Aurelia Butler

The decision will hinge on data between now and then. Among the key statistics the U.S. central bank is watching: EMPLOYMENT (Released Aug 2; next release Sept. 6):U.S. firms added an underwhelming 114,000 jobs in July, and revisions to the prior two months knocked 29,000 positions from the previously estimated number of payroll jobs. That pushed the three-month average total payroll growth down to 170,000, below the level typical before the COVID-19 pandemic. The unemployment rate also rose to 4.3%, which could heighten fears that the labor market is deteriorating and potentially making the economy vulnerable to a recession.The number of people in a job or looking for work grew. Government data in late July showed the slowing of the labor market is being driven by low hiring, rather than layoffs, with hires dropping to a four-year low in June. Average hourly wages rose 3.6% in July compared to a year ago, versus a 3.8% annual increase in June. The Fed generally considers wage growth in the range of 3.0%-3.5% as consistent with its 2% inflation target. JOB OPENINGS (Released July 30; next release Sept. 4):In a sign of the job market’s continued resilience, the level of job openings remained above 8 million in June, while the number of open jobs available for each unemployed person fell slightly to 1.2, remaining roughly where it was in the years before the pandemic. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has kept a close eye on the U.S. Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for information on the imbalance between labor supply and demand, and the pandemic-era jump to more than 2 to 1 in the number of open jobs for each available worker was emblematic of the time. Things have cooled substantially. Other aspects of the survey, like the quits rate, now down to 2.1, have edged back to pre-pandemic levels in what Fed officials view as an emerging balance between the supply and demand for workers. While the hiring rate has slowed, for example, the layoff rate has remained stable in a sign of companies holding on to workers.INFLATION (PCE released July 26; next release CPI Aug. 14):The personal consumption expenditures price index, used by the Fed to set its 2% inflation target, shows inflation slowly subsiding. It fell in June to a 2.5% annual rate, from 2.6% in the prior month. Core PCE prices, stripped of volatile food and energy costs, remained unchanged in June at 2.6%. Despite that reading, the data looks set to help Fed officials build more confidence that inflation is moving toward the U.S. central bank’s 2% target. On a month-to-month basis, the PCE index rose 0.1% while core PCE prices edged up 0.2%. Officials have begun to pay closer attention to signs of weakening demand in the economy as a precursor to a slowed pace of price increases. The separate consumer price index fell in June by 0.1%, with drops in both volatile energy items and core consumer goods like vehicles, and weakness in housing costs that Fed officials have long been waiting to see. The 0.2% rise in shelter prices was the slowest since August of 2021, and overall it was the weakest CPI print since May of 2020.The data pushed the annual rise in consumer prices down to 3% from 3.3% in the prior month, with the more volatile core index, excluding food and energy, falling to 3.3% from 3.4%. More

LONDON (Reuters) – Global stocks dropped sharply on Friday with richly-valued tech firms taking much of the pain, as a U.S. jobs report flagging unexpected economic weakness struck fear in markets already rattled by downbeat earnings updates from Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). With thin summer trading likely exaggerating moves, a slump that began in Asia with a 5.8% drop for Japan’s Nikkei, its biggest daily fall since March 2020 during the COVID-19 crisis, rippled through Europe and headed for Wall Street.MSCI’s global stock gauge dropped 0.8%, European shares fell 2%, the VIX stock market volatility measure, dubbed Wall Street’s fear gauge, hit its highest since April and money poured into government bonds. Friday’s sell-down followed a softer-than-expected U.S. factory activity survey and the monthly U.S. non-farm payrolls report, which showed job growth slumped to 114,000 new hires in July from 179,000 in June. Futures trading implied the U.S. S&P 500 share index would soon open 1.8% lower and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 would fall to at least 10% below its recent peak, the accepted definition of a stock market correction.The U.S. Federal Reserve has kept benchmark borrowing costs at a 23-year high of 5.25%-5.50% for a year, and some analysts believe the world’s most influential central bank may have kept monetary policy tight for too long, risking a recession. “The historical experience is