave the way for the potential introduction of a digital euro should be put in place rapidly." The ECB has been developing the digital currency, which would serve as an online wallet for euro area residents, but progress has stalled due to legislative hurdles. It sees the digital euro as a response to U.S. President Donald Trump's push to promote stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically pegged to the dollar, which Lagarde has said poses "risks for monetary policy and financial stability" because they could lure deposits away from banks and don't always maintain their fixed value.

 

Reuters

Shell has denied reports of a potential merger with rival BP, saying: "This is further market speculation. No talks are taking place." The denial follows a report in the Wall Street Journal suggesting early-stage discussions between the two oil giants. BP has faced challenges in its green transition, and its chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, has acknowledged the company's missteps in its green strategy, leading to speculation about vulnerability. Any merger would likely face significant regulatory scrutiny due to the differing cultures and overlapping exploration territories of the two companies.

 

Daily Mail

Financial Times

The Daily Telegraph

The Times

F21 OpCo , the former operator of Forever 21's U.S. stores, has won court approval for a plan to partially repay vendors and other creditors that stand to incur big losses in the retailer’s bankruptcy. The repayment plan includes a settlement with lenders and former Forever 21 parent Sparc Group that’s designed to boost recoveries for unsecured creditors. Sparc agreed to fully waive a $323m claim that would have diluted any amounts received by unsecured creditors. They will get 70% of any net proceeds that F21 OpCo obtains during liquidation.

 

Bloomberg

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has Paramount Global shareholders to oppose the re-election of four board directors, including chair Shari Redstone. The recommendation stems from concerns over a "problematic capital structure" and issues with executive pay plans, particularly the "relatively large influence" of individual performance on annual bonuses. ISS's report, dated June 23, specifically targets governance committee members Barbara Byrne, Linda Griego, and Susan Schuman. Paramount is currently pursuing an $8.4bn merger with Skydance Media, pending regulatory approval, and has nominated three new directors, for whom ISS recommends a vote in favour. The annual stockholder meeting is set for July 2.

 

Daily Mail

U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he has rehired 722 employees who were laid off from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 220 at the National Institutes of Health. "I brought 722 people back to CDC, I brought 220 people back to NIH because we were not able to perform our job," Kennedy told the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Health in a hearing on his department's 2026 budget request.

 

U.S. News

The IRS has announced enhancements to its Pre-Filing Agreement program, aimed at providing greater tax certainty for large businesses and international taxpayers. The agency stated that these improvements reflect a "renewed commitment by the IRS to expand access to cooperative tax compliance strategies that prevent disputes before they arise." Key updates include a redesigned landing page, new step-by-step submission instructions, and updated guidelines to align submissions with tax filing deadlines. The program allows taxpayers to resolve potential tax issues before filing, thereby reducing audit risk and promoting voluntary compliance.

 

CPA Practice Advisor

The Thai government is moving to re-criminalize cannabis, other than for medical use. A new health ministry notification requiring medical prescriptions for cannabis was signed earlier this week and should become effective imminently, Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin said on Tuesday. A failure to formulate cannabis regulations following its 2022 decriminalization has led to the mushrooming of more than 10,000 dispensaries and widespread recreational use, he said. Re-criminalization will be a significant move for Thailand, which was the first country in Asia to decriminalize cannabis. With no cannabis law in place, dispensaries have opened nationwide, flourishing in popular tourist areas and even in Bangkok’s business districts. There has also been a surge in cannabis smuggling across borders.

 

Bloomberg