Economy
Trump mounts new bid to oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook
The legal battle over Lisa Cook’s position at the Federal Reserve is entering a new phase as U.S. President Donald Trump moves again to oust the governor despite a Supreme Court setback in June, a letter seen by Reuters showed.
The White House told Cook in a letter this week that the president was “considering” removing her from her role and demanded she respond to unproven mortgage fraud allegations within three weeks – allegations her attorney called “baseless.”
The salvo against Cook is the second time this week Trump has restarted an effort to take actions that the Supreme Court blocked earlier this year. Trump earlier this week also issued another order attempting to limit birthright citizenship after the high court ruled against his previous effort to limit who is automatically considered a U.S. citizen.
The letter to Cook, signed by Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and first reported by ABC News, alleged that she committed crimes that could be punishable by up to 30 years in prison and that her conduct constituted negligence that called into question her trustworthiness as a Fed governor, ABC reported.
In a statement, Cook’s lawyer said “there is no valid cause” for removing Cook from her position.
“As we did before, we will challenge this latest pretext and preserve her position and the historic role of the Fed,” attorney Abbe D. Lowell said. The Federal Reserve did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump last year cited mortgage fraud in trying to fire Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor. Cook denied the allegations, calling them a pretext to remove her for monetary policy differences. The U.S. Supreme Court refused in June to allow the firing, standing firm to preserve the central bank’s cherished independence against the Republican president’s unprecedented challenge.
The court, in a 5-4 ruling, blocked Trump from removing Cook for now, providing a safeguard for the Fed specifically. No other president since the central bank’s founding in 1913 had sought to oust a Fed governor. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the high court ruling, said Trump had “failed to afford Cook the procedural protections to which she was entitled by statute. Without such protections, she could not properly dispute the charges the president laid against her.”
Roberts and fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court’s three liberal justices in the ruling. Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett dissented. While the ruling definitively protects Fed officials from being fired at will by a president, the court said its ruling was not deciding the validity of the factual dispute in the case.
It has since returned the case to lower courts. “It at least remains an open question what precisely happened here, and indeed whether Cook committed ‘gross negligence,’ let alone ‘deceitful and potentially criminal conduct,’ as the president’s letter alleges,” Roberts wrote, adding that Cook must be able to respond to the charges made against her.
Integrating AI agents into online shopping could increase the threats of scams, fraud, and breaches of data privacy, banks including NatWest and Bank of America warned Tuesday, as they put forward a set of principles for how the technology should be developed.
Technology companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta are increasingly promoting AI chatbots as shopping tools, envisioning a future in which shoppers use AI agents to select products and make purchases on their behalf. Retailers, meanwhile, are racing to influence chatbots’ recommendations.
British retailer John Lewis said in September that searches originating from AI agents had risen to 2.5% from 0.3% a year earlier, with the trend accelerating.
The group of banks, which also includes ING, New Zealand’s ASB Bank, U.S. lender Capital One and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a report that customers were enthusiastic about the potential of agentic commerce and keen to enable it.
However, they warned that the technology was advancing faster than industry standards and consumer protections.
“Consumers are unclear if AI will act in their interests,” the report said.
“They are concerned that AI agents may buy the wrong thing or spend too much – or even worse, lose their money to scams and fraud. They are not sure whether they will be protected or who they will need to go to if things go wrong.”
The report highlighted risks including AI agents requesting customers’ card details and entering them directly into websites, or steering users toward payment methods that offer weaker protections.
The banks plan to discuss a series of proposals with policymakers, including requiring disclosure when an AI agent is involved in a transaction, greater transparency over how AI agents make decisions, and safeguards to protect customer data.
Consumers and merchants should also be free to choose which AI-powered e-commerce services they use, while different systems should be interoperable, the report said.
Consumer confidence in Türkiye reached its highest level in more than eight years in September, official data showed Tuesday.
The consumer confidence index rose by 1.3% to 91.9 in September from 90.8 in August, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat)
That was the highest reading since July 2018, when the index stood at 92.9.
The index is calculated from the results of the consumer tendency survey carried out jointly by TurkStat and the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT).
It indicates an optimistic outlook when above 100, while levels below 100 signal pessimism.
Households’ expectations for their financial situation over the next 12 months improved, with the corresponding index rising to 93.7 from 93.1.