that turnarounds in the labour market can occur quickly and brutally and that relatively moderate increases in unemployment have been enough to trigger recessions in the United States,” SEB US economist Elisabet Kopelman said. TRIMMING BIG TECH POSITIONSMoney markets on Friday rushed to price a 70% chance of the Fed, which was already widely expected to cut rates from September, implementing a jumbo 50 basis points cut next month to insure against a downturn.”That does feel like we have jumped the gun,” Fidelity International fixed income manager Shamil Gohil said. He added, however, that “we will also be watching for a rise in the unemployment rate which will give us clues about a weaker labour market and as a potential recessionary signal.” Shares in U.S. chipmaker Intel tumbled more than 20% in pre-market trading on Friday after the group suspended its dividend and announced hefty job cuts alongside underwhelming earnings forecasts. Artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), one of the biggest contributors to the tech rally, dropped 4.1% pre-market and European tech stocks swooned 4.6% lower. Nvidia, up more than 700% since January 2023, has left many asset managers with an outsized exposure to the fortunes of this single stock. Steven Bell, chief economist for EMEA at asset manager Columbia Threadneedle, said that, while investors were trimming big tech positions to rebalance their portfolios, the U.S. economy was not about to contract. “Personally, I’m not thinking I should run for the hills,” he said. “This is a slowdown, not a recession. And the background of lower interest rates, lower inflation and real wages rising because inflation is falling faster than wage growth, all of that’s quite positive.” BUYING SAFE HAVENSSafe-haven buying went full throttle on Friday, however, with government debt, gold and currencies traditionally viewed as likely to hold value during market chaos all rallying.The 10-year Treasury yield collapsed by 16 bps to 3.796%, putting the benchmark debt security on track for its best weekly rally since March 2020. Bond yields fall as prices of the securities rise. The two-year yield, which typically reflects near-term interest rate expectations, dropped by a stunning 25 basis points to 3.9208%. The 10-year German bund yield, a benchmark for euro zone debt costs, hit its lowest since March 2023, at 2.201%. In foreign exchange markets, the yen added 0.2% to 149.04 per dollar to extend a rapid bounce back for the weakened currency, given some relief this week by the Bank of Japan raising interest rates to levels unseen in 15 years.Switzerland’s franc touched its highest since early February, at 0.08698 per dollar, before settling back slightly to 0.871.Sterling was on track for a 1% weekly drop against the dollar as traders speculated that the Bank of England would follow its first rate cut of this cycle on Thursday with another in November. Commodity markets broadly displayed global growth fears as gold added 1.3% to $2,473 an ounce and Brent crude oil dropped 1.4% $78.11 a barrel, headed for a fourth successive weekly loss. More

Here is a snapshot of job cuts announced so far this year: TECHNOLOGY* Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s job cuts include less than 5% of employees at Buy with Prime unit, 5% at audiobook and podcast division Audible, several hundred in streaming and studio operations, 35% at streaming unit Twitch, a few hundred at healthcare units One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy. It also announced layoffs at Amazon Web Services (AWS) impacting several hundred roles in sales, marketing, and global services and a few hundred roles in the physical stores technology team. * Layoffs at Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) include dozens at the division for developing new technology X Lab, hundreds in the advertising sales team, hundreds across teams, including the hardware team responsible for Pixel, Nest and Fitbit (NYSE:FIT), and a majority in the augmented reality team.* Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is cutting around 1,900 jobs at gaming divisions Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) and Xbox.* IBM (NYSE:IBM) plans to lay off some employees in 2024 but will hire more for AI-centered roles.* Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) said it would cut more than 15% of its workforce, some 17,500 people, as the chipmaker pursues a turnaround focused on its money-losing manufacturing business.* E-commerce firm eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) plans to cut about 1,000 roles or around 9% of its workforce.* Videogame software provider Unity Software to cut about 25% of workforce, or 1,800 jobs.* DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU) plans to reduce its workforce by about 6%, or 400 employees, with a majority in its sales and marketing organizations.* Snap plans to cut around 528 jobs or 10% of its global workforce.* Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) is laying off about 700 employees, or roughly 1% of its global workforce.* Network giant Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) is planning to restructure its business which will include laying off thousands of employees.* Autonomous vehicle technology company Aurora Innovation lays off 3% of workforce.* Canada’s BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) plans more layoffs, in addition to about 200 job cuts in the prior quarter. * Satellite radio company SiriusXM plans to reduce workforce by about 3%, or about 160 roles.* Bumble is set to eliminate 350 jobs or about 30% of its workforce.AUTOMAKERS* Electric automaker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will lay off more than 10% of its global workforce, an internal memo seen by Reuters on Monday shows, as it grapples with falling sales amid an intensifying price war for electric vehicles.* EV maker Lucid (NASDAQ:LCID) said it would reduce its workforce by 6%, or around 400 employees, the electric vehicle industry grapples with slower growth.MEDIA* Pixar Animation Studios, producer of classic films such as “Toy Story” and “Up,” began laying off about 14% of its workforce as it scales back development of original streaming series. About 175 people will be affected by job cuts at the Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) Co unit.* Comcast-owned British media group Sky plans to cut about 1,000 jobs across its businesses this year.* The Los Angeles Times plans to lay off 94 journalists.* Paramount Global is planning to conduct an unspecified number of layoffs.* Business Insider plans to lay off around 8% of its staff. * Bell Canada plans to slash 4,800 jobs. FINANCIAL SERVICES* PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Holdings is planning to cut about 2,500 jobs, or 9% of its global workforce this year. * Payments firm Block Inc has started to cut unspecified jobs.* Citigroup is planning to reduce its headcount by 20,000 people over the next two years. It has announced plans to slash 716 roles in New York towards that target.* Investment banking giant Morgan Stanley is planning to cut hundreds of jobs in its wealth management unit, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that the cuts will impact less than 1% of the division’s employees. * Exchange operator Nasdaq plans to slash hundreds of jobs as it integrates fintech firm Adenza into its business. * Asset manager BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) is set to cut about 3% of its workforce but expects a larger headcount by the end of 2024.CONSUMER AND RETAIL* The world’s largest retailer, Walmart (NYSE:WMT), plans to cut hundreds of jobs at its corporate headquarters and relocate a majority of its U.S. and Canada-based remote workforce to three offices.* Cosmetics giant Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) plans to cut 3% to 5% of its global workforce.* Wayfair (NYSE:W) plans to lay off 1,650 employees, or about 13% of its workforce.* U.S. department store chain Macy’s (NYSE:M) is cutting 2,350 jobs, closing five stores.* Levi Strauss & Co (NYSE:LEVI) is planning to slash 10%-15% of global corporate jobs.* Hershey’s restructuring plan will impact less than 5% of its workforce. * Nike (NYSE:NKE) will cut about 2% of its total workforce, or more than 1,600 jobs, as the sportswear giant looks to cut costs after flagging weaker profits this year. The company’s footwear brand, Converse, will also cut jobs as part of Nike’s on-going $2 billion cost savings plan.HEALTH * Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) is cutting about 12% of workforce.* Consumer health firm Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) will cut 4% of its global workforce. MANUFACTURING* Defense contractor Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) is planning to cut 1% of its jobs. * Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:SPR) is laying off several hundred members of its workforce in Wichita, Kan., according to an internal memo, as the company deals with high debt and slowed production at Boeing (NYSE:BA), its key customer.* U.S. defense contractor L3Harris cut 5% of its workforce in April in a bid to streamline its business and save costs.LOGISTICS* United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) plans to cut 12,000 jobs to cut costs. * FedEx (NYSE:FDX) is planning to cut between 1,700 and 2,000 back-office jobs in Europe, as the parcel delivery company struggles with weak freight demand.NATURAL RESOURCES* U.S. natural gas producer Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) is laying off employees after completing the divestiture of its oil assets last year.