Democrats Accept Offer from McConnell to Raise Debt Limit Until December
Putin offers to help ease European energy prices… with stipulations
In Today’s Digital Newspaper
Market Focus:
• U.K. gas prices plummet after Russia offers to ease Europe’s energy crunch
• Big miss on inflation and we’re not talking about the Federal Reserve
• Moody’s: Explorers must boost drilling budgets by 54% to forestall major supply deficit
• IEA chief: Russia has substantial scope to boost Europe’s gas supplies
• Coal supply shortages are pushing prices for the fuel to record highs
• Some calling current situation first major energy crisis clean power transition
• Big plug for U.S. railroads from Homeland Security chief
• Ag demand update
• Light buying overnight
• Global food prices up nearly a third from year-ago
• Farm optimism slides as inputs rise, ag trade prospects dim
• Biden's virtual summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping to be held by year-end
• Strong beef export data provides a lift
• Big pork price swings continue
Policy Focus:
• Cease fire in debt limit debate… at least until December
• Manchin to progressives: pick just one of Biden’s three signature
• Politico: White House weighs “across-the-board” cuts to social spending bill
China Update:
• Biden's virtual summit w/Chinese President Xi Jinping sometime before EOY
• Biden said he and Xi spoke about Taiwan
• Biden administration’s emerging China strategy focuses at home and on allies
• Hong Kong firm fails in bid for preliminary injunction against Commerce Dept.
• CBO 'unclear' when it will have cost estimate of House reconciliation bill
• Soybeans, cotton and beef main activity on export sales to China in most recent week
Energy & Climate Change:
• U.S. could tap SPR, halt crude exports in bid to quell prices: DOE’s Granholm
• Russia offers to ease Europe’s gas crisis, with stipulations
• GM to more than double revenue by 2030 via new battery-electric models & services
Livestock, Food & Beverage Industry Update:
• About top-up payments for hog producers
• Global food prices up nearly a third from year-ago
Coronavirus Update:
• Moderna plans to build vaccine factory in Africa
Politics & Elections:
• Biden rating hits new low
• In Virginia gubernatorial race, McAuliffe portrays Biden as liability
• McAuliffe tops Youngkin by single point in new survey of Va. gubernatorial race
Other Items of Note:
• Federal judge temporarily blocked Texas' new ban on most abortions
• ‘We have to make agriculture sexy’ — Xavier Niel, the French tech billionaire
MARKET FOCUS
Equities today: Potential postponement of the debt ceiling deadline and the reversal of some of the surge in energy prices is helping risk appetite. Global stock markets were mostly higher in overnight trading. The U.S. stock indexes are pointed to higher openings — Dow futures jumped 300 points in a relief rally. Asian equities finished mostly higher as US debt limit concerns eased. The Shanghai Composite remained closed for a holiday. Japan’s Nikkei rose 149.34 points, 0.54%, at 27,678.21. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 735.24 points, 3.07%, at 24,701.73. European equity markets are seeing gains in early trading. The Stoxx 600 was 1.2% higher with regional markets seeing gains of 1.0% to 2.1%.
U.S. equities yesterday: The Dow rose 102.32 points, 0.30%, at 34,416.99, after climbing into positive territory late in the session. The Nasdaq gained 68.08 points, 0.47%, at 14,501.91. The S&P 500 was up 17.83 points, 0.41%, at 4,363.55.
On tap today (see detailed list of events and reports below):
• European Central Bank releases minutes from its Sept. 8-9 meeting at 7:30 a.m. ET.
• U.S. jobless claims are expected to fall to 345,000 in the week ended Oct. 2 from 362,000 a week earlier. (8:30 a.m. ET) UPDATE: Initial filings for unemployment benefits totaled 326,000 for the week ended Oct. 2, below the 345,000 estimate and a drop from the previous week’s 364,000.
• USDA Weekly Export Sales report, 8:30 a.m. ET.
• New York Fed President John Williams speaks on inflation and business cycle dynamics at 8:40 a.m. ET.
• Bank of Canada Gov. Tiff Macklem speaks on global financial architecture at 12 p.m. ET.
• U.S. consumer credit for August is out at 3 p.m. ET.
A big miss on inflation and we’re not talking about the Federal Reserve. The Economist team notes: “We calculate that this year has seen professional forecasters’ worst underestimate of American inflation since records began in 1981.”
