What’s in the New Bipartisan Housing Bill That Congress Just Passed

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Alex Ossola (0:33)

Tech stocks continue to struggle as concerns of an AI bubble loom. But some chip makers are forging ahead.

Plus, President Trump meets with Senate Republicans amid his latest push for controversial voter ID rules. And what's in the newly passed housing bill that could be one of the biggest changes to federal housing policy in decades?

Rebecca Picciotto (0:52)

The bill is generally something that the real estate industry likes. You know, it sends a message to local leaders that you want to streamline regulations and make it easier to build. So the real estate industry broadly sees this bill as a victory.

Alex Ossola (1:06)

It's Wednesday, June 24th. I'm Alex Ossola for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

Starting off this evening with a look at markets. Major US indexes ended the day mixed with the Dow rising about 0.4 percent. But tech stocks struggled to shake off fears of an AI bubble. One of the day's biggest losers was Cerebris, the chip maker that went public in May. Its shares fell almost 20 percent after the company warned it expects to keep operating at a loss. Another reminder of the heavy costs of the AI buildout. The Nasdaq dropped 0.4 percent today after declining 4 percent over the past two days, and the S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, oil prices dropped near pre-war levels. Brent crude futures fell 4.3 percent to $73.74 a barrel. And Bitcoin dipped below $60,000 this afternoon, its lowest intraday levels since earlier this month when Bitcoin accumulation firm Strategy said it had unloaded a portion of its holdings. In earnings, US memory chip maker Micron reported more than $41 billion in revenue for its latest quarter, a more than four-fold increase from a year before and beating analyst expectations in virtually every financial metric watched closely by investors. The company forecasted that rapid growth will continue due to near insatiable demand for its memory chips, a key component in AI technology. But its stock has also been hit by investor worries about runaway tech valuations, high AI capital spending, and possible interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve. After getting hit hard yesterday by the broader tech sell-off, Micron shares were up nearly 14% in after-hours trading.

Separately, South Korean chip maker SK Hynex plans to raise more than $29 billion through a US listing. The deal would be one of the biggest share sales in company history, comparable to Saudi Aramco's 2019 IPO. The company is looking to tap foreign investors to fund its expansion plans, as the AI boom fuels a rush for advanced chips. SK Hynex expects trading to begin July 10, adding to a blockbuster year for equity raises.

And, new government data shows that US new home sales fell in May to 580,000. That's down from 626,000 in April and worse than economists had expected.

Today on Capitol Hill, President Trump had a lunch meeting with Senate Republicans about their legislative agenda. The faceoff has been in the works for some time. Last week, President Trump threw a wrench in plans to confirm a new intelligence chief and renew a key spying law until Congress passes a contentious voter ID bill, the Save America Act. Ahead of today's lunch, Trump doubled down, canceling plans to sign a bipartisan housing bill into law again until Congress took action on that legislation. For more on the meeting and where lawmakers go from here, reporter Marianne LeVine joins me now from the Capitol. Marianne, what is in this Save America Act and why is it so controversial among lawmakers?

Marianne LeVine (4:03)

So, the Save America Act is a top priority for President Trump. It would basically impose new voter eligibility rules, including proof of citizenship. And this is something that the president really wants Senate Republicans to pass, but there basically are not enough votes to get rid of the filibuster and pass this legislation.

Alex Ossola (4:21)

So it seems like based on some of the things that have happened just leading up to this meeting today, the vibe among Republicans was like pretty tense. What was the outcome from this meeting?

Marianne LeVine (4:31)