* U.S. miner Piedmont Lithium cuts 27% of workforce in the cost-cutting plan. * Canadian oil and gas pipeline firm TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) has laid off some of its workers as part of a previously announced plan to integrate its natural gas pipeline units.* Canada-based crude pipeline operator Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) said it would reduce its workforce by 650 jobs, or 5%, in a bid to cut costs. 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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Brad Smith, a veteran U.S. Treasury Department employee, will be acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, a U.S. Treasury Department spokesperson told Reuters, taking up the role overseeing the department’s sanctions policy, one of Washington’s go-to foreign policy tools.WHY IT’S IMPORTANTSmith’s appointment comes as the U.S. seeks to increase pressure on Russia over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine and maintains heavy punitive measures against countries such as Iran.Reuters first reported Smith would assume the role.CONTEXTSmith will take over the position in an acting capacity following the departure of Brian Nelson on Friday, the spokesperson said. Sources confirmed Nelson was leaving to work on the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris. Smith’s focus will be on continuing to degrade Russia’s ability to wage war in Ukraine, the spokesperson said, as well as cutting off financing to Iran and its proxies, combating the illicit flow of fentanyl into the U.S. and implementing regulatory efforts.Smith was appointed director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in 2023. He previously served as the office’s deputy director and chief counsel. Under President Joe Biden’s administration, Smith has worked on Washington’s imposition of thousands of sanctions targeting Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, which has included designations of Russian banks, oligarchs, President Vladimir Putin and companies in China, Turkey and elsewhere.The Biden administration has also ramped up counter-narcotics measures and sought to modernize the use of the sanctions tool.During the previous administration of President Donald Trump, the office issued extensive measures against Iran and Venezuela, among others. More

“I think we can’t be complacent, we can’t declare ‘job done’ because there are some sort of dynamics in the UK economy, a sort of persistent component, that we need to be cautious about,” Pill told an online presentation organised by the BoE.”I think we shouldn’t be yet promising that rates are going to move down further in the very short term,” he said.Pill voted against the BoE’s decision to cut borrowing costs for the first time in more than four years which was announced on Thursday.BoE Governor Andrew Bailey, who was part of the five-strong majority on the Monetary Policy Committee which backed the cut in Bank Rate, has also said the timing of further reductions in borrowing costs remains to be determined.Investors are fully pricing another quarter-point reduction in Bank Rate – which now stands at 5.0% – in November.Inflation in Britain has fallen from more than 11% in October 2022 to 2% in the most recent data, but wage growth and inflation in the services sector remain stronger, representing risks for price growth ahead.In his comments on Friday, Pill said progress on tackling inflation was being made but Britain was “not out of the woods.”He also said he did not believe above-inflation increases in public sector pay announced by the government posed a big inflationary risk. More

In April, Wojcicki notified the company of her intention to make an offer and take the company private.She followed it up with a non-binding proposal, disclosed in a regulatory filing on Wednesday, to acquire all outstanding shares of 23andMe not already owned by her or her affiliates for $0.40 per share. A special committee formed by the company rejected the CEO’s proposal as it saw the offer as insufficient and not in the best interests of the non-affiliated shareholders.Wojcicki had indicated in her proposal that she was working with advisers and intended to begin speaking to potential partners and financing sources.The committee in its response said it was prepared to provide her and potential investors additional time to submit a revised proposal in line with the company’s expectation.Other alternatives will be pursued to maximize value for shareholders, in the absence of a revised offer, the panel added.23andMe, best known for its saliva-based test kits that offer users a glimpse into their genetic ancestry, went public in 2021. More