ECB’s new guidance, PG&E’s wildfire plans, FTC takes on phone repair restrictions

Yahoo Finance’s Julie Hyman breaks down the latest headlines in the world of business this morning.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Some other business headlines we're watching at this hour-- the European Central Bank kept rates unchanged at its latest policy meeting. The ECB voted to continue its pandemic emergency purchase program, buying 1.85 trillion euros of bonds until March 2022. And the bank also tweaked its rate guidance to reflect its recently upgraded 2% inflation target, the euro little changed in the wake of that decision and the press conference by Christine Lagarde following it.

Power company PG&E plans to bury 10,000 miles of power lines to cut down on wildfire risk in northern California. After earlier saying it would be prohibitively expensive to do so, it's now targeting a $20 billion budget for the project. PG&E's equipment has sparked more than 20 wildfires in the state over the past several years. PG&E CEO Patti Poppe said, quote, "We know that we have long argued that undergrounding was too expensive. This is where we say it's too expensive not to underground. Lives are on the line."

And federal regulators are taking aim at, quote, "right to repair restrictions" they say have made it harder for Americans to repair broken electronics. The Federal Trade Commission voted unanimously to crack down on unlawful measures by tech companies, but the FTC maintains inhibit consumers from repairing their own devices. The FTC says the restrictions have steered customers to manufacturers or retailers' own repair networks or forced them to replace pricey phones, computers, and gaming consoles before it might have been necessary.