Finance

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it will begin tapering the pace of its asset purchases later in November.
On a monthly basis, the reduction will see $10 billion less in Treasurys and $5 billion less in mortgage-backed securities.
There also was only a slight change to Fed’s view on inflation. The post-meeting statement kept the word “transitory” to describe price increases that are running at a 30-year high, though it qualified the term somewhat by saying pressures are “expected to” be temporary.
Chairman Jerome Powell said he expects conditions pushing inflation to last “well into next year.’

The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday it soon will begin reducing the pace of its monthly bond purchases, the first step toward pulling back on the massive amount of help it had been providing markets and the economy.
Tapering of bond purchases will start “later this month,” the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee said in its post-meeting statement. The process will see reductions of $15 billion each month — $10 billion in Treasurys and $5 billion in mortgage-backed securities – from the current $120 billion a month that the Fed is buying.

The committee said the move came “in light of the substantial further progress the economy has made toward the Committee’s goals since last December.”

The statement, approved unanimously, stressed that the Fed is not on a preset course and will make adjustments to the process if necessary. (How tapering works)
“The Committee judges that similar reductions in the pace of net asset purchases will likely be appropriate each month, but it is prepared to adjust the pace of purchases if warranted by changes in the economic outlook,” the committee said.
The move was in line with market expectations following a series of Fed signals that it would begin winding down a program that accelerated in March 2020 as a response to the Covid pandemic.
Markets reacted positively, with stocks turning positive and government bond yields inching higher.

Along with the move to taper, the Fed also altered its view on inflation only slightly, acknowledging that price increases have been more rapid and enduring than central bankers had forecast but still not backing off use of the controversial word “transitory.”

“Inflation is elevated, largely reflecting factors that are expected to be transitory,” the statement said. “Supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic and the reopening of the economy have contributed to sizable price increases in some sectors.”
Many market participants had expected the Fed to drop the transitory language in light of the persistent inflation gains.
“The Fed unveiled its QE taper today, as widely expected, but is still insisting that the surge in inflation is ‘largely’ transitory, which suggests the doves still have the upper hand,” wrote Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said he expects inflation to keep rising as supply issues continue and then start to pull back around the middle of 2022.
“Our baseline expectation is that supply chain bottlenecks and shortages will persist well into next year and elevated inflation as well,” he said. “As the pandemic supplies, supply chain bottlenecks will abate and growth will move up and as that happens inflation will decline from today’s elevated levels.”
The statement also noted that the economy is expected to continue improving, particularly after the supply chain issues are resolved.

“Progress on vaccinations and an easing of supply constraints are expected to support continued gains in economic activity and employment as well as a reduction in inflation,” the committee said.
The FOMC voted not to raise interest rates from their anchor near zero, a move also expected by the market.
The tie between interest rates and tapering is a vital one, and the statement stressed that investors should not view the reduction in purchases as a signal that rate hikes are imminent.
“We don’t think it’s time yet to raise interest rates,” Powell said. “There is still ground to cover” before the Fed reaches its economic goals. He added he wants to see the labor market “heal further, and we have very good reasons to think that will happen as the delta variant declines, which it’s doing now.”
On the current schedule, the reduction in bond purchases will conclude around July 2022. Officials have said they don’t envision rate hikes beginning until tapering is finished, and projections released in September indicate one increase at most coming next year.
Markets, though, have been more aggressive in pricing, at one point indicating as many as three increases next year. That sentiment has cooled off some in recent days as Wall Street anticipated a more dovish Fed as it tries to balance slowing growth and rising inflation.
Inflation has been running at a 30-year high, pushed by a clogged supply chain, high consumer demand and rising wages that have stemmed from a chronic labor shortage. Fed officials maintain that inflation eventually will drift back to their 2% target, but now say that could take longer.

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Pedestrians pass in front of a GAP store in New York.
Scott Mlyn | CNBC

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Activision Blizzard — The video game company tumbled more than 14% despite reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings of 72 cents per share, compared to analysts’ estimates of 70 cents. It also reported revenue of $1.88 billion, right in line with analysts’ expectations.

