Access to affordable credit helps me pay my employees, but I don't really need it.

Infliction is killing me!

But who cares? Big retailers are making record profits!

That's why we support the Durban Marshall Credit Card Bill!

See? Banks and credit unions help small businesses make payroll.

This bill would cut the vital resources they need.

While increasing megastore profits, they deserve it.

Don't they?

Tell Congress, stop the Durban Marshall money grab for corporate megastores.

Paid for by the Electronic Payments Coalition.

Here's your midday brief for Monday, March 23rd.

I'm Pierre Bienname for the Wall Street Journal.

President Donald Trump says the United States military is postponing strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure for five days, following, quote, productive conversations with Tehran.

Trump had said on Saturday that the U.S. would obliterate Iranian power plants.

U.S. stock indexes jumped after markets opened and Brent crude futures dropped nearly 10%. Iran denied that it was in talks with the U.S. We exclusively report that two U.S. senators are introducing

the first bipartisan Senate bill to ban sports betting on

prediction markets like Kalshi and Polly Market. Kalshi and Polly Market offer yes or no bets on

everything from politics to the weather to pop culture, but a lot of trading activity is focused on

sports. That puts the platforms in competition with betting sites like Fandul and Draft Kings.

A Kalshi spokeswoman said the proposed ban would, quote, just push this behavior offshore,

while Polly Market didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Polymarket has a data partnership with Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal.

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