WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday are expected to at least flag the pending start of talks about when and how to exit from the crisis-era policies the U.S. central bank put in place at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic last year.

DETROIT (Reuters) — General Motors Co. on Wednesday boosted its spending on electric and autonomous vehicles, pulled ahead plans for two U.S. battery plants and forecast stronger-than-expected second-quarter profits.

(Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers) — Tasi Tours & Transportation Inc. president Hiroari Kamimori met with Gov. Ralph DLG Torres on  Friday, June 11, and assured the CNMI government of the company’s support in rebuilding the tourism industry of the Marianas.

(MVA) —  Elected and business leaders of Tinian are the latest to join the Hafa Adai & Tirow Pledge program, vowing to help promote the indigenous Chamorro and Carolinian cultures of the Marianas.

(Reuters) — Federal Reserve officials meet this week faced with ongoing tension between their two main goals, as inflation rises faster than expected even with millions of Americans still unemployed more than a year after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Bitcoin climbed to shy of $40,000 on Monday, after yet another weekend of price swings following tweets from Tesla boss Elon Musk, who fended off criticism over his market influence and said Tesla sold bitcoin but may resume transactions using it.

PAGO PAGO (SRNZ Pacific/Pacnews) — Workers at American Samoan tuna cannery StarKist are bracing for a one shift per day operation for the rest of the month. 

(Reuters) — Small-time stock traders turned their attention to the biotech and healthcare sectors on Monday, lifting shares of some by as much as 10%, while the rally in stocks that were favored in recent weeks appeared to fade.

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) — The young president of small Central American nation El Salvador leapt to worldwide fame this week after his country became the first in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, but Nayib Bukele is no stranger to controversy.

CARBIS BAY, England (Reuters) — The Group of Seven richest democracies sought on Saturday to counter China's growing influence by offering developing nations an infrastructure plan that could rival President Xi Jinping's multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road initiative.

NEW YORK (Reuters) — Investors will be zeroing in on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting this week as a "Goldilocks" market environment that has helped lift stocks to record highs and tamed a bond selloff is tested by rising inflation.

(Press Release) — Docomo Pacific, regional leader in innovation, telecommunications, & entertainment commemorates the anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic with a special campaign.

(Press Release) — Pacific Islands Club Saipan employees and E-Land Group management gathered for a beach cleanup on June 9 at Pakpak Beach. Thirty-four individuals  picked up trash along the shore near the resort.

(Office of the Governor) — The CNMI CARES-Act Fisheries Working Group was made aware recently that one additional document is required in order to process payment checks for CNMI eligible applicants under the 2020 Covid-19 Fisheries Assistance funded by Sec. 12005 of the Coronavirus Aid, Rel…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) —  President Joe Biden on Wednesday withdrew a series of executive orders that sought to ban new downloads of WeChat and TikTok, and ordered a Commerce Department review of security concerns posed by those apps.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Republican U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney said on Wednesday the bipartisan group working to hammer out a deal on infrastructure would not raise taxes as part of their plan.

BEIJING (Reuters) — China's May factory gate prices rose at their fastest annual pace in over 12 years due to surging commodity prices, highlighting global inflation pressures at a time when policymakers are trying to revitalize Covid-hit growth.

(NMC) — Judy’s Cafe & Restaurant is the latest company to sign on as a Northern Marianas College ProaPerks Partner, joining many other businesses and organizations. All card-carrying members of the NMC ProaPerks program can now receive a 20% off on food & drink purchase.

(Reuters) — U.S. job openings surged by nearly one million to a new record high in April, while more people voluntarily left their employment, strengthening the view that a recent moderation in job growth was due to supply constraints.

(Reuters) — The United States will target China with a new “strike force” to combat unfair trade practices, the Biden administration said on Tuesday, as it rolled out findings of a review of U.S. access to critical products, from semiconductors to electric-vehicle batteries.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Fourteen months after the pandemic triggered a national emergency, the final chapter of the U.S. economic recovery may begin this month, with rapid changes starting with the end of enhanced unemployment benefits in half the states and ending in the fall's expected reop…

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Even as more people are being called back to work, those who are back on the job are working fewer hours than before the pandemic, according to Gary Hiles, chief economist with the Guam Department of Labor.

(Reuters) — Rating agency Moody's Investors Service said on Monday that China's new policy allowing couples to have up to three children could support fertility, but was unlikely to dramatically change the national birthrate.

(MVA) — Over 100 tourism enthusiasts in the Marianas joined the Japan Saipan Travel Association or JSTA in its semi-annual cleanup on May 29, 2021, collecting approximately 600 lbs. of trash and marking one of the largest turnouts of volunteers in recent years.