Zillow — Shares of the digital real estate company tanked nearly 23% after the company said on Tuesday that it’s shuttering its homebuying unit, called Offers. Zillow is also eliminating 25% of its workforce as it exits that business. Zillow also missed on the top and bottom lines of its quarterly results.
Bed Bath & Beyond — Shares of the home furnishings retailer continued their rally, jumping 15% after the company announced various strategic changes to speed up growth on Tuesday evening, including a partnership with Kroger, the largest grocery chain in the U.S. Kroger shares were up more than 5%.
Cameco Corp — Shares of the uranium mining company jumped 8% after Bank of America upgraded the stock to a buy. The firm said shares, which have more than doubled this year, will continue to rise on the back of strength in the metal. Nuclear power’s role in decarbonization is being revaluated, which has lifted uranium stocks this year.
Gap — Gap shares gained more than 5% after it reached an agreement in which Italian retailer OVS will buy all of Gap’s 11 store locations in Italy, according to a presentation from OVS. The deal will “allow Gap to operate its business through a more capital efficient partner model,” the companies said in a statement Wednesday. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
T-Mobile US — Shares of T-Mobile rose 5.3% after the telecom company posted a stronger-than-expected profit for the previous quarter. T-Mobile reported diluted earnings of 55 cents a share, topping a Refinitiv forecast of 53 cents per share. However, the company’s revenue came in at $19.62 billion. Analysts expected sales of $20.19 billion, according to Refinitiv.

Generac — Generac shares slid more than 6% after both Bank of America and UBS downgraded the stock to a neutral rating. The calls follow Generac reporting lower-than-expected sales during the most recent quarter. “The long-term outlook remains excellent and demand for most of Generac’s products is still booming, but supply chain constraints have finally started to bite as they have for everyone else,” Bank of America wrote in a note to clients.
CVS Health Corp — Shares of CVS gained more than 5% after the drugstore chain and health insurer beat Wall Street expectations for third-quarter earnings and hiked its outlook for the year. The company posted adjusted earnings of $1.97 per share on revenue of $73.79 billion, versus the Refinitiv consensus of $1.78 in profit per share on revenue of $70.49 billion. CVS reported Covid-19 tests and vaccines boosted sales.
Deere & Co — The machinery maker fell about more than 3% after production employees on strike at 12 of its plants turned down a tentative contract offer agreed to by their negotiators earlier in the week. The strike has lasted about three weeks.
Lyft — Shares of the ride-sharing company jumped more than 8% after its better-than-expected quarterly report. Lyft posted adjusted earnings of 5 cents per share in the third quarter, versus a loss of 3 cents per share expected, according to Refinitiv. The company also beat on revenue and said drivers are coming back, though it missed estimates of active riders.
 — CNBC’s Pippa Stevens, Maggie Fitzgerald, Hannah Miao and Yun Li contributed reporting

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The number of job listings mandating candidates have a Covid-19 vaccine doubled in October, according to Ladders, a job site for higher earners. The trend is in line with data from other job sites like Indeed.
The Biden administration said it would soon issue a rule requiring larger private-sector employers to require vaccines for workers. (The unvaccinated could get tested on a weekly basis and wear a mask at work.)
One-quarter of workers in October said their employer has required them to get a Covid-19 vaccine, up from 9% in June, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Morsa Images | DigitalVision | Getty Images

Job listings are requiring applicants get vaccinated in increasing numbers, and the trend appears poised to continue.
The number of job postings mandating candidates have a Covid-19 vaccine doubled since the end of September, according to an analysis published Tuesday by Ladders, a career site for higher earners.

“To see something doubling month-over-month indicates real change in the economy and companies’ behavior,” said Marc Cenedella, founder and CEO of Ladders.

Job-listing trends typically take years or even decades to evolve, he said.
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The share of listings requiring a vaccine remains low relative to the overall number, however. About 10,000 job posts — 5% of the total — required a Covid-19 vaccine as of Oct. 31, according to the analysis.
But the rapid acceleration is remarkable and suggests the trend will continue for the foreseeable future, Cenedella said.

(The analysis, which is of positions paying at least $80,000 a year, examines listings on the Ladders site as well as public ads on corporate career websites across the U.S.)
Similarly, 2% of all U.S. job postings on job site Indeed advertise that vaccination is required, according to AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist who analyzed company data as of Oct. 22.
By comparison, about 0.5% of Indeed job posts had a vaccine requirement two months earlier.
The share in October was also higher for certain occupations relative to others: Nearly 7% of pharmacy and child-care job postings included vaccination requirements, according to Indeed.

