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US unemployment claims rising after pandemic eases
WASHINGTON: The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose by at least 332,000 last week from a pandemic, a sign that worsening COVID-19 infections could lead to a slight increase in layoffs. The Labor Department said Thursday that applications for jobless aid had risen from 312,000 a week earlier. Jobless claims, which typically track the pace of layoffs, have been falling steadily for two months, as many employers, struggling to fill jobs, hold on to their employees. Two weeks ago, jobless claims hit their lowest level since March 2020.
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MassMutual fined for failing to monitor GameStop saga star
NEW YORK: MassMutual is fined $4 million after accusing a Massachusetts company of failing to supervise an employee whose online cheerleading of GameStops stock triggered the frenzy that shook Wall Street earlier this year. helped in The agreement, announced Thursday by Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, focuses on the actions of Keith Gill, an employee of the MassMutual subsidiary from April 2019 to January 2021. Under the alias of Roaring Kitty, Gill sent out several tweets and created hours of YouTube videos championing GameStop. And backed up your support with large individual trades. Regulators say MassMutual failed to comply with policies designed to flag such actions. MassMutual neither acknowledged nor denied the regulators’ findings.
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How to distribute water in the West has not been tested
Madras, Ore: Oregon farmers, who grow 60% of the world’s carrot seeds, have been without irrigation water for weeks as a drought ravages the American West. But just down the road, sprinklers drown crops and cattle in green pastures. The contrast is the result of the mysterious water law of the West, and has brought new urgency to resource-sharing efforts. With the proposal of setting up a water market, farmers with surplus water will be able to lease it to the needy. This is part of a discussion about allowing the free market to play a bigger role in water conservation amid climate change. Yet large-scale efforts to disperse the water more evenly have been uneven.
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Surprising increase in spending by Americans in the form of delta spread
New York: Americans continued to shop last month despite a surge in COVID-19 cases. The US Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales rose 0.7% seasonally adjusted in August. The 0.85% drop was much better than what Wall Street analysts had expected. But Thursday’s report shows how the delta version has changed where Americans spend their time and money. Online sales rose 5.3% last month, while sales in restaurants and bars were flat compared to a month ago.
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Fed reviews ethics policies after massive trade reveal
WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve is reviewing ethics policies that cover the financial holdings of its senior executives in the wake of revelations last year by two regional Fed chairmen engaged in extensive trading. Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan traded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stock in companies such as Apple, Amazon and Google in 2020, while Boston Fed Chairman Eric Rosengren traded in real estate investment trusts, according to the Financial Times. Disclosure Form. The Fed said on Thursday that late last week, Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell instructed employees to take a comprehensive look at ethics rules around permissible financial holdings and activities by senior Fed officials.
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Ford adding 450 jobs to meet demand for new electric trucks
Dearborn, Mich.: Ford plans to spend $250 million at three Michigan plants and add 450 jobs to meet demand for the new F-150 Lightning. Ford of America President Kumar Galhotra said Ford has already taken over 150,000 reservations for the new electric version of its hugely popular F-150 pickup truck. Galhotra made the announcement on Thursday at the new Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in the automaker’s hometown of Dearborn, where the first pre-production trucks are being built. Ford executives expect the F-150 Lightning to be the catalyst that accelerates America’s transition from gasoline to battery-powered vehicles.
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Democrats call on oil giants to testify on climate campaign
WASHINGTON: Democrats in Congress are calling on top executives at ExxonMobil and other oil giants to testify to spread misinformation about the role of fossil fuels in causing global warming that lawmakers say will take a long time. A timely, industry-wide campaign. The House Oversight Committee requested Thursday that executives from ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and Shell testify at a hearing next month along with leaders from the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s top lobbying group and the US Chamber of Commerce. Oversight Chairwoman Caroline Maloney, D.N.Y., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he is deeply concerned that the oil industry has long made huge profits while contributing to climate change.
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McConnell warns Yellen that raising GOP debt limit won’t help
WASHINGTON: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is not shying away from his demand that Democrats take it alone on the federal debt limit. McConnell reiterated in a call with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday evening that Republicans would not help lift the cap on federal borrowing, which now stands at $28.4 trillion. This is part of the emerging impasse in the Congress over the issue. Democrats note that they worked with the GOP-controlled White House and Senate to suspend lending limits on three occasions during President Donald Trump’s presidency. They are emphasizing that Republicans can and do participate in the politically unpopular vote.
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Small agency, big job: Biden serves OSHA with vaccine mandate
WASHINGTON: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration isn’t in the news a lot. Charged with keeping America’s workplaces safe, it sets and enforces standards for goggles, hardhats, and ladders. Now the tiny Labor Department agency has been thrown into the raging national debate over the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate. President Joe Biden directed OSHA to write a rule forcing employers with at least 100 employees to vaccinate employees or show weekly test results to show they are virus-free. The assignment would certainly test the under-funded, mindless agency that has struggled to defend its authority in court.
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Stocks turn lower after a brief afternoon recovery fade
Stocks could not hold off a brief afternoon gain and mostly ended lower. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each lost about 0.2% on Thursday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to gain 0.1%. More stocks declined in the S&P 500 than rose, and most index sectors suffered minor losses. Industrial and health care companies performed the worst, while some retailers reported a surprise increase in retail sales last month by the government. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.33% from 1.30% a day earlier.
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The S&P 500 fell 6.95 points, or 0.2%, to 4,473.75. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 63.07 points, or 0.2%, to end at 34,751.32. The Nasdaq closed 20.39 points, or 0.1%, higher at 15,181.92. The Russell 2000 Index of Small Companies fell 1.54 points, or 0.1%, to 2,232.91.
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