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Fed posts smaller loss on operations in 2024

The Federal Reserve said on Friday it generated a smaller loss on its operations last year than in 2023 as its ongoing work to contain inflation kept its books in the red. The U.S. central bank said the total distribution of its comprehensive net loss last year stood at $77.5 billion versus $114.6 billion in 2023. The Fed last turned a profit in 2022.

Trump Adviser Calls to End Muni Tax Break in Threat to Market

(Bloomberg) -- Stephen Moore, an informal economic adviser to President Donald Trump, floated eliminating the federal tax subsidy for municipal bonds, a concerning sign for the market where states and cities raise debt.Most Read from BloombergChicago Transit Faces ‘Doomsday Scenario,’ Regional Agency SaysNew York Subway Ditches MetroCard After 32 Years for Tap-And-GoLA Faces $1 Billion Budget Hole, Warns of Thousands of LayoffsDespite Cost-Cutting Moves, Trump Plans to Remake DC in His StyleAmtr

US scraps sanctions on Tornado Cash, crypto ‘mixer’ accused of laundering North Korea money

The U.S. Treasury on Friday lifted economic sanctions against Tornado Cash, a firm that makes cryptocurrency transactions harder to track, which the Biden administration had accused of helping launder more than $7 billion for North Korean and other cyber hackers. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklisted Tornado Cash in 2022 after concluding it was helping launder the proceeds of cyber crimes, including more than $455 million stolen by Lazarus, a North Korean government-backed hacking group. Six users of Tornado Cash - a cryptocurrency "mixer" that obscures the origins and recipients of transactions - had filed a lawsuit to challenge the sanctions with the financial backing of the Coinbase crypto exchange.

North Dakota oil regulator expects lower oil prices this year amid Trump tariff uncertainty

Oil prices will likely slip this year, the director of North Dakota's state oil regulator predicted, amid uncertainty surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on neighboring Canada and Mexico. North Dakota is the third-largest oil producing state in the U.S. U.S. crude futures have been trading below $70 a barrel for the last three weeks, according to data from LSEG, with investor sentiment partly quashed by uncertainty around potential trade tariffs.