The Biden administration is soon expected to issue a rule requiring larger private-sector employers to mandate vaccines for workers. (The unvaccinated would have the option to get tested on a weekly basis and wear a mask at work.) It’s expected to cover two-thirds of the private-sector workforce.
The Food and Drug Administration gave Pfizer full U.S. approval of its Covid vaccine in August. The move was expected to encourage some unvaccinated Americans to get the shot and give companies more confidence to require it.
A quarter of workers in October said their employer has required them to get a Covid-19 vaccine, up from 9% in June, according to a survey published Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Adults with a household income of at least $90,000 are more likely than those with incomes below $40,000 to report a Covid-19 vaccine requirement at work — 31% versus 18%, respectively, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

There’s also a political split — 26% of Republicans said their employer requires vaccination or that they want their company to mandate vaccination; the share is 77% among Democrats and 46% for independents.
Some companies and municipalities have fired workers or put them on unpaid leave for refusing to comply with vaccine mandates.
New York City, for example, put about 9,000 municipal workers on unpaid leave, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. About 9 in 10 city workers covered by a mandate have been vaccinated, he said.

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A total of 57 SPACs began trading in October, the highest amount since March when a record of 109 SPACs were issued.
The number of new blank-check deals last month nearly doubled that in September.
The rebound came as a backlog of blank-check deals held up by accounting and other regulatory issues rushed to the market before the year ends.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on September 30, 2021 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images

The SPAC market could be staging a comeback with issuance hitting an eight-month high as the industry continues to ride out regulatory challenges.
A total of 57 special purpose acquisition companies began trading in October, the highest amount since March when a record of 109 SPACs were issued, according to SPACInsider and CNBC calculations. The number of new deals in October nearly doubled that in September and was also higher than the total during the same time last year, the data showed.

Arrows pointing outwards

The rebound came as a backlog of blank-check deals held up by accounting and other regulatory issues rushed to the market before the year ends. The Securities and Exchange Commission in April issued new accounting guidance on SPAC warrants that required sponsors to restate their financial documents, which led to a significant slowdown in issuance.
“That was a hiccup, but once the rules of the road were established, that was taken care of pretty quickly by accounting firms and law firms,” said Perrie Weiner, partner at Baker McKenzie LLP.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has repeatedly warned of the misaligned interests between sponsors and shareholders and said greater disclosure is needed. Gensler said in June that the agency planned to propose rule changes. 
“The SEC’s focus is on transparency, on conflicts of interest and on concerns of share dilution,” Weiner said. “I think that once the SEC gets comfortable and investors are going in eyes open, it will become just like any other widely accepted financing structure. It’s definitely here to stay.”
While SPAC issuance has bounced back, stock performance hasn’t. The proprietary CNBC SPAC 50 index, which tracks the 50 largest U.S.-based pre-merger blank-check deals by market cap, is still down about 3% on the year.

Meanwhile, SPAC redemptions have been climbing amid waning investor appetite. The average SPAC redemption ratio — the percentage of shares that investors redeem prior to closing of an acquisition — has risen in the last two quarters, after falling to all-time lows in the first quarter, according to Barclays.
— CNBC’s Gina Francolla contributed reporting. More

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While much of the world has been focused on environmental, social, and governance issues over the past few years, more recently, cracks are starting to show in the way companies are working to solve ESG challenges. 

