President Donald Trump’s administration returned to the Supreme Court on Monday in a push to keep full payments in the SNAP federal food aid program frozen while the government is shut down.

The request is the latest in a flurry of legal activity over how a program that helps buy groceries for 42 million Americans should proceed during the historic U.S. government shutdown. Lower courts have ruled that the government must keep full payments flowing, and the Supreme Court asked the administration to respond after an appeals court ruled against it again late Sunday.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer confirmed that the federal government still wants those lower-court orders put on hold, though in a letter to the justices he also pointed to reports that Congress could soon end the shutdown with a compromise that would fund SNAP. (AP – Continue Reading)

Switzerland is close to securing a 15% tariff on its exports to the US, in what would be a relief for the country after it was hit with a punishing 39% levy in August, according to people familiar with the matter.

A deal may be concluded within the next two weeks, said the people, who declined to be identified discussing ongoing negotiations. They also warned that nothing is finalized and the talks could still come undone, as happened during discussions between US and Swiss trade negotiators in late July. (Bloomberg – Continue Reading)

A leading measure of investor confidence in Germany is expected to rise for a fourth straight month on the prospects of record government spending for the country’s military and infrastructure.

An analysts’ poll predicted that the forward-looking economic sentiment reading from a survey conducted by Germany’s ZEW economic institute will improve to 41.0 points from last month’s 39.3.

The institute’s current conditions indicator is expected to stay in negative territory—its home since December 2021—with an improvement to -78.2 from -80.0 in October.

The performance of German blue chips in recent weeks and beyond offers a mixed indicator of the mood among investors: the country’s leading equity index was down more than 1% from a month ago but up more than 19% this year. (LiveSquawk – Continue Reading)

Russia is looking to ramp up rare earths production but it’s late to the party and faces challenges along the way to establishing its position in the highly-lucrative global market, analysts say.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last week ordered his officials to complete a road map by Dec.1 “for the long-term development of the extraction and production of rare and rare earth metals.”

Moscow has fallen behind peers like China when it comes to the exploitation of its deposits of rare earth elements, which are mainly used to make high-strength magnets which are vital components in high-tech and energy industries, such as those making consumer electronics, electric vehicles and wind turbines. (CNBC – Continue Reading)

President Donald Trump has proposed creating 50-year mortgages to solve the housing affordability crisis, an idea that has provoked strong debate about the pros and cons of longer-term loans for homebuyers.

Trump floated the idea over the weekend on his Truth Social site, where he posted an image touting himself as the creator of the 50-year mortgage. The image also showed former President Franklin Roosevelt, who oversaw the initial creation of fixed-rate mortgages during the Great Depression. (Yahoo Finance – Continue Reading)