Market perspectives:
• Outside markets: The U.S. dollar index was weaker ahead of jobless claims data, with the euro and British pound both slightly firmer against the greenback. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was slightly higher ahead of U.S. economic updates, trading around 1.52%. Gold and silver futures were slightly higher ahead of U.S. trading, with gold around $1,761 per troy ounce and silver around $22.76 per troy ounce.
• Crude oil prices are under pressure on a rise in U.S. inventories and talk of the U.S. tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR/see related item below). U.S. crude was trading under $76.20 per barrel and Brent under $80.10 per barrel. In Asian action, crude was weaker with U.S. crude falling 76 cents at $76.67 per barrel and Brent down 40 cents at $80.59 per barrel.
• Explorers must boost drilling budgets by 54% to more than half a trillion dollars to forestall a significant supply deficit in the next few years, Moody's said.
• IEA chief says Russia has substantial scope to boost Europe’s gas supplies. The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Russia has the capacity to send substantially more gas to Europe and alleviate the energy crisis gripping the continent, in an intervention likely to bolster claims that the country is withholding crucial supplies. Fatih Birol, the executive director of the IEA, told the Financial Times that the agency’s own analysis suggested Russia could raise exports by roughly 15% of peak winter supply to the continent. Speaking the day after President Vladimir Putin hinted at a boost to shipments (see related item below), Birol urged Russia to prove it is a “reliable supplier” by helping alleviate a supply crunch that has rocked energy prices and threatened the global recovery from pandemic lockdowns. “If Russia does what it indicated yesterday and increases the volumes to Europe, this would have a calming effect on the market,” he said. “I don’t say they will do it but if they wish so, they have the capacity to do it.”
• Coal supply shortages are pushing prices for the fuel to record highs. Reasons, according to the Wall Street Journal (link): The post-pandemic boom to supply-chain strains and ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions. And it is expected to last at least through the winter, raising fears in many countries of fuel shortfalls in the months ahead. Another reason: China, the world’s second-largest economy and its biggest coal consumer, is at the heart of the current crunch. As Beijing has sought to meet its climate targets, it allowed coal inventories to dwindle. It halted imports of Australian coal amid a diplomatic row. Australia’s Newcastle thermal coal, a global benchmark, is trading at $202 a metric ton, three times higher than at the end of 2019. Global production of coal, which generates around 40% of the world’s electricity, is about 5% below pre-pandemic levels.
• Some are calling the current situation the first major energy crisis of the clean power transition, with President Biden setting a goal to decarbonize the economy by 2050. J.P. Morgan's Marko Kolanovic suggests following coal prices to determine supply, demand and cost of capital for other fossil fuels, which if they stay at elevated levels, could lead to inflationary pushback to ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing. "The most likely outcome of the current energy crisis is increased production at significantly higher energy prices, which would stabilize the global economy and energy infrastructure, but also temporarily slow down the energy transition."
• A big plug for U.S. railroads. “Our freight rail system is essential not only to our economic well-being, but also to the ability of our military to move equipment from ‘fort to port’ when needed,” said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Ag demand: Egypt bought 180,000 MT of Russian wheat and 60,000 MT of wheat from Ukraine in a tender yesterday. Taiwan bought an estimated 48,000 MT of milling wheat to be sourced from the United States. Jordan issued new tenders to buy 120,000 MT of feed barley and 120,000 MT of milling wheat from optional origins.
• NWS weather: There is a moderate risk of excessive rainfall over parts of the Southern Appalachian through Friday morning... ... Temperatures will be 10 to 20 degrees above average over the Plains into the Upper Midwest.
Items in Pro Farmer's First Thing Today include:
• Light buying overnight
• Global food prices up nearly a third from year-ago (details below)
• Farm optimism slides as inputs rise, ag trade prospects dim
• Biden's virtual summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping to be held by year-end
• Strong beef export data provides a lift
• Big pork price swings continue
POLICY FOCUS
— Looks like the debt limit debate will go into December, provided Democrats affix a dollar amount to the debt level. As expected, GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) offered Democrats an alternate route to temporarily raise the debt limit until December. He proposed two options:
One would allow Democrats to fast-track the suspension of the debt limit using the budget reconciliation process.
The other would raise the limit to a specified figure.