Eileen Murray is the chairperson at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the former co-CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates. She sat down with us to talk about how to increase accountability in ESG reporting and the need for government regulation in the space. 
(The content below has been edited for length & clarity.)
Leslie Picker: You have been more of a skeptic on what’s going on with the whole ESG [Environmental, Social and Governance] trend and really a frenzy over the past few years. What do you think are some of the key issues here? 
Eileen Murray: My skepticism is not about tackling ESG. I think we absolutely have to do that. I think the way we’re going about it, there’s a lack of consistency and standards, in terms of what’s being reported to the public. Who’s accountable? Who’s accountable for those disclosures? Right. And what is the transformation that we need to have to make ESG really real? You know, we’re polluting the planet. How are we going to stop that? And so when I stepped back, my skepticism is about – and I wouldn’t have said this 20 years ago –  I really think we need regulators to step up. They have in certain parts of the world, and start to ensure that companies are applying standards and disclosure, that companies are being open about what they’re doing and transparent. 
It’s complicated. And you know, it’s evolving. So people say, “Oh, it’s too complicated. We can’t deal with it.” Well, 20 years ago, we had a lot of changes in credit exposure reporting and people thought that was very complicated. Same thing with trading analytics. So I don’t believe that this is so complicated, that smart people can’t come to solutions. But I think it’s going to take regulators, business, and educators to deal with this. And it’s an ecosystem problem. One company cannot do this alone and that’s why I think we need government and regulators. So my skepticism is not about the call to action, my skepticism is, are we doing enough? Or are we going to wait till this is a pandemic to deal with?

Picker: What do you mean by that – “wait until this is a pandemic to deal with?” 
Murray: Take DE&I – how many years has that been around? 
Picker: Diversity, equity and inclusion…
Murray: Diversity we’ve been talking about since I was in my 20s, which was quite a quite a long ways ago. But you know, when I first started working, diversity, it was like, 0.5% of the senior people were women and today it’s 17%. And you know Leslie, I don’t know if I should do the happy dance or cry. But we just haven’t made enough progress. And I believe had regulations been more involved, that we would be further along on diversity. I don’t think it’s just about diversity. I think it’s also about inclusion to really be successful and so I think we both know that. One of the things for example, what the NASDAQ just did, I’m not talking as the chair of FINRA, but as Eileen Murray, individual, I applaud them.
Picker: Requiring companies have certain diversity metrics to be listed.
Murray: Yeah, and they’re basically saying, comply or disclose. So you either comply or you disclose. Well, what’s wrong with that? What’s the criticism about that? I just think without those kinds of movements, we’re not going to make progress. And I think history demonstrates that….I think without disclosure and transparency, it’s going to continue as it is with people focused on the urgent, people focused on short term profits, and not looking at the long term impact to their company, or socially.
Picker: Who needs to be regulated here? Because there’s been kind of a dual path of ESG excitement. One hand, you’ve got investors, and then on the other hand, you’ve got the companies themselves which are obviously touting their various ESG profiles. Where do you think the regulation should start to be the most effective?
Murray: I want to first make a point. I was looking at this survey by E&Y that they did: 53% of directors that were surveyed think ESG is a compliance issue. 21% think it’s not material. 26% see it as a strategic opportunity. And then, of that class of people, only a third of them think that the companies that are disclosing ESG information are doing it in a manner that, you know, is done well and accurately. Well, if that’s true, then how many companies are reporting on ESG? And saying they’re ESG compliant and they’re really not? What is the standard? What does it mean? So I think companies need to be – I think basically a broad based disclosure and standards around the disclosure for ESG need to be taken. And companies need to list out what are the limitations of what they’re telling people in terms of what they’re doing with ESG. This can’t just be a marketing issue. There’s tons and tons of money flowing into ESG funds. There’s tons of people who are interested in terms of shareholders, in terms of government, etc. Let’s get together and have some standards so that we all know what we’re looking at is consistent. 
I think we need to start with the companies and I think that investors have a right to know, is what they’re reading really accurate. What does it really mean? Do they really know when you look at all the money that’s going into these things? So that’s where I think it has to start. Now, some people say, “Well, you know, I don’t think government should get involved in this.” Well, if they don’t, I don’t see how it changes. I don’t see this being self-corrected by industry, or companies. And so when you look at all that money going in that people are investing, when you look at the implications, of not really making significant progress with climate change, or you know, fuel waste, etc, how we’re polluting our planet, it just makes no sense to me to not have a standardized way of looking at this. We’ll make mistakes initially. But for God’s sake, let’s get started on the path to have great disclosure, great accountability, and great transparency, which I think will lead to transformation.
Picker: Some critics would argue that by the government focusing on this and making sure that there’s transparency and disclosure within corporate America, as well as investors in terms of how they market things as ESG, that kind of sidetracks them from from the bigger issues that regulators and government should be just focused on solving things like climate change, and focused on figuring out how to increase opportunity for a diverse set of people, as opposed to kind of taking this action. What would you say to that?
Murray: I think that, honestly, I think it’s BS. What I mean by that is, you can do both. If you want government to go fix the big problems of climate change, and DE&I, why wouldn’t you want them to also help you report on it? Who is going to do it, if not the regulators? Who’s going to pull it together? What I do think though, Leslie, is that the regulators need to work closely with business. And I don’t see that harmonization happening anymore….so I’m not saying to leave business out. I’m not saying to leave the regulator’s out. I’m saying, let’s all get together and figure this out together. But I don’t for a minute think that if the regulations are focused solely on climate change or DE&I without disclosure without metrics, how do we know it’s working? How do the regulators know it’s working?
Picker: Because [ESG is] so broad, it has the potential to leave behind certain efforts that in the past have been more at the forefront. You know, diversity, equity inclusion, for example, if a company may have very good metrics, as it pertains to their environmental footprint, or their governance footprint, they may be able to kind of sweep under the rug any issues with diversity, equity and inclusion? 
Murray: My big belief is that you can do both. I mean, I don’t see why, you know, diversity, equity –
Picker: You can, but companies feel like they don’t need to because –
Murray: Well, they don’t need to, because they’re not required to. And that’s why I’m coming back to this governmental piece, this regulatory piece. And believe me, if you asked me 20 years ago, should we have government or regulators involved in diversity, I’d say no, companies will get there, they’ll do it on their own, it’s the right thing to do, it’s great for business. Well, I was wrong. I was dead wrong. 
And, and what I have seen work is when regulations come out and say, “Thou shalt report on the following things, and it will be disclosed.” And directors will have fiduciary responsibilities to see that it’s done well, and CEOs will be held accountable through compensation. I see that really work. 
Picker: So it’s about disclosure, It’s about regulation. You’re a regulator. You sit in the seat as chair of FINRA, what regulator specifically do you think should be tackling this?
Murray:  I think that the SEC has more recently come out with a lot about – first of all, I’m not talking here as the chair of FINRA and we are responsible for the individual investor. But I do think the SEC, [Gary] Gensler has come out with a lot on what’s coming down the pike on ESG. He’s talked about DE&I and he’s talked about climate change, and he’s put people in place to spearhead those initiatives.
— Ritika Shah contributed to this article More

