Business Briefs – July 27, 2017

Trump Choice for Fed Board Says He Likes Rule Change Ideas

WASHINGTON (AP) – Randal Quarles, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Federal Reserve Board, says he likes a predecessor’s ideas for where regulators should prune banking rules.

At his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, Quarles said he agreed with recent recommendations of the man he’d replace as the head of bank oversight. The predecessor, Daniel Tarullo, only filled the role informally. Quarles was nominated by Trump and would be the first official vice chair for bank supervision, making him a key player in the president’s drive to scale back financial rules.

Quarles was a senior Treasury official under both Bush presidencies and now co-heads an investment firm.

U.S. Durable Goods, Trade Data Boost Second-Quarter Growth Estimate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Shipments of key U.S.-made capital goods increased in June for a fifth straight month, suggesting that business spending on equipment helped to boost economic growth in the second quarter.

Signs that the economy gathered speed in the last quarter were also bolstered by other data on Thursday showing a sharp narrowing in the goods trade deficit in June and increases in both retail and wholesale inventories.

The bullish reports came on the eve of the government’s advance second-quarter gross domestic product estimate on Friday, prompting economists to raise their forecasts to as high as a 3.5 percent annualized rate. The economy grew at a 1.4 percent pace in the first quarter.

The Commerce Department said shipments of non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft increased 0.2 percent after rising 0.4 percent in May.

Fiat Chrysler Expected to Win U.S. Approval to Sell ‘17 Diesels: Sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. and California regulators are expected to approve Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ long-delayed request to sell 2017 diesel vehicles — a move that may help the Italian-American automaker win approval for a software fix on older diesel models.

The software upgrade does not impact performance or durability and is expected to be announced as early as Thursday. In May, the Justice Department sued Fiat Chrysler, accusing it of illegally using software to bypass emission controls in 104,000 diesel Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Ram 1500 trucks sold since 2014.