McConnell made the offer shortly before the Senate was prepared to hold another vote on extending the nation’s borrowing limit just more than a week before a possible debt default. Republicans had been set to reject the measure. The vote was canceled after Democrats emerged from a meeting saying they could agree to the McConnell offer, which McConnell reportedly ran by centrist Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).
Democrats accepted the delay because they are already saying McConnell blinked, even though the options still would eventually have the Democrats alone voting for dealing with the current debt limit. Republicans say Democrats can no longer say they had no time to deal with the matter via the reconciliation process. However, Democrats said they will not bend on rejecting McConnell’s demands that they use the reconciliation to pass a longer debt ceiling increase. So at this juncture, the debt limit issue is just delayed and still unresolved. McConnell in a statement said that while he would allow Democrats to use regular procedures to raise the debt ceiling high enough to cover federal spending until December, he’s not dropping his demand they use the reconciliation process to raise it any higher. He said the deal “will moot Democrats’ excuses about the time crunch they created and give the unified Democratic government more than enough time to pass standalone debt limit legislation through reconciliation.”
“We’re going to raise the debt ceiling and we’re going to go on and pass infrastructure,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.). “We’re never going to do it through reconciliation.”
“McConnell caved,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said. “And now we’re going to spend our time doing childcare, health care and fighting climate change.”
Bottom line: It’s a debt ceiling ceasefire and now the stage is set for a year-end convergence of Congress’ major fiscal agenda items, with government funding currently set to expire on Dec. 3. But some issues remain before an actual Senate vote: (1) Republicans aren’t sure they can come up with 10 GOP votes needed to overcome their own filibuster on a to extend the debt limit until December. (2) Democrats are also pushing Republicans in negotiations to extend the new debt limit deadline past December, (3) McConnell wants Democrats to affix a dollar amount to the debt level. A final deal could pave the way for a procedural vote in the Senate to be followed by final passage this week or weekend. The Senate will come into session at 10 a.m. ET and remains scheduled for a week-long recess beginning after today. The House will still have to pass the legislation (Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has promised "72-hours' notice" to members before calling them back to D.C.; Speaker Nancy Pelosi headed to Europe for several days of meetings and events). The bill is expected to be signed into law by President Biden.
— Sen. Manchin to progressives: pick just one of Biden’s three signature policies for helping working families. The centrist Democrat from West Virginia wants progressives to choose among an expanded child tax credit, paid family medical leave or subsidies for childcare. President Biden has proposed extending the expanded, $3,600-per-child tax credit, which he funded for one year in the American Rescue Plan, for another four years. That would cost $450 billion. The costs for providing paid family medical leave are murky. The White House proposed $225 billion over 10 years in April, but the House Ways and Means Committee estimates it at $500 billion. For Biden’s child and infant care proposals, including subsidies for poor and middle-class families for day care and two years of universal preschool, the House wants to spend $450 billion.
Comments: One observer emailed: Throwing more money at families to help with the cost of childcare isn't going to help with the lack of childcare options. Our daycare cut back hours because they can't find enough workers. So, an already tight market for childcare is worsening due to the labor crunch.”
— Politico: White House weighs “across-the-board” cuts to social spending bill components. Politico reports (link) the White House is “seriously entertaining the idea of across-the-board haircuts to most items in President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion social spending package.” However, “even if the trim-everything strategy is predominantly employed, some programs would likely still have to be cut out completely, according to several sources who either took part in White House discussions or were briefed on its thinking.” Which ones, Politico adds, “remain a topic of intense internal party debate.”
— CBO 'unclear' when it will have cost estimate of House reconciliation bill. Talk about punting, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Wednesday that it is "unclear" when it will complete a cost estimate of the entirety of the Democratic-backed social spending package approved by House committees. "The legislation being considered by the House is complex, and provisions in some committees’ recommendations interact with those of other committees," CBO Director Phillip Swagel said in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). "Moreover, the agency has had to devote substantial resources to providing technical assistance as committees continue to modify their proposals.”
CBO said that the bill is complicated because it would create some new programs and substantially increase funding in other areas. CBO also noted that provisions advanced by some House committees are related to provisions from other committees, and it can't complete the estimates for those proposals until after it finishes analyzing the interactions.
CHINA UPDATE
— President Biden's virtual summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to be held sometime before the end of the year. Biden administration officials had sought an in-person meeting. But Xi has not left Chinese territory for such engagements in nearly two years. The announcement on Wednesday from American officials came after a six-hour meeting between Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, and his closest Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, Beijing’s top diplomat. No date was provided for when the summit will be held. Other officials are expected to participate.
— Biden said he and China leader Xi Jinping spoke about Taiwan and had agreed to stick to the existing consensus on managing disputes over the island. In other China/U.S. related events, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized China’s recent military maneuvers around Taiwan, urging leaders in Beijing to halt the provocative military flybys for fear of a miscalculation. Pressed on the financial woes of Chinese property developer China Evergrande Group, Blinken said the U.S. is looking to China “to act responsibly and to deal effectively with any challenges.”
— Biden administration’s emerging China strategy focuses at home and on allies, according to the Wall Street Journal (link). First, rebuild the U.S.’s own domestic economic strength, by investing in infrastructure, research and development. Second, push U.S. companies to manufacture more at home, to insulate the country from supply disruptions and build up domestic innovative capacity. Third, work with allies on new trading arrangements that deal with those features of China’s system the World Trade Organization can’t constrain. None require cooperation from China, but all require cooperation from others that may not be forthcoming. Hardest of all, notes the WSJ item, is bringing back U.S. industrial supply chains. “Despite tariffs, Covid-19 and other disruptions, few American companies are reshoring operations and most find leaving China unthinkable.”
— Hong Kong firm fails in bid for preliminary injunction in its case against Commerce Department over being placed on Entity List over Xinjiang. Changii Esquel, a Hong Kong-based textile company with operations in Xinjiang, was denied a preliminary injunction in its case against the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) over being placed on the Entity List for its extensive operations in Xinjiang. A U.S. District Court judge in Washington, DC, denied the request, stating that he doubted the firm was likely to succeed in its legal case against DOC. The firm used to supply companies like Nike and Tommy Hilfiger sued DOC in July, saying there was no proof that the company was involved in alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. While the court decision does not end the company’s bid in court, observers say that it likely means the company’s chances of succeeding in the court case are not very strong.
— Soybeans, cotton and beef main activity on export sales to China in most recent week. U.S. export sales activity to China was relatively quiet for the week ended Sept. 30, with the biggest activity involving soybeans, upland cotton and beef. Net sales of 8,344 tonnes of corn, 30 tonnes of sorghum, 671,307 tonnes of soybeans, and 174,466 running bales of upland cotton were reported. Sales of 40,000 running bales of upland cotton for 2022/23 were also reported.
For 2021, net sales of 6,014 tonnes of beef and 164 tonnes of pork were reported.
ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
— U.S. could tap SPR, halt crude exports in bid to quell prices: DOE’s Granholm. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the Biden administration said that tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is being considered in a bid to temper rising gasoline prices. “It’s a tool that’s under consideration,” Granholm said at the Financial Times Energy Transition Strategies Summit. However, she also commented that releasing SPR supplies was “very much marginal assistance overall given the scope of the problems.”
She also did not rule out banning U.S. crude oil exports, saying it was a “tool that we have not used, but it is a tool as well.”
Granholm said that “all tools are on the table,” and that “everybody was hoping there would be additional supply made available so that prices would not be jacked up,” the latter comment in reference to OPEC+ countries failing to increase their output targets.
The U.S. is doing “all it can” relative to issues with natural gas supplies that have spiked prices in Asia and Europe, she noted, including looking into possible “manipulation of the market” by Russia. She noted in recent meetings in Poland there were concerns Russia was withholding supplies, but added, “I don’t have information to say that is the case. We are watching it very carefully.”
She indicated that some of the spike in natural gas could be linked to the Covid recovery and projections of a cold winter ahead. “So there are those issues,” Granholm commented. “Let me just say that we are looking at it.”
Asked if the U.S. could provide more gas to Europe, Granholm cautioned U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity is nearly fully utilized and even though more LNG terminals have been authorized, they have not been built. “So, it’s not as obvious of a solution as one might expect,” she said. “The capacity limits are almost reached.”
Granholm also said “Presidents don't control the cost of gasoline” as she discussed what is an “intergovernmental process” underway on crude, natural gas and gasoline prices in particular.
