Business

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) – GM has agreed to pay $12.75 million to resolve a California investigation into allegations that the Detroit automaker illegally sold two data brokers detailed information about the driving habits of hundreds of thousands of Californians, state Attorney General Rob Bonta said on Friday.

The settlement, subject to court approval, includes $12.75 million in civil penalties. It also restricts GM’s use of consumer driving data compiled about subscribers to its OnStar service and a ban on such data being sold to brokers. It includes a five-year ban on sales of personal data.

The data that GM sold to the brokers included names, phone numbers and home addresses. It detailed the GPS location of where OnStar subscribers drove and parked their vehicles.

GM from 2016 through 2024 also kept track of speeds traveled and incidences of rapid acceleration, the state said. Media reports said this data about driving behavior was shared with auto insurers who used it to justify rate increases in some places, although Bonta said California law bars insurers in the state from using such information to set rates.

California said GM reportedly made approximately $20 million nationwide from these data sales and added GM collected this data through consumers’ use of OnStar, which can provide directions or summon an ambulance in case of a crash, among other functions.

“General Motors sold the data of California drivers without their knowledge or consent and despite numerous statements reassuring drivers that it would not do so. This trove of information included precise and personal location data that could identify the everyday habits and movements of Californians,” Bonta said.

GM said the settlement “addresses Smart Driver, a product we discontinued in 2024, and reinforces steps we’ve taken to strengthen our privacy practices.”

GM added it is committed to being transparent with customers about data practices and their choices and control over personal information.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said this year that GM’s behavior amounted to an “egregious betrayal of consumers’ trust.” In January 2025, the FTC said GM and its subsidiary OnStar agreed not to disclose or sell sensitive vehicle geolocation and driver behavior data to consumer reporting agencies for five years.

In 2023, a California state privacy agency announced investigations into the privacy practices of connected vehicles. Media reports in 2024 suggested automakers, including GM, were sharing consumers’ driving behavior with insurance companies and some insurers had raised consumers’ rates based on this data, Bonta said.

Bonta said California drivers did not experience rate hikes due to GM’s sales of data. Under California’s insurance laws, insurers are prohibited from using driving data to set insurance rates.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio)

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May 8 (Reuters) – Oil prices could rise further if U.S.-Iran talks remain thorny, Citi said, though inventory drawdowns, Strategic Petroleum Reserve releases, reduced Chinese imports, weaker demand and periodic signs of de-escalation have helped cushion the impact.

Citi said its base case remains that disruption in the Strait of Hormuz eases by the end of May but said difficulty in achieving a U.S.-Iran deal has increased near-term upside risks.

• The bank maintained its zero-to-three-month Brent price forecast at $120 a barrel. It expects Brent to average $110 a barrel in the second quarter, before easing to $95 in the third quarter and $80 in the fourth quarter.

• China’s possible cut of about 2.4 million barrels per day in oil imports in April and May, to around 9.2 million bpd from a 2025 average of about 11.6 million bpd, has also reduced stress on the global oil market, Citi said, citing ship tracking data.

• However, Citi said “We continue to believe that oil markets are under-pricing duration and tail risks.”

(Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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May 8 (Reuters) – Boeing said on Friday it was continuing to investigate a workplace accident that led to the death of an employee last month, after a union called for full accountability over the incident.

Daniel Lussier, a 53-year-old aircraft mechanic at Boeing and member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), died in April following an accident at the Wichita plant.

“We continue to investigate last month’s workplace accident…”, a Boeing spokesperson said.

The company said it continues to prioritize worker safety, including holding “dedicated safety stand downs” to review processes and improve workplace conditions.

The IAM had urged a thorough probe into the incident, saying an autopsy showed a workplace accident contributed to Lussier’s death.

(Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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By Hannah Lang

May 8 (Reuters) – U.S. senators are set to consider long-awaited legislation that would create a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency next week, potentially ending a deadlock over the bill that pitted crypto companies against U.S. banks.

The bill, dubbed the Clarity Act, would, if signed into law, clarify financial regulators’ jurisdiction over the burgeoning sector, potentially boosting digital asset adoption.

U.S. Senator Tim Scott, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said on Friday the panel would hold an executive session on May 14 at 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT) in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.