A return trip to a glacier in Alaska changed the trajectory of Tom Steyer’s life.
Now, addressing climate is not just about glaciers or polar bears, it’s about mitigating human suffering, Steyer said.
The private sector has a tremendous opportunity to make money in meeting the massive demand for new green technologies, but governments and richer nations must subsidize the cost of those technologies until they become cost competitive, he said.

Democratic presidential hopeful businessman Tom Steyer speaks during the fourth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by The New York Times and CNN at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio on October 15, 2019.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

Tom Steyer, the former hedge fund executive, billionaire, and Democratic presidential candidate has become one of the leading activist investors on climate change. But he wasn’t always as concerned.
For 26 years, Steyer ran the hedge fund he founded in 1986, Farallon Capital. It invested in all sectors of the economy — including fossil fuel companies.

But a return trip to Alaska in 2004 changed his internal compass, he told CNBC.
“When I was 24, I spent a summer working in Alaska,” Steyer told CNBC, on a phone call from Glasgow, Scotland, where he is currently attending COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
In 2004, two and a half decades after his own trip as a young man, Steyer went back to Alaska with his family.
“I wanted our kids to see the wilderness in North America as close as we could get to it,” Steyer told CNBC. “So we all went up to Alaska, and I wanted to do a wilderness trip, so that they could experience that because I had thought it was so immense and wonderful when I was there when I was 24 years old.”

McBride Inlet in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska.
Andrew Peacock | Stone | Getty Images

But it wasn’t the same. “It was absolutely shocking to see the extent of the glacial melt,” Steyer told CNBC.

