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Price-rigging suit against 16 banks dismissed; Wells Fargo CEO defends pay hike

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Price-rigging suit against 16 banks dismissed; Wells Fargo CEO defends pay hike

A Manhattan district judge dismissed a currency-rigging lawsuit filed by retail foreign currency investors accusing 16 global banks — including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., and Royal Bank of Canada — of conspiring to rig prices, Reuters reports. Judge Lorna Schofield said the plaintiffs were unable to show they had legal standing to pursue antitrust claims.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and President and COO David Solomon, in an email sent to all of the company's employees, committed to have women represent 50% of the company's global talent over time. As a first step, the company is targeting to have women make up 50% of its incoming analyst class by 2021.

Wells Fargo & Co. President and CEO Timothy Sloan defended his compensation package for 2017 which was up by 35% from 2016 saying that the gain partly reflected the fact that he had been in the role for an entire year, Reuters reports. Sloan also told reporters after speaking to the Detroit Economic Club that most comments by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are "both ill-informed and inappropriate." Warren called for his ouster in October 2017, and more recently, called the company "utterly inept" at reimbursing wronged customers.

Banc of California NA expects to record a $13.7 million specific loan loss provision in its first-quarter results, after determining that it had extended a $15 million line of credit to a borrower now believed to have made false representations.

In asset management news, BlackRock Inc. is expecting a big move in pound sterling soon and has purchased an option straddle, setting the company for profit should the currency surge or sink, Scott Thiel, BlackRock's deputy chief investment officer for fundamental fixed income, told Bloomberg News.

BlackRock, meanwhile, elected three new independent directors — William Ford, CEO of General Atlantic LLC; Margaret Johnson, executive vice president of business development at Microsoft Corp.; and Mark Wilson, CEO of Aviva Plc.

Cryptocurrency companies and miners in New York will be charged higher energy bills, after the New York State Public Commission approved an emergency rider tariff that seeks to shift the cost burden of cryptocurrency mining to those that are responsible.

In government and regulatory news, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, by a 2-1 vote, vacated the U.S. Department of Labor's Conflict of Interest Rule in its entirety, reversing a lower district court ruling that upheld the measure. The appeals court ruling comes a few months after the Labor Department officially delayed the implementation of the fiduciary rule.

And Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., introduced H.R.5288, a bill that would delay the effective date of the National Credit Union Administration's rule on risk-based capital, which is slated to take effect on Jan. 1, 2019. The bill has been referred to the House Financial Services Committee.

In other parts of the world

Asia Pacific: UBS merging Asia-Pacific units; Punjab National Bank detects more fraud

Europe: Nex, CME in preliminary takeover talks; Brexit transition deal within reach

Middle East & Africa: Saudi Arabia raises rates; Egypt's CI Capital to list shares on stock exchange

The day ahead

Early morning futures indicators pointed to a mixed opening for the U.S. market.

In Asia, the Hang Seng decreased 0.12% to 31,501.97, and the Nikkei 225 declined 0.58% to 21,676.51.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was up 0.23% to 7,156.01, and the Euronext 100 was up 0.31% to 1,029.58.

On the macro front

The housing starts report, the industrial production report, the consumer sentiment report, the JOLTS report and the Baker-Hughes Rig Count report are due out today.

The Daily Dose is updated as of 7:30 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription.