Economy
Caterpillar just flashed the latest warning sign for the global economy (Thomas R.)
“This is not a stock that has been knocking it out the park, so there is not that far to fall on a miss as some, with investors showing concerns about falling manufacturing PMI figures and slowing growth in China and elsewhere for over a year now,” Neil Wilson, chief markets analyst at Markets.com, said in an email.
U.S. Bank tells workers job cuts are coming (Sparky1)
The Star Tribune reports that the Minneapolis-based bank told employees on Monday about the plan, which will likely eliminate middle-management jobs that don’t interact directly with customers. U.S. Bank (NYSE: USB) also said it would create additional customer-facing jobs, but didn’t say how many.
Here’s why Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson is actually rooting for a recession (Thomas R.)
He said that if he saw companies start to fire people, he would get more bullish on the market because that would protect profit margins. “That’s the thing I’m looking for,” Wilson told CNBC, adding that he doesn’t see the S&P 500 breaking out of its current trading range soon.
“It’s the same set up we had this summer,” he said. “Earnings season’s going to be mixed… The risk reward is still not great.”
Syrian Kurds accuse Turkey of violations, Russia says peace plan on track (tmn)
Turkey’s defense ministry did not comment directly on the SDF report but said five of its military personnel had been wounded in an attack by the YPG militia around the border town of Ras al Ain, near where the three villages are located.
Turkey has previously said it reserves the right to self-defense against any militants who remain in the area despite the truce, a pledge repeated by Erdogan on Thursday.
Chile President Seeks Cross-party Help To End Street Violence (Sparky1)
Three parties, including Chile’s largest opposition group the Socialist Party, boycotted the meeting, while protesters took to the streets of the capital Santiago and other cities once again, mostly peacefully.
Investors react to a flood of CEO departures (Thomas R.)
The company faces ongoing scrutiny from US regulators about the original certification process for the plane back in 2016. The Federal Aviation Administration chastised Boeing last week for only recently alerting the agency to concerns expressed during the process by employees. That revelation has weighed on Boeing shares, which have plunged more than 20% since March.
Zions Bancorporation to lay off 5% of workforce by year’s end amid revenue declines (Sparky1)
During Monday’s conference call, Simmons explained the 5% reduction will come off of salary and benefits expense total, which Abbott said equates to approximately 5% of the workforce as well. A report released Monday to coincide with the conference call noted the company expected to pay about $25 million in severance charges and other expenses related to the planned cuts.
GM strike losses push Adient to furlough 1,300 corporate employees during the holidays (Sparky1)
The supplier has struggled financially since spinning off from Johnson Controls Inc. in 2016, resulting in several rounds of layoffs over the past 12 months. Most recently, Adient reported a a net loss of $321 million on revenue of $4.2 billion during its fiscal third quarter, compared with net income of $54 million on revenue of $4.5 billion during the same quarter last year.
Trump Attorney: President Could Get Away With Murder, Literally (tmn)
The hypothetical murder imagery comes from Trump himself. While campaigning for the presidency he insisted: “They say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s like incredible.”
In an exchange with Judge Denny Chin, Trump lawyer William Consovoy insisted that Trump could also face no legal repercussions for such a murder during his term.
China Is Struggling to Offload Foreign Acquisitions, From Yachts to Pizza (Thomas R.)
Beyond luxury, sectors less sensitive to economic cycles are also having issues. PizzaExpress Ltd. hired a financial adviser to prepare for debt talks with its creditors, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month. The iconic U.K. casual dining chain has been struggling with its domestic market at a time when it’s expanding in China after its acquisition by Chinese private equity firm Hony Capital in 2014.
GE freezes its pension plans and offers former employees lump sum buyouts (Thomas R.)
In the face of declining profits, General Electric (GE) recently announced three pension actions to help reduce the company’s debts. 1. Freeze its pension plan for about 20,000 salaried employees and for about 700 employees in a supplementary plan. 2. Offer lump-sums to about 100,000 former employees who have not started benefits.
Kentucky coal miners that faced down freight trains to get paid (Thomas R.)
The Bristol Herald Courier reports Blackjewel LLC agreed to pay $5.47 million to mine workers in Kentucky , Virginia and West Virginia. Blackjewel attorney Stephen Lerner said Wednesday that payroll checks should go out this week. Court documents say it covers unpaid wages earned between June 10 and July 1.
The company, which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, agreed to pay its workers following the sale of two mines in Wyoming.
They’re not avocados, they’re ‘green gold,’ and hyperviolent drug cartels have sights set on them (Thomas R.)
While Mexican avocado growers have for years lived in fear of assaults and shakedowns, the situation went international in mid-August when a U.S. Department of Agriculture team of inspectors was “directly threatened” in Ziracuaretiro, a town just west of Uruapan in Michoacan. While the agency didn’t specify what happened, local authorities say a gang robbed the truck the inspectors were traveling in at gunpoint.
Google claims its quantum computer can do the impossible in 200 seconds (Thomas R.)
One big difference: Normal computers use data that exist in only one state at a time — a one, or a zero. Quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, which can simultaneously be any combination of zero and one. The difference means much faster processing speeds.
For California, massive power blackouts could become a way of life (Thomas R.)
Mark Quinlan, PG&E’s director of environmental health and safety, said that’s when the last of the dangerous conditions are expected to end, and only then can its crews go out to inspect 8,000 miles of power lines for damage.
A brush fire broke out Wednesday in rural Sonoma County. The so-called Kincade Fire was first reported around 9:15 p.m., NBC Bay Area reported, and had grown to thousands of acres by early Thursday.
The Pros and (Mostly) Cons of Early Retirement (Thomas R.)
A 2002 study of British civil servants, for example, found that retiring at age 60 had no effect on the subjects’ physical health and that those with higher-level jobs saw an improvement in mental health, possibly because they were no longer subject to work-related stress (and had better pensions than lower-ranked workers). Other studies, however, have suggested that retirement can be hazardous to your health, as we’ll get to in the next section.
Brazilians rally to clean beaches amid outrage at Bolsonaro’s oil spill inaction (tmn)
Nobody knows where the oil is from or why it keeps washing up on Brazilian beaches. Yet while social media has been bombarded by videos of volunteers rolling up thick globs of oil in sand and putting them into plastic sacks, Bolsonaro sought to blame first Venezuela, then a “criminal action” to scupper a major oil tender. He has repeatedly attacked environmental protection agencies as a “fines industry” and has yet to visit affected areas.
Kincade Fire: Homes burning in Sonoma County as residents flee 10,000-acre blaze (tmn)
Wind gusts overnights reached 76 mph among the regions highest peaks, according to the National Weather Service. Dispatchers alerted firefighters heading to the scene that there were “possible power lines down in the area,” according to firefighter radio recordings reviewed by The Chronicle. It wasn’t immediately clear if the downed power lines were connected to the blaze, or if they were energized at the time the fire began.
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The post Daily Digest 10/24 – U.S. Bank Tells Workers Job Cuts Are Coming, China Struggling to Offload Foreign Acquisitions appeared first on Peak Prosperity.
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