“I remember sitting on one side of the valley and looking across the valley, and there was ice at the bottom, but you could see clearly across. A nd 20 years before there was so much ice that you could not know there was a valley there. It was just a mountain of snow,” Steyer said.
“You could just see the water. It was like this gigantic stream of melting ice,” Steyer said. “That’s when it became clear to me that, ‘Oh my god, this is so obvious.'”
He and his family talked about how future generations would perceive this one. Now, people look back at people 100 years ago and think that things they did were “often incredibly cruel, or thoughtless or selfish,” Steyer said.
“We were sitting there going, ‘Wow, people are going to look at us and go, ‘Wow, they are incredibly thoughtless and cruel, and selfish,”” Steyer told CNBC. “And I thought, ‘We just can’t do that.'”
In 2012, Steyer stepped down from his role at the San Francisco-based financial institution he founded to launch NextGen Climate, which would become became NextGen America, to activate the youth vote.

More from CNBC Climate:

And in 2019, Steyer ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, focusing his agenda on climate change as the central issue. He’s also known for the effort he launched in 2017 to impeach then President Donald Trump.
When Steyer officially separated from Farallon Capital in 2012, Farallon set up, at Steyer’s request, a separate fund for Steyer’s investments at Farallon which excludes fossil fuel investments, a representative for Steyer told CNBC.
Still, however, in his time as the head of Farallon Capital, the hedge fund did make investments in carbon emitting ventures, which the New York Times reported on as far back as 2014. A representative for Steyer told CNBC that Steyer had commented on his investments in the past and had nothing new to add. In Jan. 2020, Steyer addressed his investments in a Presidential debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. “We invested in every part of the economy,” he said of his time at Farallon.
And while the experience of seeing the glaciers melt in Alaska was a visual gut check that became a fulcrum in Steyer’s narrative, it’s not what propels him forward now, decades later. Now, Steyer says he is motivated by working to prevent human suffering.
“It has not been about glaciers. It has not been about polar bears,” Steyer said. “We can avoid human suffering right now, in terms of air pollution, water pollution, health risks that people are suffering from right now.”
To prevent human suffering caused by climate change will require reinventing our national and global infrastructure for making energy, for making things, for growing food and more, Steyer said.
“It has to be about justice. Because the people who suffer the first and the most are underserved in the United States,” Steyer said. “They are in underserved black and brown communities — way disproportionately.”
That’s not just the case in the U.S., but globally as well, Steyer says.
“The places where people are most threatened are low-income communities, mostly in the southern hemisphere, who have emitted very little greenhouse gases, but who are who are currently affected by it, who will continue to be very disproportionately affected by it, and who didn’t cause any of it,” Steyer said. (Indeed, a recent report on health and climate change from the medical journal The Lancet speaks to that.)

Solutions must be better and cheaper, not just greener

In September, Steyer announced he is co-launching a climate investment platform, called Galvanize Climate Solutions which will invest “in the billions” of dollars in various decarbonization efforts. In addition to investing money, Galvanize intends to build a suite of other services and projects outside of its investment arm, including expert teams specializing in branding and communications, policy and regulatory affairs, science and research, and corporate development, along with human capital, finance, legal and compliance, and investor relations.  
Steyer co-founded the investment firm with Kathryn Hall, the founder and co-chair of Hall Capital Partners, an investment advisory firm which has $40 billion in assets under management for foundations, endowments and family funds.
According to Steyer, addressing inequity will require making green solutions cheaper and better than the carbon-emitting ones.
“We need to execute to be able to make that case every time — that we’re not asking you to do us a favor, we’re giving you a better deal, a better product, at a lower price,” Steyer said.
And in time, the price of newer technologies will come down, the financier turned political activist said.
“The thing that I think people have to focus on is cost curves. As new technologies come in, they go, the cost of producing them goes down very consistently, and for a long period of time, because people are smart, and they figure out how to do it better, and they figure out changes to it to make it better and cheaper to produce,” Steyer told CNBC.
It is the responsibility of wealthier nations to help less wealthy nations finance that transition.
“Governments have to subsidize the cost curve, so that you can produce enough to drive down the cost to be competitive,” Steyer said. “In terms of wind and solar, that’s already happened.”
In that process, there is a tremendous amount of money to be made by private sector innovators, a point both Bill Gates and Blackrock CEO Larry Fink have recently made.
This is a “huge money-making opportunity,” Steyer agreed. “This is a gigantic opportunity to rebuild this world. Right now. It’s gonna take $4 trillion of investment a year, and the world is only spending about a trillion on this. There’s a gigantic opportunity here for people to do good and to do well by doing good.”