 (Reuters) — Hotels, restaurants and other businesses are boosting pay as they try to rebuild their staffs and meet increasing demand from Americans ready to venture out as pandemic-related restrictions are lifted and more people are vaccinated.

LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged other rich nations on Saturday to keep up spending to support their economies even as the Covid-19 pandemic wanes, and said U.S. inflation this year would be elevated but transitory.

(MVA) —  The Marianas Tourism Resumption Task Force announced the details of its Tourism Resumption Investment Plan or TRIP to stakeholders and the community on Tuesday, June 1, detailing a strategy that will maintain the destination’s high Covid-19 safety standards while also meeting key ex…

RAROTONGA (Cook Islands News/Pacnews) — Tourism authorities are projecting visitor numbers to the Cook Islands to be between 50 and 60% of pre Covid-19 figures in the coming months.

(MVA) —   A recent consumer survey conducted by the Marianas Visitors Authority in South Korea shows high demand for the Marianas among those planning to travel this year.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) — U.S. labor market signals are conflicting to an "unprecedented" degree, but those suggesting labor market slack should be given more weight than those pointing to tightness, according a paper published Monday by the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank.

SEATTLE/PARIS (Reuters) — Boeing Co CEO Dave Calhoun faces a multibillion-dollar dilemma over how to rebuild sales in its core airliner business that has sparked an internal debate and put the future of the largest U.S. exporter on the line, industry insiders say.

PARIS (Reuters) — Global airlines urged the G7 rich nations on Wednesday to agree to use more flexible data-based methods when deciding whether to keep borders closed in response to Covid-19, rather than maintaining blanket rules that disrupt travel.

LONDON/TOKYO (Reuters) — Factory activity powered ahead in Europe last month and stayed strong in Asia as demand grew, surveys showed, but rising raw material costs and supply bottlenecks posed a headache for business and weighed on the recovery in export-driven economies.

(Reuters) — Exabeam, a Silicon Valley startup that helps companies automate the analysis and monitoring of their cybersecurity data, on Tuesday said it raised $200 million in its latest round of funding which valued the company at $2.4 billion.

(Reuters) —  Coinbase Global Inc launched a tie-up with Apple and Alphabet Inc's Google on Tuesday that will allow users to add cards from their accounts to the payment apps run by the two tech giants.

LONDON (Reuters) — Oil prices firmed on Monday, with Brent trading near $70 a barrel, underpinned by the bright outlook for fuel demand growth in the next quarter, while investors looked ahead to the OPEC+ meeting this week to see how producers will respond.

PARIS (Reuters) — The global economic outlook is improving as vaccine rollouts allow businesses to resume operations and as the United States pumps trillions of dollars into the world's largest economy, the OECD said on Monday, nudging its forecasts higher.

(Press Release) —  BankGuam Holding Company’s board of directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share for the holders of its common stock and a dividend payment to the holders of the company’s 5.5% Fixed Rate/Floating Rate Noncumulative Preferred Stock, Series A.  The di…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. consumer prices surged in April, with a measure of underlying inflation blowing past the Federal Reserve's 2% target and posting its largest annual gain since 1992, because of pent-up demand and supply constraints as the economy reopens.

(Reuters) — Bitcoin dipped 5.16% to $33,849.47 at 18:00 GMT on Saturday, losing $1,842.99 from its previous close.

XIAN, China (Reuters) — The Biden administration is unlikely to remove tariffs on Chinese goods in the short term, but China and the United States might find a middle ground by increasing tariff exclusions as a way to reduce tensions, a Chinese think-tank said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped more than expected last week as layoffs subsided, with companies desperate for workers to meet surging demand unleashed by a rapidly reopening economy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. Senate on Thursday advanced a sweeping package of legislation intended to boost the country's ability to compete with Chinese technology, as Congress increasingly seeks to take a tough line against Beijing.

(Special Advertising Feature) —  Bank of Hawaii has announced that Zelle is now available to Guam and Saipan customers in its mobile banking app, bringing residents a fast, safe and easy person-to-person payment option. The release of Zelle on Guam and Saipan is the newest digital enhancemen…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. consumer confidence hovered at a 14-month high in May as optimism over jobs tempered concerns about rising inflation and diminishing government financial support.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) —Federal Reserve policymakers have begun to acknowledge they are closer to debating when to pull back some of their crisis support for the U.S. economy, even as they say it is still needed to bolster the recovery and employment.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. efforts to address competition with China progressed on Tuesday when the chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee introduced sweeping legislation to boost economic competitiveness and push Beijing on human rights.

BANK of Saipan president and chief executive officer John Z. Arroyo on Monday said within the next 60 days or so,  the bank will launch the next episode of “Dollars & Sense,” an animated series on financial literacy.