Trump Tightens Migrant Work Permits in Legal Immigration Crackdown

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Sabrina Siddiqui (0:18)

The Trump administration cracks down on work permits for migrants. Plus, US officials arrested a Virginia man accused of planting pipe bombs in DC before the January 6th Capitol attack. And how New York City became the epicenter in the push to convert offices to apartments.

Peter Grant (0:37)

In the current office downturn, there are many midtown buildings that are facing very high vacancy. So, buildings you never would have thought of as apartment buildings are being considered for these types of conversions.

Sabrina Siddiqui (0:51)

It's Thursday, December 4th. I'm Sabrina Siddiqui for The Wall Street Journal, filling in for Alex Osola. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

The battle to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery is heating up. One of its suitors, Paramount, criticized rival Netflix's bid, saying in a letter this week to Warner that regulatory hurdles would block a deal with the streaming giant. The previously unreported letter, which was sent on Monday and viewed by The Wall Street Journal, says Paramount's own proposal was the only one that didn't raise antitrust issues. People familiar with the matter say Warner is seeking more bids by the end of today and plans to finish the auction by the end of the month. Paramount is aiming to buy the whole company, while Netflix and Comcast are bidding for Warner's movie and TV studios and libraries as well as HBO Max. Turning to finance, the Trump administration is advancing a plan to establish thousand-dollar investment accounts for young Americans and Wall Street wants in. Many of the largest financial firms are preparing proposals related to the Trump accounts to submit to the Treasury Department. People familiar with the matter say the administration is asking firms including Charles Schwab and Robin Hood to pitch plans to manage the Trump accounts records and handle administrative tasks. Meanwhile, the administration said today that work permits for immigrants seeking asylum and other humanitarian protections will now be valid for 18 months rather than five years. Officials said that will give the government more chances to vet immigrants and frame the change as part of a crackdown on legal immigration after two members of the National Guard were shot in Washington, DC last week. Federal officials say the shooter was a man from Afghanistan who was granted asylum in the US in April. The new rules take effect today and for now only apply to new permits. They will likely affect hundreds of thousands of people and may raise concerns among employers. The meatpacking industry, for example, has relied on people who received legal work authorizations after applying for asylum. Trading in stock markets was mixed today with the Nasdaq and S&P ending slightly higher, while the Dow was just barely lower, closing down less than 0.1%. And in currency markets, the US dollar ticked higher, ending a decline of seven straight sessions against several other major currencies. Hannah Aaron-Lange, who covers financial markets at the Wall Street Journal, says investors have been adjusting their views on where interest rates are going.

Hannah Aaron-Lange (3:34)

The US dollar has suffered its longest losing streak since 2020 This primarily has to do with changing expectations about central banks across the globe. So here at home, we have the Federal Reserve. They have an upcoming meeting in December, and it's now widely expected that policymakers will cut interest rates. Investors are also looking at how President Donald Trump is talking about his next pick for the Fed chair, and it seems really likely that his selection will be somebody who's quite dovish, which means that they will be inclined to lower rates even further.

Sabrina Siddiqui (4:06)

But the situation is different overseas.

Hannah Aaron-Lange (4:08)

In contrast, what we've heard this week from other major central banks is they're taking a different path. So the Bank of Japan recently indicated that they might hike rates, and the European Central Bank seems like it's going to hold steady. And we know that when interest rates come down, it weakens a currency, and that when they go up, a currency gets stronger. And that dynamic is cast into even sharper relief when you have major central banks around the world going in different directions.

Sabrina Siddiqui (4:37)

That was Hannah Aaron-Lange. Coming up, the FBI has made an arrest in a long-running investigation into January 6th pipe bombs. That's after the break.

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