The daily business briefing: September 21, 2016

Elizabeth Warren talks about Wells Fargo

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1. Bank of Japan lifts stocks ahead of Fed decision
2. Senators slam Wells Fargo CEO over unwanted accounts
3. Regulators investigate ExxonMobil financial reporting
4. Microsoft board approves $40 billion stock buyback
5. Ex-Duke star Laettner settles with investors

published 21 September 2016

1. Bank of Japan lifts stocks ahead of Fed decision

Japan's central bank kept rates unchanged at negative 0.1 percent on Wednesday but surprised investors at the end of its two-day meeting by also setting a target rate of about zero percent for 10-year government bonds. The latter move was seen as an indication that the Bank of Japan was stepping up its fight against deflation after assessing the impact of past policies. World stocks gained after the announcement, and ahead of the Federal Reserve's scheduled announcement on its next move at the end of its two-day policy meeting later on Wednesday. Economists expect the Fed to keep rates unchanged but signal a possible hike in December.

Senators harshly criticized Wells Fargo & Co. CEO John Stumpf on Tuesday for failing to prevent his bank's workers from opening two million accounts without customers' permission. Stumpf downplayed the scope of the scandal but said he had instructed his managers to do "whatever it takes" to make amends with customers by refunding fees and compensating them for damage to their credit ratings. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) accused Stumpf of "gutless leadership," saying he should resign and face a criminal investigation.

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ExxonMobil shares fell on Tuesday on the news that the Securities and Exchange Commission had requested information on the energy giant's accounting practices. The Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC was looking into how Exxon valued its assets as oil prices have plunged. Other U.S. energy companies collectively wrote down the value of their drilling assets by $177 billion last year, and tacked on another $15 billion in the first quarter of 2016, IHS Energy says. ExxonMobil has not done the same.

Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced that its board had approved plans to buy back up to $40 billion in stock and raise its dividend by 8 percent. The moves are the latest in a series of steps the software giant has taken to share its cash and short-term investments, currently estimated at $113.2 billion, with investors. The latest buyback is the same size as one the company announced in 2013 and plans to complete by the end of the year.

Former Duke University basketball star Christian Laettner has reached a deal to repay investors in a North Carolina tobacco warehouse redevelopment project, hoping to end a decade of financial trouble and avoid bankruptcy. In court papers filed Monday, Laettner's lawyers said he had agreed to divide roughly $10 million in proceeds from the Durham, N.C., West Village project among investors, including his former Duke teammate Johnnie Dawkins and former 1992 Olympic "Dream Team" teammate Scottie Pippen.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.