Aurelia Butler

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Thursday said Americans have increased requests for at-home COVID-19 tests as the federal government prepares to stop providing free tests on Friday.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that “we’re going to do everything we can to get people their tests.” More

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Australia’s central bank will raise the cash rate by another half-point on Tuesday to curb soaring inflation but will moderate the pace of hikes for the remainder of the year, a Reuters poll of economists found.The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), one of the later entrants to the global monetary policy-tightening cycle, has raised rates by a total of 175 basis points since May to 1.85%.With inflation last recorded at a two-decade high of 6.1% and still rising, the RBA will have little choice but to follow its peers and hike rates further.Twenty-seven of 29 economists in the Aug. 26 – Sept. 1 Reuters poll forecast the RBA would hike the cash rate by 50 basis points at its Sept. 6 meeting, taking rates to 2.35%, more than three times higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.All four major local banks – ANZ, Westpac, CBA and NAB – were among those expecting a 50 basis point hike on Tuesday. The remaining two expected a 40 basis point move.If the majority view is realised, it would be the fourth consecutive half-point rate hike in the current cycle, marking the most aggressive monetary policy tightening since the central bank introduced the cash rate in 1990.Yet despite its late start, the economists expected the RBA to opt for smaller moves as soon as next month as rates approach the neutral level that is neither stimulative nor restrictive, estimated by the RBA at 2.50%.”All of the inflation indicators are telling you inflation pressures are still building, and interest rates are still well below where the RBA thinks neutral is. Given that, I think they will do 50 basis points,” said David Plank, head of Australian economics at ANZ.”But after next week’s move and when they get to 2.35%, assuming they go 50, I think the choices for October and November will become 25 or 50. We don’t think they’re going to drop to 25, but there is a chance they might.”Most respondents who answered an additional question predicted the central bank would revert to 25 basis point increments at the October and November meetings.Economists have brought forward their rate hike expectations for the eighth Reuters poll in a row, with just over half, or 15 of 29, now expecting the cash rate to reach 3.10% or higher by the end of this year, broadly in line with market pricing.The remaining 14 respondents forecast rates to end 2022 at 3.00% or lower. According to the median forecast, rates were then expected to remain at 3.10% until the end of next year.However, with inflation more than double the top end of the RBA’s 2-3% target range and expected to remain high through next year, some economists expect the half-point rate rises to continue.More than one-third of respondents, 10 of 29, predicted rates would reach 3.35% or higher by the end of March.”From here, we expect the RBA to move to a steadily restrictive policy setting, but think it might slow the pace of hikes once it reaches a roughly neutral setting next week,” said Andrew Ticehurst, economist at Nomura.”I would concede that with Fed and other central bank officials giving hawkish communication, the risk around our forecast likely tilts to the upside, i.e., a higher cash rate or more aggressive moves than we are forecasting.” More

The number of UK households in fuel poverty will more than double in January to at least 12mn unless the next prime minister takes “immediate” action to curb spiralling energy bills, a coalition of groups has warned.About 28mn people in 12mn homes, or 42 per cent of all households, will not be able to afford to adequately heat and power their properties from January, when a typical yearly energy bill is forecast to exceed £5,300, according to the End Fuel Poverty Coalition.That compares with an estimated 10.7mn people in 4.6mn homes who faced the same stresses last winter. Roughly 9mn households will struggle to live in a warm, dry home from October 1 when Britain’s energy price cap will rise 80 per cent to £3,549, according to the forecasts. The cap dictates bills for the majority of British households.The bleak forecasts will add to the pressure on Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, Tory leadership contenders, to tackle energy prices and the wider cost of living crisis. The winner of the race to become the next prime minister will be announced on Monday. “The households affected in these numbers all face a real risk of making daily economic sacrifices that compromise their standard of living, with many of them at risk of health complications caused by living in a cold damp home,” the coalition warned.Ruth London from Fuel Poverty Action, a coalition member, said there would be “many thousands of deaths in cold damp homes” this winter unless the government took further action. She also warned of “widespread health crises, cold and hungry children unable to play or do homework, and older people who can’t be discharged from hospital because their homes are not fit to live in”.The coalition — whose members include the trade union Unison, local authorities such as the London Borough of Camden and charities and campaign groups — said its forecasts followed a similar methodology to government data tracking fuel poverty, which can be defined in various ways. Energy companies have urged the new prime minister to immediately ease pressure by increasing a £400 discount on all households’ energy bills, which is due to take effect in October. Officials have also been preparing a list of alternative options to present to Boris Johnson’s successor as early as next week.Truss, the frontrunner in the race, has refused to be drawn into details about how she will tackle the cost of living crisis, but has said she would look to increase domestic energy supplies, and outlined support for measures such as a one-year moratorium on green energy levies.

