 | | Featured Premium Content | | | | | WSJ Pro Bankruptcy Commentary: J&J’s New Talc Tort Trial
If at first you don’t succeed with a bankruptcy attempt, try, try again. That’s the strategy Johnson & Johnson is using as it tries to get out from under claims blaming its baby powder for medical problems, according to a WSJ Pro Bankruptcy commentary. The scene is playing out in U.S. bankruptcy court in the Southern District of Texas, where J&J subsidiary Red River Talc is seeking approval for a “prepackaged” bankruptcy agreement. Under the deal, the company would provide a trust to cover the claims of some 93,000 plaintiffs who say baby powder is responsible for their ovarian or other gynecological cancer. READ MORE
The views expressed in this WSJ Pro Bankruptcy commentary are meant for informative purposes only, and are not an official position of ABI. | | |  | | Editor's Picks | | | | | Sphere Entertainment Stock Drops as Firm Says MSG Networks Bankruptcy Possible
Shares of Sphere Entertainment (SPHR) slid Monday after the company reported declining second-quarter revenue and said its MSG Networks unit may pursue bankruptcy if it can't refinance its debt, Investopedia.com reported. Sphere, which operates the eponymous concert and entertainment arena in Las Vegas, posted quarterly revenue that fell 2% year-over-year to $308.3 million, although it was higher than Visible Alpha estimates. The company registered a loss of $3.49 per share, more than a dollar wider than analysts' expectations. READ MORE | | U.S. Farmers Face Higher Costs, Fewer Markets from Tariffs, Farm Groups Warn
U.S. President Donald Trump's new tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China threaten to hurt the $191 billion American agricultural export sector and raise costs for farmers struggling with low crop prices, farm groups warned on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Trump imposed 25% duties on imports from Mexico and Canada and doubled duties on Chinese goods to 20%, sparking trade wars with the biggest buyers of U.S. farm products. Canada and China targeted American products including wheat and poultry with retaliatory levies, while farm groups said U.S. tariffs on imports from Canada would raise fertilizer costs. About 85% of U.S. imports of potash fertilizer come from Canada, according to industry data. READ MORE | | Tropicana Orange Juice Facing Bankruptcy After 80 Years of Business
Tropicana, which was founded in 1947 and has been a household name ever since, is in financial trouble and might have to file for bankruptcy, NJ.com reported. Tropicana’s revenue went down by 4% last quarter, and the company’s income decreased by 10%, according to CNN. Another troubling sign for the orange juice maker is that its parent company, PAI Partners, recently gave Tropicana a $30 million loan. READ MORE
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May 14-15 | Las Vegas, Nevada | | | | |  | | Daily Roundup | | | | | CFPB Drops Lawsuit Against US Banks Over Alleged Fraud on Zelle
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dismissed another Biden-era lawsuit, this one targeting some of the world’s largest banks for allegedly rushing out a peer-to-peer payment network that then allowed fraud to proliferate, Bloomberg News reported. The agency dropped the case against JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. along with the parent company of the consumer payment network Zelle with prejudice, meaning it cannot be reopened, according to a filing Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. READ MORE | | Senate Votes to Repeal Biden-Era Crypto Tax Rule
The Senate voted to repeal a Biden-era rule requiring that some cryptocurrency platforms report their customers’ transactions to the Internal Revenue Service, the Wall Street Journal reported. The rule required the decentralized finance platforms, or DeFi, to report detailed information on customers to the IRS, starting for tax year 2027. The rule was designed to improve tax compliance and create parity with centralized crypto exchanges and stock brokerages. (Subscription required.) READ MORE | | Trump Deregulation Push Boosts Appeal of Swap Spread Wideners in Bond Market
A potential move by the Federal Reserve to ease regulations on capital for U.S. banks that would allow them to hold more Treasury securities has unleashed a torrent of so-called swap spread wideners in the bond market, Reuters reported. These are bets that increase demand for U.S. Treasuries that will push their yields lower and closer to those of a competing class of risk-free assets called interest rate swaps. Analysts said this trade has already been successful this year. The trade has become popular since the November 5 U.S. election on expectations President Donald Trump's administration will push through deregulation, particularly making capital adequacy rules less restrictive for banks. READ MORE | | Commerce Secretary’s Comments Raise Fears of Interference in Federal Data
Comments from a member of President Trump’s cabinet over the weekend have renewed concerns that the new administration could seek to interfere with federal statistics — especially if they start to show that the economy is slipping into a recession, the New York Times reported. In an interview on Fox News on Sunday, Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, suggested that he planned to change the way the government reports data on gross domestic product in order to remove the impact of government spending. READ MORE | | | | |
