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Trump’s tariffs will test unity among allies at G7 finance ministers’ summit – The Boston Globe

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Trump’s tariffs will test unity among allies at G7 finance ministers’ summit – The Boston Globe

The Trump administration has reached an initial trade deal with one G7 member, the United Kingdom, and is engaged in talks with Japan and the European Union. But Canada still faces 25% duties on many of its exports to the United States, including autos, and the other three G7 members — France, Germany, and Italy — all face a baseline tariff of 10% on all their exports as part of the European Union.

It will be the first formal meeting of the G7 attended by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who participated in a brief G7 gathering last month on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington, D.C. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will also attend along with central bank governors from the other G7 nations.

“The message from colleagues is pretty clear is that a free and fair and a rules-based multilateral trading system, is a system in which we all win,” Francois-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister of finance, said Tuesday.

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While many finance ministers gathered in Banff this week will likely seek one-on-one meetings with Bessent, it’s unlikely any trade deals will be reached, according to a person briefed on preparations for the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not have authorization to speak about it publicly.

Instead, the finance officials will seek to smooth the way toward any agreements before a meeting of the heads of state of the G7 countries in June in nearby Kananaskis, Canada.

Bessent may be able to bring a more conciliatory tone to the meetings, Prasad said, as he is often seen as a relatively moderating influence on tariffs in the Trump White House.

And there will likely be some areas of agreement, particularly around the Trump administration’s goal to address what it calls “global imbalances” in world trade, a reference to the United States’ large annual trade deficits, which reflects that it imports more than it exports. The White House sees China as the key driver of such imbalances. China has a large trade surplus.

“Intentional policy choices by other countries have hollowed out America’s manufacturing sector and undermined our critical supply chains, putting our national and economic security at risk,” Bessent said in a speech last month during the IMF and World Bank meetings.

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The status of the U.S. dollar may also come up, at least in informal conversations. The dollar dropped in value unexpectedly last month after Trump unveiled his widespread tariffs, while the interest rate on Treasury bonds rose, a sign international investors may have been dumping American assets as confidence in the country’s governance and economy eroded.

“In the hallways, they’re going to talk about nothing but tariffs and the dollar,” said Steven Kamin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former senior economist at the Federal Reserve.

At last year’s meeting of G7 finance officials in Stresa, Italy, they agreed on a joint statement that said the members have a “strong commitment to a free, fair, and rules-based” trading system. It’s not yet clear whether they will be able to agree on such a statement this year.

Another question hanging over the meetings will be whether the G7 can come to agreement on a new round of sanctions on Russia. The European Union and U.K. announced sanctions on Russian oil Tuesday, targeting Russia’s “shadow fleet” of unregistered oil tankers that are shipping its oil and allowing it to fund its war with Ukraine.

Proposals to lower a price cap on Russian oil, set as part of earlier rounds of international sanctions, down from its current level of $60 may also be discussed in meetings Wednesday.

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Yet the Trump administration, while it has called for greater sanctions on Russian oil, hasn’t yet signed on to the new restrictions. Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, and said the two countries would soon begin ceasefire talks, though no details were available.

Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko will also attend the G7 meetings this week, though Ukraine is not a member.

Daleep Singh, chief global economist at PGIM Fixed Income and a former deputy national security adviser in the Biden administration, said the issue of Russian oil sanctions will be a key test of what unity remains in the G7.

“If you’re looking for something to engender a just and lasting peace, oil sanctions are the place to look,” he said.

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Larry Fink: ‘I’m not planning to leave BlackRock anytime soon’

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Larry Fink: ‘I’m not planning to leave BlackRock anytime soon’

BlackRock (BLK) CEO Larry Fink said Thursday that he is not planning to leave the company “anytime soon,” offering no new clarity on who may ultimately succeed him as boss of the world’s largest money manager.

For some time, investors have wondered when the 72-year-old Fink is going to step down. He co-founded the firm in 1988 and built it into a financial giant that now manages more than $11 trillion.

Some potential successors have exited the firm recently, raising more questions about succession.

They include Mark Wiedman, who had been head of BlackRock’s global client business and now has a top job at PNC Financial Services Group (PNC). Another recent high-profile exit was Salim Ramji, who is now the chief executive of BlackRock rival Vanguard Group.

Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images) · Jamie McCarthy via Getty Images

“I’m not planning to leave BlackRock anytime soon,” Fink told an audience at the firm’s annual investor day in New York City, “so you don’t have to have those questions later on.”

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But he added that “a top priority” for himself and BlackRock president Rob Kapito is “working with the board” to make sure “we’re developing the next generation of leaders for BlackRock.”

BlackRock under Fink is in the middle of a significant shift toward private markets.

Last year, the company spent more than $28 billion on related acquisitions, including purchases of infrastructure investment firm Global Infrastructure Partners, private markets data provider Preqin, and private credit firm HPS Investment Partners.

