A federal judge today rejected the swipe fee antitrust settlement agreed to by Visa and Mastercard, which some merchants felt didn't go far enough to loosen the companies' grip on card transactions.
Why it matters: The credit card giants may now be forced back to the negotiating table — or even headed to court over the fate of their fees.
Merchants say the companies have too much power, charging an average of 1.5%–3% in fees per credit card transaction, according to BankRate.com.
Driving the news: U.S. Judge Margo Brodie today issued an order saying she is "not likely to grant final approval" of the deal, which Visa and Mastercard had said would save U.S. businesses $29.8 billion over five years.
The aura of inevitability surrounding Nvidia's stock ascent took a hit over the last few days.
Why it matters: NVDA's meteoric rise is tied to a broader explosion of interest in the emerging AI economy, raising questions of how high it could go, or if it already got there too fast.
Nvidia stock, which has gained 760% since the start of 2023, is down about $14 from last week's all-time high, when it briefly topped $140.
The European Union today accused Microsoft of violating antitrust rules with its handling of the Teams productivity app.
Why it matters: The move comes a day after the EU accused Apple of unfairly restricting apps, signaling an escalation of European regulators' broader crackdown on Big Tech.
Friction point: The European Commission found that Microsoft had illegally boosted Teams by refusing to give customers a choice on whether to buy it when getting other Microsoft apps.
The other side: "Having unbundled Teams and taken initial interoperability steps, we appreciate the additional clarity," Microsoft said in a statement, saying it would work to address remaining concerns.
Apple said it had made "a number of changes" already and "we are confident our plan complies with the law," NYT reported.
Why it matters: The NTSB's conclusions came just a month after Norfolk Southern agreed to pay $310 million for damages from the derailment. The massive, ongoing effort to clean up the derailment is expected to cost Norfolk Southern over $1 billion in total.
Tariffs raise prices for consumers, create economic blowback and should be used sparingly or not at all. That was the consensus among top U.S. political leadership for decades, and among economists for longer than that. Not anymore.
Why it matters: Former President Trump and President Biden each have embraced taxing imports as a key tool of economic statecraft — though they have distinctly different approaches when it comes to the details.
The promise of artificial intelligence shielded Hut 8 from the bitcoin storm yesterday.
Driving the news: Philippe Laffont's Coatue Asset Management made a $150 million investment in Hut 8 via convertible bonds.
Coatue has deployed more than $2 billion toward infrastructure and AI data-center verticals, according to a Hut 8 presentation. It's also behind a company called CoreWeave, a cloud computing firm that recently linked up with miner Core Scientific.
Between the lines: Investors appear to have newfound appreciation for crypto miners and their facilities, which can be used to host AI GPU centers.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss donated so much bitcoin to the Trump campaign that some of it had to be returned. According to blockchain analysis, however, not many others have been following their lead.
How it works: 🍯 Delmore used honeypotting to identify which wallets belonged to the Trump campaign, donating the equivalent of $1 on-chain to see where the money goes.
One thing he found was that the Winklevosses' BTC-denominated donations were sent to a different fundraising committee than the one connected to Trump's presidential campaign website.
A federal judge on Tuesday denied a request from Visa and Mastercard to green-light a settlement that some merchants felt did not go far enough to provide them relief from credit card fees.
Why it matters: Merchants say credit card companies have too much power over transactions, charging an average of 1.5% to 3% in fees per credit card transaction, according to BankRate.com.
Last month, the Biden administration rolled out a suite of tariffs on Chinese exports of electric vehicles, solar panels, semiconductors and more. Administration officials emphasized what they see as differences with the Trump approach.
Biden's "tough targeted approach combining investment and enforcement in key sectors is a sharp departure from the prior administration," White House economic adviser Lael Brainard said last month.
"The previous administration did not take action to invest in America and failed to follow through on securing the promised Chinese purchases or end to China's unfair practices in its failed Phase One trade agreement with China," she said.
Amazon's upcoming Prime Day sale will take place on July 16 and 17 this year, the tech giant announced early Tuesday.
Why it matters: This is Amazon's 10th Prime Day promotion — an annual event designed to boost sales during the summer, when vacations compete for consumer attention and dollars.
There are zero Fortune 100 CEOs — a group that historically leans Republican — that have donated to former President Trump this election cycle, according to data compiled by Yale's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld.
