The week ahead: House looks to clear the air on climate disclosure

After a rough week for the SEC in which its X account was hacked to announce that the agency had greenlighted bitcoin ETFs a day before it actually did, the House Financial Services Committee on Jan. 18 will hold a hearing on the agency's public company climate disclosure proposal that has the support of institutional investors, but, surprise, surprise, not so much the business community and congressional Republicans.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Jan. 16 will hear oral arguments in a case concerning SEC disclosure violations to decide if a company is open to a private legal challenge when it violates SEC requirements and doesn't report a trend that will likely hurt its business.

• U.S. retail sales data for December will be released on Jan. 17, followed by initial jobless claims on Jan. 18 and existing home sales numbers for December the following day.

• On Jan. 16, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller will speak at the Brookings Institution about inflation and the future of monetary policy.
• SEC Chair Gary Gensler will speak at a Public Citizen webinar about artificial intelligence and financial services policy on Jan. 17.
• The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 16 will hear oral arguments in a case concerning SEC disclosure violations. The high court in Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. vs. Moab Partners L.P. will examine if a company is open to a private legal challenge when it violates SEC requirements and fails to disclose a trend that will likely impact its financial position.
• On Jan. 17, SCOTUS will hear oral arguments on two cases challenging the Chevron deference policy, the leeway federal judges give agencies over how to interpret a statute in the case of a dispute. The policy was created by a 1984 high court decision.
• The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on the SEC's proposed public company climate disclosure proposal on Jan. 18. The proposal, unveiled in March 2022, would require public companies to provide a host of climate-related information in their periodic reports and registration statements, an idea that has broad backing from institutional investors, but has received heavy pushback from the business community and congressional Republicans.

• German consumer price index data for December will be release on Jan. 16, followed by U.K. and EU CPI numbers the following day.

• On Jan. 16, China releases fourth quarter gross domestic product numbers.