The BlackRock logo is pictured outside its headquarters in Manhattan. (Reuters/Carlo Allegri/File Photo)
The BlackRock logo is pictured outside its headquarters in Manhattan. (Reuters/Carlo Allegri/File Photo) · REUTERS / Reuters

Given that push into private markets, the question of who might lead the world’s biggest asset manager next is rising in importance, Cathy Seifert, a CFRA analyst covering BlackRock, told Yahoo Finance earlier this week.

BlackRock’s succession plans “need to be a little more buttoned up, particularly in light of some of the shifts going on at the firm,” Seifert said.

Fink and BlackRock outlined some ambitious goals for the firm over the next five years. By 2030, the firm aims to grow its revenue to over $35 billion and double both its operating income and market capitalization.

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Its stock was slightly down as of Thursday early afternoon. It’s up 29% for the past 12 months.

“We know you’re looking to see if we could execute,” Fink told investors in reference to the new acquisitions.

“I believe it’s very achievable,” he added.

David Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto, and other areas in finance.

Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices

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Arra Finance To Acquire Crescent Auto Finance, Rapidly Scaling Its Subprime Auto Finance Platform

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Arra Finance To Acquire Crescent Auto Finance, Rapidly Scaling Its Subprime Auto Finance Platform
Arra Finance LLC

Deal to quadruple auto finance origination capacity and reduce credit application response time to a matter of seconds

IRVING, Texas, June 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Arra Finance, LLC (“Arra” or the “Company”), a subprime indirect auto finance company, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the auto financing division of Crescent Bank (“Crescent”), a New Orleans-based FDIC insured bank with approximately $1 billion in assets that has provided nationwide indirect auto lending since 1991. The deal accelerates the rapid expansion of Arra’s platform, enhancing its technology stack and analytics capacity well ahead of growth expectations. Crescent will retain its branch and online retail banking platforms, as well as its commercial lending program, and Arra will become the servicer for Crescent’s $815 million originated auto loan portfolio. The transaction is expected to close in 3Q 2025. Financial terms were not disclosed.

As a well-established operator in the subprime auto financing space, Crescent has originated upwards of $5.3 billion in auto loans nationwide over its 30-year history and $652 million in the last two years. This acquisition brings Crescent’s e-contracting, internal loan servicing and accelerated auto-decision capabilities to the Arra platform, alongside advanced analytics and additional fraud protection tools in underwriting and funding.

With financial backing from Obra Capital (“Obra”), Arra now has the operational bandwidth and capital structure necessary to provide a comprehensive suite of financing solutions to auto dealers across the country. Arra expects to rapidly scale delivery of customer financing solutions to dealers by leveraging Crescent’s existing operations, with a significantly increased auto finance origination capacity, larger dealer base and the ability to respond to credit applications within seconds of submission.

As part of the acquisition, Arra will welcome approximately 180 new employees from Crescent, expanding Arra’s best-in-class team by a factor of six. This includes 24 new sales team members, who will support the deployment of Arra’s capital base and provide a consistent touchpoint for new and existing dealer customers alike. The new additions will continue to be primarily based in Carrollton, Texas, supporting a seamless operational integration while opening new pathways for opportunity, as enabled by Arra’s access to asset-backed financing solutions.

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“With today’s announcement, we have rapidly advanced Arra’s growth trajectory, substantially improving our ability to be the premier financing partner for franchise and select independent dealers,” said Kenn Wardle, Chief Executive Officer of Arra Finance. “After only six months in market, we are on track to outpace our growth targets by a number of years, and we have developed the platform capabilities necessary to deliver responses to credit applications in a matter of seconds. I look forward to welcoming our new team members as we bring our combined offerings to market and continue to streamline the car buying experience for dealers and consumers across the country.”

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Oracle earnings, May CPI, mortgage data: What to Watch

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Oracle earnings, May CPI, mortgage data: What to Watch

00:00:06 Speaker A

All right. Time now for to watch Wednesday, June 11th. We’ll start off on the earnings front here. We’re going to be getting some big names tomorrow. That will include Oracle, Chewy, and Victoria’s Secret. Oracle, by the way, announced some results for the fourth quarter after the market close. And it was expecting Oracle’s cloud unit to grow faster than expected, possibly more than 54% this quarter based on results from other names in the space, such as Microsoft and Google.

00:00:38 Speaker B

And taking a look at the economy, we’ll get fresh inflation data coming out in the morning with the Consumer Price Index, that’s CPI. Economists forecast total CPI will hold steady at 0.2%, while core CPI could tick up to 0.3% on a month over month basis. On a year over year basis, total and core CPI expected to rise to 2.5 and 2.8%, respectively.

00:01:08 Speaker A

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And moving over to housing, weekly mortgage rate application data, that’s coming out in the morning. Last week’s number, decreasing 3.9% from the week prior, marking the third consecutive week of declines.

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