Economy

File photo: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Mariam Zuhaib / AP  

 

US debt ceiling  

Source: Senate close to agreement on temporary funding Senate 

 

Republican and Democratic negotiators are nearing a short-term deal to keep the US government open after October 1. This is stated by a source with access to Bloomberg.  

 

The proposal under discussion is to extend the funding by four to six weeks. It is a shorter period than the Democrats originally wanted to see, but at the same time the compromise could be more easily approved even in the House of Representatives, writes the news agency.  

 

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has so far failed to muster enough support for a rival proposal. In that, public spending would be cut by 27 percent.  

 

Illustration image Jean-Paul Pelissier / REUTERS  

 

Russian invasionRussian reactions 

"Shadow Fleet" exports the majority of Russian oil  

 

Russia has managed to export oil and avoid the G7's sanctions, something that will strengthen the country's income as the oil price now rises towards $100 a barrel. This is reported by the Financial Times. Almost three-quarters of all Russian seaborne oil has been shipped via the country's "shadow fleet" of tankers that are not insured and thus avoid the G7 price ceiling of $60 a barrel.  

 

This is an increase compared to last spring, when the country shipped approximately 50 percent via the shadow fleet, which means that Russia has become more adept at rounding the price ceiling, the newspaper writes.  

 

FTC top Lina Khan.  

The monopoly position of the tech giants  

Amazon accused of monopoly in "groundbreaking" suit  

 

The FTC accuses Amazon of obtaining an illegal monopoly over the e-commerce market in the United States. The competition authority is now proceeding with a "groundbreaking" lawsuit together with 17 state prosecutors, writes the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, among others.  

 

A number of strategies are described as the basis for the monopoly, such as Amazon penalizing sellers who offer lower prices on other platforms. Merchants also reportedly feel compelled to use Amazon's advertising and logistics services.  

 

"Rarely in the history of US competition law has a case had such potential to do so much good for so many people," writes FTC chief John Newman in a comment.