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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to scrap a landmark policy that provides the legal underpinning for rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions. The policy to be repealed is the Obama-era endangerment finding, a scientific conclusion which determined that carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases are supercharging storms, wildfires, drought, heat waves and sea level rise, and are therefore threatening public health and welfare. Bloomberg says a decision to repeal the finding is expected to lay the groundwork for a further unwinding of climate protections in the U.S.

 

Bloomberg

New York Times

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A report claims the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's retreat from enforcement and regulatory work in the past year has cost Americans at least $19bn in financial relief. The authors of the report released by the office of Sen. Elizabeth Warren say the Trump administration's control of the CFPB has harmed consumers by ditching major consumer protections, stalling investigation and dismissing a number of lawsuits. “Trump’s attempt to sideline the CFPB has cost families billions of dollars over the last year alone,” said Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. “The CFPB may still be standing, but it’s essentially on life support,” commented Chuck Bell, advocacy program director at Consumer Reports.

 

AP News

Crypto-focused Erebor Bank has become the first lender to receive a national bank charter during the second term of the Trump administration. The bank's funders include Lux Capital, Andreessen Horowitz,  and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. Erebor plans to serve technology businesses in artificial intelligence, crypto, defense and manufacturing, according to its charter application.

 

Wall Street Journal

U.S. container imports fell 6.8% year on year in January, reflecting a pullback from record levels seen a year earlier when companies rushed to bring in goods ahead of new tariffs, according to supply chain technology group Descartes. Despite the decline, total imports of 2.32m 20-foot equivalent units remained above the historical average for the month, pointing to a more normalized trade environment supported by steady underlying demand rather than tariff-driven frontloading. Imports from China dropped sharply, down 22.7% from January 2025, though China still accounted for about a third of total U.S. container volumes.

 

Reuters

Publicly traded crypto-hoarding companies are emerging as a new source of risk for digital-asset markets after a sharp selloff that has cut Bitcoin prices nearly in half from their October peak above $126,000. These firms, known as digital-asset treasuries (DATs), built their business models on accumulating cryptocurrencies to drive equity premiums, but that strategy is now under strain amid the worst crypto downturn since the FTX collapse. Bitcoin’s slump has already erased nearly $2 trillion from the broader crypto market, and DAT stocks have fared even worse, with median share prices down about 62% over the past year. Some firms have already sold portions of their holdings to repay debt or buy back shares, highlighting vulnerabilities in the model. Analysts say the most exposed DATs are those holding illiquid tokens or lacking sustainable businesses, while companies with operating revenues or equity-funded purchases are better positioned to survive the downturn.

 

Bloomberg

The U.S. Transportation Department Office of Inspector General is to launch an investigation into high failure rates among air traffic control trainees amid a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers. "Attrition, retirements, and program washouts are severely impacting the overall success of increasing the number of certified controllers," the inspector general said. "The training academy is facing considerable challenges with training, including a shortage of qualified instructors, training capacity limitations, an outdated curriculum, and high training failure rates." The Federal Aviation Administration is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels. Many are working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks.

 

Reuters

The Trump administration intends to spare companies including Amazon, Google and Microsoft from forthcoming tariffs on chips as they race to build the data centers powering the AI boom.

 

Financial Times

Jay Clayton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has said federal prosecutors plan to increase incentives for companies that cooperate during criminal investigations, including promises not to prosecute them. "Our approach is going to be: let's get [a non-prosecution agreement] signed as quickly as possible that calls for continued cooperation," Clayton said at the Securities Enforcement Forum in New York.

 

Reuters

White House officials are exploring opening an antitrust investigation into U.S. homebuilders as the Trump administration increases efforts to address the housing affordability crisis. The Department of Justice could open the probe in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the discussions. One of the possible concerns is the exchange of information through a homebuilder's association called Leading Builders of America.

 

Bloomberg

The House Judiciary Committee has issued a subpoena to Korean e-commerce firm Coupang as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged discrimination against U.S. companies. The panel has also called on the company to testify. “Coupang will fully cooperate with the U.S. House Judiciary Committee investigation, including production of documents and witness testimony as required by the subpoena," Coupang said in a statement.

 

Reuters

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether streaming giant Netflix used anti-competitive tactics as part of its proposed $82.7bn acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery's studios and streaming service. In a civil subpoena viewed by the Wall Street Journal, the DOJ asked another entertainment company to "describe any other exclusionary conduct on the part of Netflix that would reasonably appear capable of entrenching market or monopoly power." Netflix agreed in December to pay $27.75 a share in cash in a deal totaling $72bn. Paramount has made a rival $77.9bn hostile bid for all of Warner Discovery including its cable-networks unit that houses CNN, TNT, Food Network and other channels. 

 

Wall Street Journal

Jack Dorsey's fintech Block is weighing cutting up to 10% of its workforce during annual performance reviews. The company missed Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit amid persistent economic uncertainty and intensifying competition in the payments sector, Reuters notes.

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

The Justice Department (DOJ) redacted the names of at least six men who are "likely incriminated" by their inclusion in the Epstein files, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said after reviewing unredacted versions of documents related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Members of Congress were permitted for the first time yesterday to review the unredacted versions of all the DOJ files related to Epstein. “There are six men. We went in there for two hours. There’s millions of files, right? And in a couple of hours, we found six men whose names have been redacted, who are implicated in the way that the files are presented,” Massie told reporters. Massie and Khanna were the two lead sponsors of the bill that forced the public release of the files. 

 

The Hill

Axios

Forbes