Flash News

TREE NEWS update: The US Federal Communications Commission will vote on a proposal to auction 25 megahertz of “golden spectrum” to support direct-to-device (D2D) service from satellites to smartphones. The FCC also said it will vote on October 29 on whether to seek public comment on opening an additional 482 MHz of spectrum for supplemental coverage from space and modernizing its rules for D2D services in licensed spectrum. The proposals could benefit SpaceX and Amazon, which are expanding D2D services via satellite networks.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Finance opened bidding on October 8 for the first 2026 tranche of special treasury bonds earmarked for recapitalizing central financial institutions, with a competitive auction target of 150 billion yuan. The five-year fixed-rate bond will be distributed through October 9 and listed for trading from October 13. A second, seven-year tranche is scheduled to be auctioned on November 18.

TREE NEWS update: Jay Clayton, the newly appointed head of the Trump administration’s so-called Superintelligence Task Force, is traveling to Silicon Valley to meet top AI executives, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. It is his first meeting with tech industry leaders since taking charge of the new body coordinating federal government AI affairs.

TREE NEWS update: The US Department of Homeland Security on the 7th published a proposed rule imposing steep fees on international students who work in the United States through Optional Practical Training. Schools would pay $70,000 for each student’s first OPT application and another $30,000 for an extension. OPT allows student-visa holders to work in jobs directly related to their field of study and is a key bridge to work visas.

TREE NEWS update: The US Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Agriculture have opened an investigation into market conduct by Deere and other farm equipment makers, including potential anticompetitive behavior. Shares fell on the news: Deere closed down 3.8%, Caterpillar 5.75%, AGCO 6.06% and CNH 6.1%.

TREE NEWS update: House Financial Services Chairman French Hill said the SEC and CFTC’s crypto rulemaking falls short of the clarity the industry needs, crediting the agencies for stepping in after the Clarity Act’s collapse. He said only a “permanent law change” can secure U.S. leadership in digital assets.

TREE NEWS update: Duke Energy and the state of North Carolina have reached an agreement establishing a separate electricity rate class for large-load customers, shielding ordinary ratepayers from data center-related costs. Under the deal, data centers must pay grid interconnection costs upfront. The agreement covers Duke Energy’s North Carolina service territory.

TREE NEWS update: US intelligence chief and AI chief Jay Clayton said the United States is in talks with 20 to 25 AI companies. Clayton, who holds both the intelligence and AI portfolios, gave the figure without naming the companies involved or detailing the nature of the discussions. No further terms or timeline were disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Grayscale’s Krista Lynch said the crypto ETF market is entering a new phase, with SEC listing standards now covering about 15 tokens and letting issuers move selectively beyond bitcoin and ether. She made the remarks as a Zcash ETF topped $1 billion.

TREE NEWS update: The Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes show the New York Fed intervened in the foreign exchange market on behalf of the US Treasury. The minutes, released by the Fed, state that the New York Fed acted as the Treasury’s agent in the operation. No further details on the timing, currency pairs or size of the intervention were disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: The Federal Open Market Committee published the minutes of its September 15-16, 2026 meeting. The release covers the two-day policy session held last month. No details of the discussion or any policy decisions were disclosed in the material made available.

TREE NEWS update: A London court overturned the convictions of five former Barclays traders found guilty of benchmark-rate manipulation. The UK Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of Alex Pabon, Jay Merchant and Jonathan Mathew, who were jailed in 2016 for conspiracy to defraud over Libor rigging. Former Barclays traders Philippe Moryoussef and Colin Bermingham had been convicted in 2018 and 2019 respectively over Euribor manipulation.

TREE NEWS reports: The US Securities and Exchange Commission said it has serious concerns about the conduct of Climate Action 100+ members and other participants in the group’s push to elect dissident directors at Exxon Mobil’s 2021 annual shareholder meeting. In a report reviewing that campaign, the SEC decided not to take enforcement action based on the information currently available. The agency did not specify what further steps, if any, it might consider.

TREE NEWS update: Hyperliquid has confirmed it is based in Singapore but holds no license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. People familiar with MAS’s thinking consider the decentralized venue to be outside its jurisdiction, as Singapore’s rules distinguish crypto derivatives on approved exchanges from those offered elsewhere.

TREE NEWS update: Representative French Hill said actions by the SEC and CFTC are not sufficient to regulate crypto markets and fall short of what the CLARITY bill would achieve. The House Financial Services Committee chairman said he hopes lawmakers can pass a cryptocurrency market structure bill before the next session of Congress in 2027.

TREE NEWS update: Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on October 7 questioning what she called “unprecedented and chaotic” intervention in the U.S. Treasury market. Warren asked whether Treasury plans to draw down its cash balance to fund Treasury buybacks, and what other steps it is taking to push down long-term Treasury yields. She demanded a response by October 21.

TREE NEWS update: Daniel Rhyne has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for locking his employer’s IT administrators out of its network and demanding 20 BTC, then worth $750,000, to stop the shutdowns. The extortion scheme targeted his own company’s systems.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min held a video call in Beijing with Lindsey Whyte, Director General for International Finance at the UK Treasury, at the UK side’s request. The two exchanged views on China-UK economic and financial cooperation and on cooperation through the G20 finance track.

TREE NEWS update: European Commission Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič will visit Beijing, the EU’s trade and economic security chief confirmed. The trip follows the establishment in June of a China-EU trade and investment consultation mechanism, which comprises four working groups covering trade and investment balance, export controls, intellectual property, and WTO reform.