Montana Sen. Jon Tester said in an interview Wednesday that he was concerned by recent calls from progressive House Democrats to replace Mr. Powell with someone who would focus the Fed on advancing liberal political priorities, including climate change. Mr. Tester said he worried doing that would harm the economy by politicizing the central bank.

Coinbase Says SEC Is Investigating Its Crypto Lending Program

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Coinbase Global Inc. over a lending program the company plans to market and has indicated it would sue the company over the offering, Coinbase said Tuesday.

Coinbase co-founder and Chief Executive Brian Armstrong disclosed the dispute in a series of tweets late Tuesday. He called the SEC's actions "sketchy" and "intimidation tactics behind closed doors," and said other crypto companies are able to offer such programs.

Janet Yellen Says Treasury Could Exhaust Cash-Conservation Measures in October

WASHINGTON-The Treasury Department could run out of room next month to keep paying the government's bills on time unless Congress steps in to suspend or raise the federal borrowing limit, Secretary Janet Yellen said in a letter to congressional leaders Wednesday.

Time to raise or suspend the limit is running short against a backdrop of deep partisan disagreements over President Biden's spending plans, complicating the path forward on Capitol Hill.

Hurricane Ida's Fallout Continues to Cripple U.S. Oil Production

Nearly four-fifths of U.S. oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico remains offline, more than 10 days after Hurricane Ida tore through Louisiana, as companies struggle to restart offshore platforms.

Ida, which barreled through the heart of the Gulf as a Category 4 hurricane, is turning out to be the most damaging storm for offshore production in more than 15 years. It crippled key onshore infrastructure, which has contributed to keeping about 12% of U.S. oil production idle. Its storm surge and maximum winds of 150 miles an hour also damaged some offshore operations, including underwater pipelines that have leaked oil into the Gulf.

Renewable Storage Firm Energy Vault Reaches $1.6 Billion SPAC Deal to Go Public

Energy Vault Inc. is combining with a blank-check company to go public in a merger that values the gravity-based energy-storage company at roughly $1.6 billion, the companies said.

Energy Vault uses a block tower system to store and release renewable energy from wind and solar operations. Employing software to gauge when power demand is low, it uses surplus renewable energy to essentially store power by constructing the tower with a crane. When demand rises, the crane unstacks the tower, producing kinetic energy by dropping the blocks so that they can turn generators and create electricity.

U.S. Puts $562 Billion Price Tag on Ramping Up Solar Power

The U.S. could get 37% of its electricity from solar power by 2035-and 44% by 2050-if the U.S. pursues an ambitious agenda to cut reliance on fossil fuels, the Energy Department said Wednesday.

The Energy Department says the U.S. now gets 3% of its power from solar sources, requiring rapid growth if the country aims to eliminate greenhouse-gas emissions from its power sector. The Energy Department report said ramping up solar power to the 44% level would require an increase in spending by the public and private sector of as much as $562 billion between 2020 and 2050.

Write to paul.larkins@dowjones.com

Expected Major Events for Thursday

00:01/UK: Aug KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs

06:00/DEN: 2Q Labour force survey

06:00/GER: Jul Foreign Trade

06:00/NOR: Jul Monthly GDP

06:00/ROM: Jul International trade

09:00/CRO: Aug PPI

09:00/MLT: Jul International Trade

09:00/CYP: Jul Foreign Trade (provisional)

10:00/POR: Jul International trade statistics

10:00/FRA: Jul OECD Harmonised Unemployment Rates

10:00/IRL: Aug CPI

11:45/EU: ECB interest rate announcement

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-09-21 0026ET