The index measuring expectations for the general economic situation over the next 12 months edged up to 89.8 from 89.4.
By contrast, the index measuring households’ current financial situation slipped to 75.3 from 75.4.
Consumers were also more willing to spend on durable goods over the coming year, with the corresponding sub-index rising to 108.8 from 105.1 in August.
Authorities in Türkiye detained 14 more people Tuesday in connection with an investigation into suspicious share dealings at Katılımevim, a listed Turkish savings financing company, Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said.
Türkiye’s Capital Markets Board (SPK) last week filed criminal complaints against 38 people over alleged manipulation of shares in Katılımevim and two other listed companies, and imposed two-year trading bans on them.
The detentions are part of a widening crackdown on suspected share price manipulation at the center of a liquidity crunch that prompted regulators to freeze scores of funds and order their liquidation.
“With the operation carried out today, legal proceedings have been launched against 60 suspects until now; 4 suspects have been arrested; legal processes for 44 detained suspects are continuing; efforts continue to capture 12 suspects,” Gürlek said on the social media platform X.
He said all legal and financial measures were being taken to “uncover proceeds from crime, prevent the concealment of assets, and protect the rights of our victimized citizens.”
On Monday, authorities detained 15 people as part of the Katılımevim investigation, while freezing assets linked to executives at several other investment firms.
The liquidity crunch has led to the detention of top executives of several portfolio management firms and drawn scrutiny of concentrated bets in thinly traded stocks.
Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said Friday the liquidation of funds would not put pressure on Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange because regulatory changes should prevent any contagion risk.
He said authorities would continue to monitor the market closely.
Paramount inched closer to a blockbuster purchase of Warner Bros., months after the deal was initially floated, in what could be a game-changing moment in the entertainment industry.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a settlement with Paramount in a lawsuit his state led challenging the company’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Monday, effectively paving the way for the mega merger to move forward, with some new commitments.
The $81 billion blockbuster deal will bring together two of Hollywood’s oldest studios, key TV networks like CBS and CNN, and streaming platforms HBO Max and Paramount, as well as decades of libraries with titles ranging from “Harry Potter” to “Top Gun.”
But terms of Monday’s agreement include what Bonta called “court-enforceable” requirements for Skydance-owned Paramount to increase domestic production and establish monitoring of editorial independence of the company’s news operations.
The settlement still needs final court approval. Bonta maintained that Monday’s agreement “is not a vote of support for this merger” – but that he was always willing to come to the table and “find a strong solution that protects competition and consumers.”
The coalition of states – including entertainment heavyweights like California and New York – sued to block the $81 billion merger back in July, alleging a Paramount-Warner combo would “extinguish competition” and lead to fewer choices for consumers, particularly movie theatergoers and cable customers across the U.S.
Accompanied by a complaint also filed by the Writers Guild of America, the challenge was headed toward a full antitrust trial set to kick off in March.
Paramount said the allegations were meritless, but previously agreed to delay its transaction well into next year so the case could make its way through court. It then quickly called for a settlement – arguing that it had satisfied all regulatory clearances worldwide, including from the Trump administration’s Justice Department and the states’ challenge was its “final obstacle.”
As reports of the states reaching a settlement with Paramount emerged Monday, critics decried the deal – while warning of what further consolidation could mean in an industry already controlled by just a few major players.
“Today, billionaires have yet again bribed, censored, and bullied their way to the top,” Alvaro Bedoya, senior adviser at the American Economic Liberties Project and former FTC commissioner, said in a statement earlier Monday.
“Layoffs will follow. People from L.A. to Atlanta will lose their jobs, small businesses will lose their contracts, your cable bill and movie ticket will be even more expensive.”
Paramount, which is run by David Ellison, whose ultra-wealthy family has ties to U.S. President Donald Trump, won a bidding war against Netflix in February for control of a stable of assets that includes Warner Bros. Pictures, CNN and the HBO Max streaming service.
The Trump administration approved the deal, one of the largest media mergers in years, in June without demanding a change to its business, before 12 U.S. states sued to block the transaction.
Financing for the deal reportedly includes about $24 billion in equity from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. David Ellison’s father, billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, also provided funding and a guarantee.
