Global financial media outlets focused on several key headlines overnight and this morning:
1. Federal Reserve meeting minutes highlight central bank divisions, with most officials deeming further rate cuts appropriate. 2. Eurostar forced to suspend London train services due to a power supply failure. 3. Walmart system outage impacts thousands of shoppers. 4. CSX train carrying liquid sulfur derails near Kentucky-Tennessee railway. 5. U.S. Department of Justice: Disney agrees to pay a $10 million fine for violating children's privacy. 6. Russia's negotiation stance hardens as European leaders discuss Ukraine situation.
Federal Reserve meeting minutes revealed significant internal divisions, showing that a majority of officials believed further interest rate cuts would be appropriate if inflation continued to decline as expected over time. However, some officials explicitly stated that they believed interest rates should remain unchanged "for a period of time" following the December meeting. The minutes from the December 9-10 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting continued to reflect the central bank's internal disagreements and the difficulty of the most recent policy decision.
High-speed rail operator Eurostar announced it has suspended all services to and from London until further notice, citing overhead power supply issues in the Channel Tunnel and a故障 on a LeShuttle train. The company stated on Tuesday that all passengers should postpone their journeys to another date. Eurostar operates train services connecting London with Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne, and other major European destinations.
Walmart appears to have experienced a system故障 that prevented thousands of customers from accessing the retailer's mobile application and website. According to data from the outage tracking website Downdetector, over 6,500 users reported system issues just after 7 a.m. ET on Tuesday. Nearly three-quarters of the users reported problems with Walmart's mobile app, while about a quarter encountered website issues. Some users reported difficulties or an inability to complete the checkout process, according to Downdetector.
A CSX train derailed near the Kentucky-Tennessee border early Tuesday, with 30 cars leaving the tracks. One of the cars, carrying molten sulfur, caught fire. CSX and Todd County emergency officials stated on social media that the cause of the derailment in the rural area of Trenton, Kentucky—a town of about 350 residents located approximately 60 miles northwest of Nashville, Tennessee—is still under investigation. The incident occurred around 7 a.m. Firefighters extinguished the blaze on the railcar, which was carrying liquid sulfur commonly used in industrial applications like fertilizer production. Officials reported that toxic gases were released in the thick smoke.
According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Disney will pay a $10 million civil penalty to settle allegations that it violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in relation to YouTube content. The privacy law prohibits operators from collecting or using personal information from children under the age of 13 without parental consent. The U.S. government alleged in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California that Disney failed to properly identify its YouTube video content as directed to children.
European leaders held a conference call to discuss the situation in Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia would revise its negotiation stance, claiming that Ukrainian drones had targeted his residence. "Our work to ensure strong security assurances continues," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated on platform X on Tuesday. He mentioned that Kyiv's allies in a "voluntary coalition" would meet next week. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also participated in the call.