Italy Resolves Gold Reserve Dispute With ECB
A budget dispute over Italy’s massive gold holdings ended Thursday when officials from Rome and the European Central Bank reached an understanding in Brussels, according to Italian Treasury sources. The controversy stemmed from a Brothers of Italy proposal that would formally declare the nation’s gold reserves belong to “the Italian people.” Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti […]
Is The Till Empty at OpenAI? $10B Amazon Talks Add Fresh Runway
Near-term liquidity of OpenAI is put into question tied to a $30-billion tranche led by SoftBank, framed as a two-week countdown to “virtually no cash left” if the close does not happen. A snippet of the filing back in November states that SoftBank Group entered an amendment agreement with OpenAI to enable “the full investment […]
Scotiabank Plans Return to Metals Trading Market
Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX: BNS) has begun recruiting staff to restore its metals trading operations, five years after shutting down one of the industry’s most established desks during the pandemic. The Canadian bank has engaged recruiters to find commodities traders, sales specialists and strategists for the revived unit, according to Bloomberg. The desk will […]
Canada Seeks Input on Western Copper Processing Facility
The federal government launched a request for information on December 17 to explore building Western Canada’s first copper smelter and refinery, which would become the country’s second domestic processing facility. The federal initiative involves cooperation with British Columbia and Alberta to assess whether establishing midstream copper infrastructure makes economic and strategic sense. Responses to the […]
Trump Administration Plans Executive Order Limiting Defense Contractor Buybacks, Dividends
The Trump administration is preparing an executive order that would restrict stock buybacks, dividends, and executive compensation at defense contractors with projects running over budget and behind schedule, three sources familiar with the plan told Reuters on Monday. The proposed order targets major Pentagon suppliers, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, RTX, and L3Harris Technologies. […]
Russia-Linked Oil Firm Shuts Down Venezuela Operations
A Russian oil company operating former Rosneft assets in Venezuela announced it will cease all operations by the end of December, marking a significant retreat of Moscow’s energy presence in the South American nation. Petrolera (Cyprus) Limited notified employees this week that operations will end on December 23, citing international sanctions and financial restrictions on […]
Trump Signs Order to Move Cannabis to Schedule III
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to push marijuana from Schedule I toward Schedule III, a federal classification shift the White House framed as a research and medical-evidence play. Cannabis is currently listed as a Schedule I drug, the most restrictive federal category that includes heroin and LSD, while Schedule III is a […]
Trump’s 250th Anniversary Plan Sounds Remarkably Like ‘The Hunger Games’
President Donald Trump announced a high school athletic competition Thursday using language strikingly similar to the premise of “The Hunger Games,” the dystopian novel series and blockbuster film franchise in which young people are selected from each district for a televised competition. Trump’s plan calls for exactly what Suzanne Collins’ bestselling books and films describe: […]
Trump Media Targets Merger With Russia-Backed Fusion Firm
Trump Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ: DJT) has agreed to merge with fusion developer TAE Technologies in an all-stock transaction valued at more than $6.0 billion, positioning the combined company as one of the first publicly traded fusion plays while immediately re-rating DJT on deal optionality. DJT shares jumped about 35% on the announcement, after […]
USTR Releases Canada’s Fix List Ahead of CUSMA Review, Dairy Tops The List
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has published a “non-exhaustive” list of issues he says must be resolved for the CUSMA Joint Review to succeed, putting Canada’s dairy market access and digital laws in the same bucket as Mexico energy disputes, rules-of-origin tightening, and new regional “economic security” tools. Greer anchored the review process to statutory […]