Sunak, meanwhile, has said he would support families struggling with soaring energy prices by scrapping VAT on fuel bills. Fuel poverty has traditionally been defined as a household spending more than 10 per cent of its income on energy, although that definition has been rejected by many campaign groups, including the Fuel Poverty Coalition. It says that definition includes wealthier families that can spend a tenth of their income on gas and electricity.The government said: “Direct support will continue to reach people’s pockets in the weeks and months ahead, targeted at those who need it most like low-income households, pensioners and those with disabilities. “As part of our £37bn package of help for households, one in four of all UK households will see £1,200 extra support, provided in instalments across the year, and most people will receive a £400 discount on their energy bills over winter. “Ministers are having ongoing discussions with industry on what more can be done to ensure markets function effectively for consumers in the face of rising gas prices.” More

Under the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which has tougher labor rules than its predecessor agreement, activists have increasingly flagged alleged misconduct around union representation and demanded higher wages after years of stagnate pay.The petition from Mexican union SNITIS over BBB Industries in the border city of Reynosa, which refurbishes auto parts, did not reach a standard of a “sufficient, credible evidence of a denial of rights” to trigger USMCA enforcement tools, the USTR said in a statement. SNITIS had said in a petition to the U.S. government last month that BBB Industries workers were intimidated and threatened during a contract vote, among other irregularities. The Alabama-based company said it respects the rights of workers to choose a union of their choice and welcomes any government probe. It previously denied the allegations by SNITIS and said it followed procedure to ensure fair voting. SNITIS said it was disappointed by the USTR decision.”We will continue demanding action from the authorities to redress this denial of labor rights,” it said in a statement.The U.S. government has filed five labor complaints under the USMCA since last year, including at a General Motors (NYSE:GM) plant and a Stellantis-owned factory. More

The UK’s largest chicken producer faces having to pay £1mn a week in extra costs for the carbon dioxide used to stun birds for slaughter, the company said on Thursday, after a supplier pushed up prices following news of a big UK plant halting production.Ranjit Singh Boparan, founder of 2 Sisters Food Group, which processes more than 10mn birds a week, said “beleaguered shoppers . . . will ultimately pay the price with further price rises” for the increasing cost of the gas.“Once again, UK food security is under threat, the shopper loses, and we simply have no choice other than to pay to keep supply,” Boparan said.The UK faces a potential shortage of carbon dioxide, which is used in the poultry and pig industries as well as brewing, carbonated drinks production, food packaging and refrigeration.Supplies are expected to be squeezed after CF Industries, the US fertiliser group which is the UK’s largest carbon dioxide producer, announced a temporary halt to production at its Billingham plant in north-west England.Carbon dioxide is normally produced there as a byproduct of ammonia manufacture, which CF Industries said would be suspended because the price of natural gas, the main feedstock for the process, has hit record levels and made production uneconomical.The gas is sold to food and drinks companies in the UK not by CF Industries but by a series of industrial gas groups which trade domestic and imported carbon dioxide. CF had produced about a third of the total. Boparan said a big supplier in the UK had raised prices by “up to 20 times current levels”, without naming the company. He called for government intervention, saying: “This is clearly a national security issue and has to be dealt with as a matter of urgency. I’d like to see an acknowledgment of the problem and action to regulate the CO₂ market, or at least consider price capping.”

Officials have ruled out further state financial support after putting a three-week package in place in September last year to enable production to continue.One official told the Financial Times last week that “it is for the industry to resolve this. If they haven’t sort[ed] out their supplies since October then that’s their problem, but most of them have”.High prices for natural gas have also led to carbon dioxide shortages around Europe after ammonia producers in Italy and Germany cut production.In the year to July 2021, 2 Sisters reported £95.5mn of losses, up from £34.3mn a year earlier, according to its latest accounts filed at Companies House. Boparan has previously warned of steep rises in chicken prices as a result of input cost rises, saying that “the days when you could feed a family of four with a £3 chicken are coming to an end”. More