Oil trade group pushes US for national ethanol policy after EPA okays Midwest expansion

By Stephanie Kelly and Jarrett Renshaw NEW YORK (Reuters) – The American Petroleum Institute trade group on Monday pressed for a nationwide policy on higher-ethanol blends of gasoline after the President Donald Trump’s administration said on Friday it would move ahead with expanded sales of the product in certain Midwestern states. The U.S. Environmental Protection…

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AI startup Anthropic finalizing $3.5 billion funding round, WSJ reports

(Reuters) – AI startup Anthropic is looking to raise $3.5 billion in its latest funding round which would value the startup behind the chatbot Claude at $61.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Investors in the latest round include venture firms Lightspeed Venture Partners, General Catalyst and Bessemer Venture Partners, WSJ said. Abu…

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Mastercard settlement approved by UK court despite funders’ opposition

LONDON (Reuters) – Mastercard’s agreement to settle a landmark lawsuit brought on behalf of British consumers was approved by a London tribunal on Friday, despite opposition from the firm that funded the litigation. The global payments processor said the Competition Appeal Tribunal had approved an agreement it announced in December to settle the long-running litigation…

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China ETFs draw bullish options bets on AI play and eased tariff fears

By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds focused on China have drawn bullish options flows as the emergence of artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek brightens the outlook for Chinese tech shares, and tariff-related news seemed less threatening than before. Traders have been loading up in recent weeks on bullish options on the…

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Amazon to stop support for communications service Chime next year

(Reuters) – Amazon said it would stop support for its unified communications service, Chime, next year and will not accept new customers beginning Wednesday. Amazon employees have long used Chime, which lets users meet, chat and place business calls inside and outside the organization, as a preferred service for video calls. “After careful consideration, we…

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BlackRock pauses corporate meetings in wake of new ESG rules

(Reuters) – BlackRock has temporarily paused meetings with some portfolio companies while studying the impact of new reporting rules from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to people familiar with the matter. The top U.S. asset manager is among those affected by a recent SEC interpretation requiring fund firms to file more extensive ownership…

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