Top Stories Today is a short-form audio digest of the day’s top headlines. Find the latest episode here.
Amazon has abandoned its much-maligned campaign of paying employees to share positive messages on social media.
The company set up its fulfilment centre ambassador scheme in 2018 in an effort to defend the $1.47tn group against growing hostility over safety and conditions at its warehouses.
It quietly shut down and removed all traces of the influence campaign at the end of last year, people with direct knowledge of the decision told the Financial Times.
Senior Amazon executives, these people said, were unhappy with the scheme’s poor reach. The campaign also backfired when a number of spoof accounts gave the false impression some Amazon workers had gone rogue. Amazon declined to comment on the programme’s closure.
Improving perception of Amazon’s workplace among policymakers and the public has become of paramount concern as the company battles global regulators and tries to expand its workforce to maintain delivery speeds.
Thanks for reading FirstFT Americas. Here’s the rest of today’s news — Gordon
Five more stories in the news
1. US and EU close to agreeing financial sanctions on Russia US officials said there was growing “convergence” with the EU on financial sanctions aimed at crippling Russian banks in the event of an invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, top executives of some of Italy’s largest companies are due to hold a video meeting with Vladimir Putin today despite the rising tensions. Thanks to all readers who voted in yesterday’s poll. More than half of you thought Putin would invade Ukraine.
Go deeper: Russian state media are broadcasting a stream of accusations against Ukraine, painting Kyiv as an aggressor backed by a belligerent west, with the alliance threatening Moscow and driving it unwillingly towards conflict.
2. US warns of fragile chip supply Semiconductor inventories held by manufacturers have plummeted from 40 days in 2019 to an average of just five as the global chip shortage wreaks havoc on industry, the US commerce department warned.
3. Jes Staley pressed JPMorgan to keep Jeffrey Epstein Jes Staley, then-head of JPMorgan Chase’s investment bank, pushed the US lender to keep Jeffrey Epstein as a client — despite the disgraced financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from a minor — before the bank cut him off in 2013, according to two people involved in the discussions.
4. Citi plans £100m revamp of Canary Wharf tower Citigroup will undertake a three-year overhaul of its 42-storey London skyscraper costing more than £100m, in what the bank described as a vote of confidence in the City of London after Brexit and the future of the office post-pandemic. Citi’s 9,000 London staff will be relocated until 2025.
5. Banks push back against Beijing’s overseas listing rules Asia’s top banking lobby group, which includes Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan, have warned Beijing that an overhaul of the regime for Chinese businesses listing overseas may deter them from advising on initial public offerings, which would imperil a funding source for the country’s leading companies.
Coronavirus digest
Pfizer and BioNTech have enrolled the first participants in a clinical trial of a vaccine tailored to the Omicron variant.
Boris Johnson is preparing for the release of a report into so-called partygate, a series of rule-breaking events at the heart of government.
Israel’s vaccine advisory panel has recommended a fourth dose of a shot for all adults, a world first.
The IMF downgraded its 2022 global economic growth forecasts, warning that the recovery will run into “multiple challenges” including higher inflation. In his latest column, Martin Wolf says all the risks to the global economy are on the downside.
From workers off sick to long lines for tests and more patients in hospital, a new wave of Covid-19 is hitting Mexico.
The new variant has exposed dysfunction in America’s public health institutions. “The underlying theme is inflexibility, both with resources and ideology,” says one expert.
The day ahead
US interest-rate decision The Federal Reserve is today expected to confirm its plans to aggressively raise interest rates to counter rampant inflation. Financial markets have priced in a 25 basis point rise in March and three subsequent rises this year. In Canada, there is an outside chance the central bank will raise interest rates to 0.5 per cent after its latest meeting.
Boeing and Tesla earnings US aerospace manufacturer Boeing is expected to report another quarterly loss, reflecting a hit from the pandemic and supply chain issues. In contrast, Tesla is expected to report higher quarterly revenues after the company shrugged off supply chain problems to deliver a record number of vehicles in the final quarter of 2021.
Economic data The US trade deficit in goods is expected to have narrowed to $96bn in December, from $97.8bn in November, the commerce department will say. Meanwhile, sales of newly built homes are forecast to rise 2.2 per cent to an annualised pace of 760,000 in December.
Markets US stock markets are expected to open higher after an extremely volatile start to the week. Yesterday was another choppy day on Wall Street, with the Nasdaq ending 2.3 per cent lower and the S&P 500 dropping 1.2 per cent.
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What else we’re reading
When an activist investor attack is no bad thing Activist investor demands — like those at Unilever and Peleton — can spur self-satisfied executives to action, pressure boards into dealing with incompetent managers and question poorly thought out mergers and acquisitions. All of this is badly needed right now, argues Brooke Masters.
Kazakhstan unrest shows Erdogan that Putin is still in charge The decision of Kazakhstan’s president to ask Vladimir Putin for help suppressing protests that rocked his country dealt a blow to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s dreams of forming a bloc made up of Turkey and “brotherly” nations in the former Soviet Union.
Former Farc captive runs for Colombian presidency The last time Ingrid Betancourt campaigned for Colombia’s presidency, she was kidnapped by Marxist guerrillas and held in the jungle for more than six years. Two decades later, the former congresswoman and senator is making another bid for the country’s leadership.
What powers economies There is no way of knowing how the world really works without understanding the fundamental importance of energy in human affairs, writes Vaclav Smil in How the World Really Works. Pilita Clark reviews the Canadian scientist’s new book. Want more on energy policy? Sign up to our Energy Source newsletter.
Sport
From a cross-channel Caribbean swim to a Kenyan safari marathon, our How to Spend It team have complied 11 ultra sporting challenges for 2022.
Source: Economy - ft.com