— Russia offers to ease Europe’s gas crisis, with stipulations. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia could potentially export record volumes of natural gas to the continent this year. Quick certification of the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline would be one way to achieve this, according to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
Putin said state-run Gazprom PJSC has fulfilled all of its supply contracts and his country has no desire to see the “speculative frenzy” that’s currently gripping markets. “Russia has always been and is a reliable supplier of gas to its consumers all over the world –- both to Asia and to Europe, and always fulfills all its obligations in full,” he said.
Putin asked his government and energy executives for proposals on how to stabilize the energy market, and Nord Stream 2 wasn’t the only proposal. Novak, former energy minister, also suggested selling some additional volumes on Gazprom’s own electronic platform based in St. Petersburg.
Putin said Gazprom will send more gas via Ukraine than it’s contracted to this year. Yet he also talked down the suitability of the country as a transit route, saying Russia’s new pipeline systems under the Black and Baltic Seas — which include Nord Stream 2 — are economically and environmentally superior.
Putin highlighted a “mistake” made by European authorities to shift from long-term contracts typically favored by Russia to short-term sales on the region’s exchanges. “Today it has become absolutely obvious that this policy is erroneous,” Putin said. “As a result, now the gas price has broken all historical records and today it’s already striving to $2,000 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.”
Market impact: A 40% gain in U.K. gas prices quickly snapped back to a 9% drop on the day after Putin hinted at larger supplies.
— General Motors plans to more than double its revenue by 2030 via an influx of new battery-electric models and services including a new offering to help delivery companies charge and manage electric-van fleets. GM plans to release an electric SUV with a $30,000 price tag, undercutting the cheapest version of Tesla’s Model 3 sedan, the WSJ reports (link). An electric Chevrolet Silverado truck would compete with Ford Motor’s F-150 Lightning electric pickup, and GM says a dedicated electric-truck plant is also in the works. The switch from combustion engines carries risk, from consumer concerns about finding places to charge to potential shortages of battery capacity in the rush to go electric. Recall that GM said that it wanted to phase out sales of gas-powered vehicles, which comprise the bulk of its sales, by 2035.
LIVESTOCK, FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY
— About top-up payments for hog producers. If you are a hog producer and applied for CFAP 1 but did not receive an additional payment for swine as announced with CFAP Additional Assistance, you are likely asking why? As announced earlier this year, USDA evaluated past CFAP program assistance and determined previous payment methodologies using flat rates across all swine inventory were not targeted and did not reflect the variation in levels of losses between producers. As a result, the proposed assistance under the prior administration in providing a flat rate swine payment based on CFAP 1 inventories will not be pursued. Where there is flexibility, USDA will instead continue to target assistance based on gaps or disparities in previous assistance. (Link to source of this information.)
The pork industry supported analysis reflects that pandemic disruptions had an impact to small hog producers who were burdened with a disproportionate share of the losses, especially those that sell on the spot market or negotiate prices.
USDA has examined the difference between the negotiated prices for hogs and the five-year average and documented a significant price drop during April through September 2020 due to the pandemic and confirmed this more severe pandemic impact.
Later this fall, additional pandemic livestock assistance will be announced for small hog producers that use the spot market or negotiate prices.
Past USDA assistance to swine producers include both sales and inventory payments under CFAP 1, and inventory payments under CFAP 2. In addition, signup is ongoing for those producers whose animals were depopulated due to insufficient processing under the Pandemic Livestock Indemnity Program and for contract producers of swine under CFAP 2 to provide assistance for revenue losses.
— Global food prices up nearly a third from year-ago. Global food prices climbed 1.2% in September, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO’s) food price index. The index climbed 1.5 psoints from August to a reading of 130 points in September, which was up 32.1 points (32.8%) from September 2020 and a 10-year high.
“The latest rise of the FFPI was largely driven by higher prices of most cereals and vegetable oils. Dairy and sugar prices were also firmer, while the meat price sub-index remained stable,” FAO says.
On the production front, FAO comments that while it still expects a record-setting global cereal crop of 2.8 billion MT in 2021, that would still fall short of anticipated consumption, drawing down inventories. FAO raised its global wheat crop estimate by 7.2 MMT to 776.7 MMT, which would be in line with the 2020 crop. It cited higher yield estimates for some areas of Eastern Europe like Ukraine and strong production prospects in Australia.