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Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
New York Times (NYT) – The newspaper publisher’s shares jumped 3.9% in the premarket after it beat estimates by 3 cents with an adjusted quarterly profit of 23 cents per share. Revenue also beat estimates amid rising advertising and digital sales.

CVS Health (CVS) – The drug store operator and pharmacy benefits manager beat estimates by 19 cents with adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.97 per share and revenue topping Wall Street forecasts as well. Results got a boost from increased demand for Covid testing and vaccinations.
Humana (HUM) – The health insurer reported adjusted quarterly earnings of $4.83 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $4.66, while revenue beat Street forecasts on strength in Humana’s Medicare Advantage business.
Capri Holdings (CPRI) – The company behind the Michael Kors and Versace brands saw its stock surge 9.9% in premarket trading, after beating earnings and revenue estimates for its latest quarter. Capri earned an adjusted $1.53 per share, well above the consensus estimate of 95 cents, and also raised its full-year outlook.
Tupperware (TUP) – Tupperware plummeted 16.8% in the premarket, as sales for the food storage products company came in well below Wall Street forecasts. The company points to persistent negative impact from the pandemic, among other factors.
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) – The cruise line operator’s stock slid 2.6% in the premarket after it reported a wider-than-expected loss and revenue that fell short of analyst estimates. Norwegian said it expects positive cash flow in the first quarter of 2022 and expects to be profitable in the second half of the year.

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) – Bed Bath & Beyond rocketed 57.3% higher in premarket action after announcing an in-store partnership with Kroger (KR) and said its share buyback program was proceeding ahead of schedule. The buying spree was spurred by that positive news, combined with the fact that the housewares retailer’s stock is one of the most heavily shorted on Wall Street.
Mondelez International (MDLZ) – Mondelez beat estimates by a penny with adjusted quarterly earnings of 70 cents per share, with the snack maker’s revenue beating forecasts as well. The company also said it would raise prices on snacks like Oreo cookies as it tries to keep up with rising commodity and labor costs. Mondelez rose 1% in the premarket.
Zillow Group (ZG) – Zillow is exiting its home-flipping business, saying its algorithm designed to profitably buy and sell homes doesn’t work as intended. The real estate firm also announced an unexpected quarterly loss and lower than expected revenue for its latest quarter. Zillow shares tumbled 17.6% in premarket trading.
T-Mobile US (TMUS) – T-Mobile came in 2 cents ahead of estimates with quarterly earnings of 55 cents per share, although the mobile service provider’s revenue missed Street forecasts. T-Mobile added 673,000 subscribers during the quarter, beating analyst forecasts but short of the numbers achieved by rivals like AT&T (T). T-Mobile shares gained 3.2% in premarket action.
Lyft (LYFT) – Lyft shares surged 12.5% in premarket trading, after reporting earnings of an adjusted 5 cents per share for its latest quarter, compared to an expected loss of 3 cents per share. The ride-hailing service’s revenue also topped Wall Street forecasts, with Lyft benefitting from rising rider demand as well as higher prices.
Activision Blizzard (ATVI) – Activision Blizzard saw its shares tank 12.2% in the premarket after it announced a delay in the launch of two games as well as issuing a weaker-than-expected outlook for the holiday quarter. The videogame maker did beat bottom-line forecasts for its latest quarter, coming in 2 cents ahead of estimates with an adjusted quarterly profit of 72 cents per share.
Camping World (CWH) – The recreational vehicle retailer’s stock rallied 6.7% in the premarket after it reported quarterly earnings of $1.98 per share, well above the 55 cent consensus estimate, with revenue also well above Street forecasts.

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Policymakers have intimated that a hike is imminent, but the nine-member MPC will need to determine whether to tighten policy this week or wait until its mid-December meeting.
Markets are uncertain about the timing, with analysts suggesting the vote is likely to be split.
At Monday’s close, market data showed that derivatives traders were pricing in a 64% probability of a 15 basis point rate hike this week, Berenberg highlighted in a note Tuesday.

