https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/02/business/key-bridge-collapse-insurance-payment/index.html



New York
CNN
—
The state of Maryland is about to get an insurance payment of $350 million related to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in late March, according to the broker handling its policy on the structure.

The payment would come from insurer Chubb, which has a $350 million limit on the policy it had written on the bridge, according to Henry Daar, head of property claims, North America for WTW, the broker on the policy. The payment will be made soon rather than waiting for the construction of a new bridge to begin, a process that could be years away.

The policy will only cover a small fraction of the billions in damages and the clean-up costs associated with March 26 collapse caused by a cargo ship, the Dali, a Singaporean-flagged container vessel, that lost power and slammed into one of the bridge’s support columns.

So far, 3,000 tons of wreckage and debris have been removed from the site for disposal or recycling, according to the latest update from the unified government command overseeing the effort. An estimated 50,000 tons of wreckage still needs to be removed from the site.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/02/energy/oil-ceo-opec-scott-sheffield/index.html



New York
CNN
—
Scott Sheffield, founder and longtime CEO of a leading American oil producer, attempted to collude with OPEC and its allies to inflate prices, federal regulators alleged on Thursday.

The Federal Trade Commission said Sheffield, then CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, exchanged hundreds of text messages discussing pricing, production and oil market dynamics with officials at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, the oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia.

Regulators say Sheffield used WhatsApp conversations, in-person meetings and public statements to try to “align oil production” in the Permian Basin in Texas with that of OPEC and OPEC+, the wider group that includes Russia.

“Mr. Sheffield’s communications were designed to pad Pioneer’s bottom line — as well as those of oil companies in OPEC and OPEC+ member states — at the expense of US households and businesses,” the FTC complaint said.

Unlike with OPEC nations, US oil production is supposed to be decided by the free market, not by coordination among the major players.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/01/business/tesla-ev-charging-layoffs/index.html



Competitors blindsided
In a post on LinkedIn, Lane Chaplin, a senior manager in Tesla’s charging division, wrote: “In the middle of the night, I learned, along with all my #Tesla Global #Charging colleagues, the Tesla Charging org is no more.”

But, following an invitation by Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, virtually every big automaker in the United States committed to making EVs compatible with Tesla’s charging technology, now known as the North American Charging Standard.

In response, major EV charging providers such as Electrify America and EVgo have also announced they will begin building chargers with NACS cables.

“What this means for the charging network, NACS and all the exciting work we were doing across the industry, I don’t yet know,” Jameson wrote in his post.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/01/investing/premarket-stocks-trading/index.html



New York
CNN
—
Wednesday’s Federal Reserve policy decision will likely be pretty boring for investors — officials are widely expected to keep interest rates the same, just as they have since July 2023.

But some savvy traders are getting excited about another key decision. They think that the Fed may curtail its quantitative tightening (QT) program — that’s the selling off of its assets to decrease money supply and increase interest rates — by as much as half.

What’s happening: The Fed bought a ton of government-backed bonds between 2020 and 2022 to help support economic recovery after the pandemic-induced recession. Those purchases ended up pushing down interest rates in certain parts of the economy, like housing and auto sales.

In mid-2022, as inflation soared higher, the Fed reversed that and began unloading those bonds.

What it means: “May 1 is set to be a big day in the bond market,” Evercore ISI’s Krishna Guha and Marco Casiraghi wrote in a recent note.

If the Fed does ease up its tightening policy, “financial markets will likely see the taper of the QT program as bullish for riskier investments like stocks and bonds at the margin,” wrote Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank, in a note on Tuesday.

That’s because a taper should send bond prices higher, and interest rates lower.

The risk, wrote Bank of America analysts on Tuesday, “is skewed to the upside for stocks, in our view, especially given a potential QT taper announcement.”

https://www.washingtonian.com/2024/04/23/foxtrot-is-closing-its-dc-area-stores/



The corner store chain Foxtrot is ceasing retail operations in the Washington, DC, area. “After much consideration and evaluation, we regret to announce that Foxtrot and Dom’s Kitchen & Market will be closing their doors starting on April 23, 2024,” the company says in an announcement. Stores are also closing in Illinois and Texas, Eater Chicago reports



A Washingtonian reporter visited two stores in downtown DC. At the store near Farragut Square park, the doors were closed and employees were handing out free wine, she said, but they wouldn’t answer questions about the store’s future. At the Dupont location, she says, someone who said they had been employed at the market said general managers got the news from corporate HQ on a call at 11 AM. “This place is an institution,” he said. “Everyone comes here.”

Foxtrot opened its first DC-area shop in 2021 and opened about nine more locations in the region after that. Its corporate HQ has not replied to emails from Washingtonian requesting comment.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/11/economy/trump-tariffs-trade-jobs-inflation/index.html

New York
CNN
—
Tariff Man could be back in the White House next year – and he’s promising the sequel will be even bigger than the original.

Former President Donald Trump, who labeled himself “Tariff Man” in 2018, has made clear he wants to pursue a more aggressive trade strategy if he’s elected in November. Trump has floated a 10% across-the-board tariff on imports, a 60% tariff on imports from China and a 100% tariff on foreign cars – including from Mexico.

Trump’s proposals, if enacted, could easily set off a new trade war with China and potentially other nations, too.

Some economists are warning Trump’s trade agenda and the ensuing retaliation from trading partners would hurt the US economy by worsening inflation, killing jobs, depressing growth and spooking investors.

In a worst-case scenario, economists fear these policies could set the stage for a recession.

“The policy is very bad. Tariffs make consumers poorer. They shrink the economy,” Alex Durante, an economist at the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank, told CNN in a phone interview. “This would probably be the most damaging part of a Trump 2.0 economic agenda.”