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
— Summary: Global cases of Covid-19 are at 236,571,581 with 4,829,769 deaths, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. case count is at 44,059,047 with 707,788 deaths. The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center said that there have been 398,675,414 doses administered, 186,385,751 have been fully vaccinated, or 56.8% of the U.S. population.
— Moderna plans to build a vaccine factory in Africa. The pharma firm said that it would invest $500 million in the plant, in a location not yet decided, where it will make up to 500 million doses a year of mRNA vaccines, including its coronavirus shot. Separately, Asian countries have joined the U.S. in making deals with Merck for supplies of the antiviral pill that the company says cuts risk of hospitalization and death from Covid.
POLITICS & ELECTIONS
— Biden’s approval rating hits new low in Quinnipiac poll. President Biden’s job approval rating has hit a new low eight months into his term. His approval rating has dropped to 38%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday — down from 42% three weeks ago. However, while the Quinnipiac poll has Biden at an all-time low approval rating, an analysis of various polls by FiveThirtyEight shows it remains at 44%. One potential reason for the low rating in the Quinnipiac poll is that his approval among Republicans and independents, who make up the largest portion of the sample, has cratered, according to Quinnipiac — with a 32% approval rating from independents and a 4% approval rating from Republicans. Biden held an 80% approval rating among Democrats.
— In Virginia gubernatorial race, McAuliffe portrays Biden as liability. Bloomberg reports (link) Virginia gubernatorial Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe cast President Joe Biden and his party’s lawmakers in Congress as a liability in the final weeks of the campaign, with polls showing a tightening race. McAuliffe said during a virtual rally on Tuesday that the president is “unpopular today, unfortunately, here in Virginia, so we’ve got to plow through.”
Meanwhile, McAuliffe tops Youngkin by a single point in a new survey. McAuliffe and Youngkin are in a close contest, according to a new Emerson College and Nexstar Media poll. The poll, taken October 1-3, shows McAuliffe leading Youngkin 49%-48%. The survey found McAuliffe is leading in support among female and Black voters, while Youngkin leads among men and white and Hispanic voters. Among suburban voters Youngkin received 49% to 48% for McAuliffe.
OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE
— Federal judge temporarily blocked Texas' new ban on most abortions, saying the law outsourcing enforcement to bounty-hunting members of the public was contrived to get around a constitutional right. Texas will challenge the ruling. The Supreme Court may have the final say on the injunction and eventually on the law itself.
— “We have to make agriculture sexy” — Xavier Niel, the French tech billionaire who is the main backer of Hectar, a start-up based on a century-old farm west of Paris. The company is using algorithms and robots to try to make farming better for the environment and more attractive to younger workers.
EVENTS AND REPORTS
Thursday, Oct. 7
· U.S. livestock industry. House Agriculture Committee hearing to "Review the State of the Livestock Industry."
· Trade report. Washington International Trade Association virtual discussion on "Listening for America (Report) on Trade," focusing on "the views of Americans about international trade and globalization."
· Nomination hearing. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on the nominations of Matthew Axelrod to be assistant Commerce secretary for export enforcement and other officials.
· Asia-Pacific security. Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion with senior officials from the United States, Japan and Australia on "Allied Infrastructure Strategy in the Indo-Pacific."
· China capitalism. Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion on a new report, "Chinese State Capitalism: Diagnosis and Prognosis."
· China-South Korea issues. Korea Society virtual discussion on "The Rise of Anti-Chinese Sentiments in South Korea: Political and Security Implications."
· Climate change and the judiciary. Center for American Progress virtual discussion on "Climate Change and the Judiciary."
· China and Latin America. Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies virtual discussion on "China Fully Engaged in Latin America: What Is the U.S. Plan?"
· Businesses and COP26. Business Council for Sustainable Energy virtual discussion on "Road to COP26 (United Nations Climate Change Conference): The Business of Leading on Climate and Bolstering U.S. Competitiveness."
· Biden agenda. Government Executive Media Group virtual discussion on "Building Back Better with the American Rescue Plan."
· U.S. foreign policy. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace virtual discussion on "America's foreign policy, politics, and the current domestic and external challenges facing the United States."
· CPTPP prospects. Global Business Dialogue virtual discussion on "Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP): Performance, Promise and Outlook, Part 2," focusing on government views.
· Economic reports. Jobless Claims | Consumer Credit
· Energy report. EIA Natural Gas Report
· USDA report. FAS. Export Sales