In their complaint, the 12 states argued the combined company would control roughly 27 percent of wide-release theatrical film distribution and a similar percentage of the basic cable channel industry.
California led the suit, joined by Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington, all Democratic-led.
Türkiye and the United Kingdom are continuing work on the procurement of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets, the National Defense Ministry said Monday.
The statement came after a team of experts from the ministry inspected aircraft maintenance facilities at the Royal Air Force’s Coningsby Air Base in the U.K. from Sept. 15-17.
Türkiye earlier this month said its pilots had begun flight training in August as part of the Eurofighter agreement signed with the United Kingdom.
“The work on the Eurofighter Typhoon procurement project being carried out with the United Kingdom continues as part of the modernization efforts of our Air Force,” the ministry said.
It described the visit as a “strategic” step toward planning maintenance and sustainment processes, ensuring compatibility of technical infrastructure and strengthening bilateral cooperation.
The inspection was conducted as Ankara and London continue their work on the Eurofighter Typhoon procurement project, according to the ministry.
The agreement signed in late October last year covers 20 Eurofighter jets that Türkiye will buy from the U.K. The deal is worth about 8 billion pounds ($10.8 billion).
This March, the countries signed a technical and logistical agreement for the maintenance and operation of the warplanes.
Britain, a leading partner in the Eurofighter program, had been Türkiye’s most vocal supporter, and the agreement followed long negotiations to overcome a German objection to the sale.
Türkiye’s interest in the Typhoon was first reported in 2022, as Ankara grew frustrated with prolonged negotiations over the acquisition of F-16 fighter jets from the U.S.
Türkiye is scheduled to receive the first of the batch of Typhoons in 2030. The deal provides the option for the sale of more jets in the future.
In addition, Türkiye also plans to purchase 12 secondhand jets from Qatar and 12 others from Oman.
Meanwhile, Türkiye is developing its own fifth-generation fighter jet. Named Kaan, the stealth fighter is sought to replace the Air Force Command’s aging F-16 fleet, which is planned to be phased out starting in the 2030s.
Türkiye’s manufacturing capacity utilization rate rose in September, while business confidence edged higher, the country’s central bank said Monday.
The unadjusted capacity utilization rate in the manufacturing sector increased 0.7 percentage points from the previous month to 74.2%, the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) said.
The seasonally adjusted rate rose 0.6 percentage points to 74.1%.
Among the main industrial groups, the highest utilization rate in September was 74.5% in intermediate goods, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous month.
At the other end, durable consumer goods recorded the lowest rate at 66.4%, a decline of 1.8 percentage points month-over-month.
By sector, the manufacture of wood products posted the highest capacity usage at 83.7%, while the lowest rate, 59.8%, was recorded in the leather industry.
The data was based on responses from 1,982 manufacturing companies participating in the central bank’s business tendency survey.
Business confidence edges higher
Separate data by the CBRT showed the seasonally adjusted Real Sector Confidence Index rose 0.1 percentage points in September to 102.5.
Assessments of the overall business outlook, current total orders, total orders over the past three months and employment expectations for the next three months contributed positively to the index.
Expectations for export orders over the next three months, assessments of finished-goods inventories, fixed-capital investment spending and expected production over the next three months weighed on the index.
The unadjusted Real Sector Confidence Index fell 0.8 percentage points from the previous month to 102.
Mixed signals in orders and production
Companies’ assessments of production volumes over the past three months shifted further toward those reporting an increase.
The balance of responses on domestic orders shifted from a decline toward an increase, while assessments of export orders moved from an increase toward a decline.
Fewer companies said current total orders were below seasonal norms, while more respondents assessed finished-goods inventories as above seasonal norms.
For the next three months, expectations for higher production and export orders weakened, while expectations for an increase in domestic orders strengthened.
Expectations for higher employment over the next three months also strengthened, while expectations for fixed-capital investment over the next 12 months weakened.
Producer price expectations ease
Expectations for higher average unit costs over the next three months strengthened, as did reports of higher costs over the previous three months.
Expectations for higher selling prices over the next three months also increased.
The manufacturing sector’s expectation for annual producer-price inflation over the next 12 months fell 0.2 percentage points from the previous month to 31%.
Meanwhile, the share of respondents who viewed the overall outlook in their industry as worse than the previous month weakened, indicating a less pessimistic assessment of conditions.
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