General view of The Royal Exchange, Bank of England and City of London on an overcast day.
Vuk Valcic | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

LONDON — The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet Thursday to decide whether to pull the trigger on interest rate hikes.
Policymakers have intimated that a hike is imminent, but the nine-member MPC will need to determine whether to tighten policy this week or wait until its mid-December meeting, in light of persistent above-trend inflation and moderating growth.

Markets are uncertain about the timing, with analysts suggesting the vote is likely to be split. Some BOE policymakers, such as Governor Andrew Bailey and renowned hawk Michael Saunders, have hinted that they could back an immediate hike, while others have seemed more reluctant.
Silvana Tenreyro signaled recently that she would need to see further labor market data following the end of the U.K.’s furlough scheme on Sept. 30 before voting to begin the path toward policy normalization.
At Monday’s close, market data showed that derivatives traders were pricing in a 64% probability of a 15 basis point rate hike this week, Berenberg highlighted in a note Tuesday. Senior Economist Kallum Pickering said that while his team considers a first hike in December “slightly more likely,” a move this week would not come as a surprise.

Pickering noted that an increase to the base rate of 15 basis points from its current historic low of 0.1% would keep monetary policy ultra loose, but may have a significant impact on rate expectations, which have shifted dramatically over the past month.
“Having brought forward the first hike from March 2022 to November 2021 since the start of October, the market now looks for the Bank Rate to rise to 1.25% by end-2022 followed by 40 bps in cuts from mid-2023 to end-2025,” he said.

“In essence, the market seems to expect a BoE policy error in the coming years in the form of an over tightening in 2022 that needs to be corrected with modest rate cuts thereafter.”
As such, Berenberg believes a first move on December 16 and an increase to 0.75% by the end of 2022, with further hikes in 2023 taking the Bank Rate to 1.25% around a year later than current market expectations.
Whether or not the Bank hikes rates on Thursday, Berenberg expects the MPC to send a clear signal in its forward guidance.
The path to tightening is complex
Central to the MPC’s headaches is the unique nature of the pandemic recovery, in that policy stances can shift as incoming data evolves, particularly with regards to growth and inflation.
British inflation slowed unexpectedly in September, rising 3.1% in annual terms, but analysts expect this to be a brief respite for consumers. August’s 3.2% annual climb was the largest increase since records began in 1997, and vastly exceeded the Bank’s 2% target.
GDP grew 0.4% in August after an unexpected contraction of 0.1% in July, as staff absences linked to the Covid-19 Delta variant surged.
“Like other major economies, the U.K. is experiencing significant supply bottlenecks and a highly uncertain inflation outlook due to conflicting signals between indicators,” said Gurpreet Gill, macro strategist for global fixed income at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
High job vacancies indicate a tight labor market that is supportive of higher wage growth, Gill highlighted, while hours worked and labor force participation rates suggest significant spare capacity. U.K. job vacancies hit a record 1.1 million in the three months to August, while the average unemployment rate fell.
What’s more, a nosedive in immigration following Brexit and the pandemic could facilitate longer-term strains on labor supply in the U.K. compared to other major economies.

“Going into the upcoming MPC meeting, all eyes will be on the incoming data – including inflation expectations and business sentiment,” Gill said.
“The path to monetary normalisation is unlikely to run smooth, when the data on which the MPC makes decisions is highly changeable.”
Whether the first tightening of the policy screw comes on Thursday or in December, analysts are broadly in agreement that market expectations mean the Bank needs to follow through on a hike this year.
Michel Vernier, head of fixed income strategy at Barclays Private Bank, said the BOE’s expectations for inflation to rise to 4% may need to be revised up, with supply chain obstacles appearing stickier and energy prices exerting continued upward pressure.
However, Vernier said inflation is still “very likely” to moderate quickly, once the pandemic-induced output gap has closed.
“Inflation would now also be capped by early hikes, which may leave the possibility for the BoE to even reverse their decisions at a later stage if persistent excessive inflation does not materialise,” he said.
“The BoE’s recent comments on the urgency to act indicates that there seems to be a stronger emphasis on protecting consumers from higher inflation (GFK consumer sentiment recently consolidated, higher mortgage rates could provide further pressure).”
Barclays Private Bank is also betting on a December hike, however, with a further 50 basis point hike by mid-2022 now a “strong possibility.”

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