The crypto industry has been pushing for the legislation, saying it is existential to the future of digital assets in the U.S. and necessary to fix core, longstanding problems for crypto companies. Among other things, the legislation would define when crypto tokens are securities, commodities or otherwise, giving the industry legal clarity.

The bill also includes a provision aimed at settling a heated dispute between crypto companies and the banking industry. Under the compromise brokered by Republican Senator Thom Tillis and Democratic Senator Angela Alsobrooks, customer rewards on idle holdings of dollar-backed crypto tokens known as stablecoins would be prohibited, given their resemblance to bank deposits.

Rewards on other activities associated with stablecoins, such as sending a payment, would be permitted. Banking trade groups have pushed back on this provision, saying it gives crypto companies too much latitude and could shift deposits away from the regulated banking system.

Banks have launched a last-ditch effort to peel support from some Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee before the hearing, but it is unclear if they will be able to do so.

Lobbyists for the banking industry have been seeking a fix in the Clarity Act to close a “loophole” stemming from legislation signed into law last year that allows intermediaries to pay interest on stablecoins. Banks say this would lead to a flight of deposits from the insured banking system, potentially threatening financial stability.

Crypto companies say that prohibiting ‍third parties, such as crypto exchanges, from paying interest on stablecoins would be anti-competitive.

The industry hopes the Clarity Act gets passed in the coming months before the November midterm elections, in which Democrats could wrest control of the House of Representatives.

The House passed its version of the Clarity Act in July last year, but the Senate needs to pass the bill by the end of 2026 in order to send it to President Donald Trump’s desk.

Many congressional Democrats have been opposed to the bill, arguing it is too weak on anti-money laundering provisions, and that it should do more to prevent political officials from profiting from crypto ventures.

The bill would need support from at least seven Democrats in the full Senate to gain approval.

President Trump courted industry cash, pledging to be a “crypto president,” and his family’s own crypto ventures have helped to propel the sector into the mainstream.

(Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York; Additional reporting by Carlos Méndez in Mexico City; Editing by Tom Hogue)

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By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration and a non-profit group that runs Washington, D.C.’s public golf courses reached a deal on Friday under which the organization will have a new long-term lease of two courses while federal officials will overhaul a third one.

The two sides released a joint statement on Friday. Here are some details:

• The National Links Trust non-profit will have a new long-term lease to operate and redevelop Langston Golf Course and Rock Creek Park Golf, the statement said.

• The statement added that the non-profit will continue to operate East Potomac Golf Links on an interim basis until the Interior Department’s National Park Service starts what it calls a “historic restoration” of the waterfront course.

• All three public golf courses in the U.S. capital will remain open, the statement added.

• In December, the Trump administration ended National Links’ previous deal to oversee D.C.’s public golf courses.

• Critics saw the cancellation as another step in Trump’s push to remake the look of the nation’s capital.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Sergio Non and Kim Coghill)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers delivered a surprising 115,000 new jobs last month despite an economic shock from the Iran war.

Hiring beat the 65,000 jobs forecasters had expected, though it decelerated from the 185,000 jobs created in March. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The Iran war has caused the biggest disruption of global oil supplies in history and sent average U.S. gasoline prices surging past $4.50 a gallon this week. But the conflict hasn’t done much damage to the American job market so far. And the import taxes — tariffs — that President Donald Trump imposed last year haven’t turned out to be as high and as damaging as originally feared.

“The labor market is not booming, but it is proving harder to break than` many feared,’’ said economist Olu Sonola of Fitch Ratings.

Healthcare added 37,000 jobs last month and transportation and warehousing companies 30,000. However, manufacturers cut 2,000 jobs in April and have shed 66,000 jobs over the past year despite Trump’s protectionist policies aimed at creating factory jobs.

“Businesses to some extent are viewing the conflict in Iran as temporary,” said Gus Faucher, chief economist at the financial firm PNC. ”We’re seeing strong business investment, particularly around tech and AI. The economy continues to expand. We’ve weathered some shocks. The worst of the tariff impact is likely over.”

Still, Faucher cautioned that “the longer conflict in Iran lasts, the higher energy prices go, the longer they stay elevated the greater the drag on the economy.”

Labor Department revisions shaved 16,000 jobs from February and March payrolls.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% from March and 3.6% from April 2025, consistent with the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target.

