• Apr 16, 2025

Why Elon Musk installed his top lieutenants at a federal agency you probably haven't heard of

On the rooftop patio of the General Services Administration headquarters, an agency staffer recently discovered something strange: a rectangular device attached to a wire that snaked across the roof, over the ledge and into the administrator’s window one floor below. It didn’t take long for the employee — an IT specialist — to figure out the device was a transceiver that communicates with Elon Musk’s vast and private Starlink satellite network. The Starlink equipment raises a host of questions about what Musk and his efficiency czars are doing at GSA, an obscure agency that is playing an outsized role in the Trump administration’s quest to slash costs and bring the federal government to heel.

  • Apr 16, 2025

Stocks, dollar drift as US-Japan trade talks in focus

Asian equities edged higher on Thursday, while the dollar firmed slightly as traders took stock of trade negotiations between the U.S. and Japan even as uncertainties around tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump kept sentiment fragile. Investors were also digesting comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who warned of the risk of slowing growth and rising prices due to tariffs, while gold prices scaled record highs again on safe-haven flows. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.7% while the yen weakened as Japan kicked off talks with the United States.

  • Apr 16, 2025

TSMC forecast lifts gloomy mood in chip stocks, tariff worries linger

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Taiwan's TSMC on Thursday lifted some share prices in Asia and Europe amid U.S. President Donald Trump's fast-evolving trade policies by providing an upbeat forecast, a day after warnings from Nvidia and ASML rocked chip stocks. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, reported better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday and maintained its full-year outlooks for both revenue and capital spending. Shares of Japanese tech companies and some European firms rose after the TSMC results, which were announced after Taiwan stock markets closed.

  • Apr 16, 2025

Bhutan turns to 'green' cryptocurrency to fuel economy

The Himalayan nation of Bhutan is exploring ways to mine and leverage green cryptocurrencies using hydropower to boost its economy and create jobs to reduce brain drain, the chief executive of its sovereign wealth fund said. Green cryptocurrencies are digital currencies mined using clean energy resources such as wind, hydro or solar power instead of fossil fuel. Sandwiched between Asian giants India and China, Bhutan has earned millions of dollars in recent years by investing in some of the world's most popular cryptocurrencies and used some of its profit to pay government salaries for two years, two senior officials in Thimphu, the capital said.

  • Apr 16, 2025

Oil set for weekly rise after new Iran sanctions

LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices rose to the highest in two weeks on Thursday amid low liquidity ahead of the Easter holidays after the United States imposed new sanctions to curb Iranian oil exports, elevating supply concerns. Thursday is the last settlement day of the week ahead of the Easter holidays. The new sanctions on Iranian oil exports and hawkish comments on the issue from the U.S. Treasury are increasing supply concerns and helping support crude, said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.