The number of people in the U.S. labor force dropped last month, and the share of those working or looking for work — the so-called labor force participation rate — dropped to 61.8%, lowest since October 2021.

But the job market keeps chugging along this year.

The economy is getting a boost from big tax refund checks this spring, arising from Trump’s tax cut legislation last year; the refunds allow consumers to spend more freely, giving companies an incentive to add workers in response to rising sales.

The job market is showing intermittent signs of recovery after a bleak 2025. Employers last year created just 9,700 jobs a month, fewest outside a recession year since 2002. High interest rates and uncertainty over Trump’s economic policies held back hiring.

The March and April hiring figures marked the first consecutive months of job growth above 100,000 since the end of 2024.

FILE – A job seeker waits to talk to a recruiter at a job fair Aug. 28, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File)

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May 8 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday after a stronger-than-expected employment report eased worries about a cooling labor market, while a rebound in chipmakers also bolstered investor sentiment.

At 09:30 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 209.88 points, or 0.42%, to 49,806.85, the S&P 500 gained 32.78 points, or 0.45%, to 7,369.89, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 146.89 points, or 0.57%, to 25,953.09.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)

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By David Milliken

LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) – Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Friday he expected there to be a “wrestle” between the United States and international regulators on the treatment of stablecoins, a form of cryptocurrency he sees as a potential threat to financial stability.

Stablecoins are typically pegged at a fixed rate to the U.S. dollar or another major currency, and aim to be an alternative to the existing banking system for making domestic or international payments.

The current United States administration under President Donald Trump has been keen to promote stablecoins, which often use U.S. Treasury bills as a backing asset.

But Bailey, who chairs the Financial Stability Board, an international body that aims to coordinate regulation, has long been sceptical about cryptocurrencies and wary of the potential risks from stablecoins.

“If we want stablecoins to be part of the architecture of payments globally … they’re only going to work if we have international standards. Frankly, that, I think, is going to be a coming wrestle with the (U.S.) administration,” Bailey said at a conference on financial imbalances hosted by the BoE.

Bailey said he was concerned some U.S. stablecoins could not be readily turned into dollars without going through a crypto exchange, potentially limiting their convertibility in a crisis.

But if stablecoins became widely used for cross-border payments, then during a crisis hard-to-convert U.S. stablecoins could flow to jurisdictions such as Britain which intend to have robust obligations for convertibility, he said.

“We know what would happen if there was a run on a stablecoin – they’d all turn up here,” Bailey said.

(Reporting by David Milliken; editing by William James)

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QUITO, May 8 (Reuters) – The Andean Community ordered Colombia and Ecuador to lift all measures restricting trade between the two countries, the bloc said late on Thursday.

The Community ruled on requests from both nations after Ecuador raised tariffs on imports from Colombia to 100%, prompting a retaliatory response from Colombia, which imposed phased tariff hikes of up to 75% on some goods.

The multilateral body gave the two countries 10 business days to withdraw the measures in place.

Earlier this year, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa imposed tariffs on Colombian imports, including electricity and medicines, eventually raising them to 100% as of May 1, arguing that his neighbor was not doing enough to combat drug trafficking along their roughly 586-km shared border and citing a wide trade deficit.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro rejected the accusations, and his government responded by suspending electricity exports and last week formalizing differentiated tariffs of 35%, 50% and 75% on around 190 Ecuadorian products.

Colombia and Ecuador governments did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia and Nelson Bocanegra; Editing by Susan Fenton and Chizu Nomiyama)

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WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) – U.S. consumer sentiment slumped to a record low in early May as higher gasoline prices weighed on household finances and purchasing power, a survey showed on Friday.

The University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers said its Consumer Sentiment Index fell to an all-time low of 48.2 this month from a final reading 49.8 in April. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index dipping to 49.5.

“Consumers continue to feel buffeted by cost pressures, led by soaring prices at the pump,” said Joanne Hsu, the director of the Surveys of Consumers. “Middle East developments are unlikely to meaningfully boost sentiment until supply disruptions have been fully resolved and energy prices fall.”

The survey’s measure of consumer expectations for inflation over the next year slipped to 4.5% from 4.7% April. Consumers’ expectations for inflation over the next five years edged down to 3.4% from 3.5% last month.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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