Strike! Deere is Just Latest to See Unions Begin Work Stoppages to Demand Better Terms
White House releases report on strategy treating climate change as a systemic risk
In Today’s Digital Newspaper
Market Focus:
• USDA daily export sales
— 396,000 MT soybeans to unknown destinations during 2021-2022 MY
— 326,750 MT soybeans rec’d during reporting period to unknown destinations 2021-2022
— 132,000 MT soybeans to China during 2021-2022 marketing year
• Retail sales surprise analysts
• Strikes now the trend following supply-chain issues as workers believe they have leverage
• No move yet to 24/7 operations at Port of Los Angeles
• DP World chief sees supply chain issues persisting for two years
• IEA warns rising energy prices could slow global recovery
• Toyota cuts planned global output for November by around 15%
• SEC set to allow first U.S. Bitcoin futures ETF to begin trading next week: Bloomberg
• Metals prices surged to multiyear highs
• Ag demand update
• Followthrough buying overnight
• Corn use in feed rations rises in China
• China to restart wheat auctions next week
• Russia again raises its wheat export tax
• Smaller NOPA crush expected for September
• Cattle futures looking for an upside breakout
• Pessimistic attitudes persist in hog futures
Policy Focus:
• Sinema rules out vote on reconciliation package before infrastructure bill
• Progressives nix Democratic leaders’ pleas to agree to reconciliation cuts
Afghanistan:
• Explosion at a Shia mosque in Afghan city of Kandahar killed at least 16 people
• U.S. plans to resume regular evacuation flights from Afghanistan before end year
Biden Administration Personnel:
• Former FDA chief may be tapped to lead agency again
China Update:
• China's central bank: Evergrande is unique and most real estate developers stable
• Microsoft’s LinkedIn closing down its site in China
• Soybeans main activity for U.S. export sales to China for week ended Oct. 7
• Corn use in feed rations rises in China
• China to restart wheat auctions next week
Trade Policy:
• EU/U.K. continue to battle
• USTR Tai’s WTO agenda remarks shy on specifics
Energy & Climate Change:
• White House report on strategy treating climate change as a systemic risk
• Still quiet on the RFS front
• Economist: Global energy crisis exposing "deeper problems” in shift to cleaner energy
• Big list of Biden Cabinet members to be at COP26
• Republicans on House Energy and Commerce panel seek answers from DOE’s Granholm
• DOE announces $13.5 million investment in offshore wind wildlife & enviro data projects
Livestock, Food & Beverage Industry Update:
• McDonald's testing its McPlant burger in several cities
• Another potential logistics problem: getting food to schools
Coronavirus Update:
• Biden: Labor Dept. issuing emergency rules for vaccine mandates
• FDA’s on Oct. 26 will consider Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine for children five to 11
• Moderna’s half-dose booster shot got unanimous nod Thursday
Politics & Elections:
• Biden’s approval numbers keep slipping
• Trump: Republicans must agree 2020 election was stolen or he’ll aid Democrats
Congress:
• Commission advises against increasing number of Supreme Court justices
Other Items of Note:
• Cotton AWP over 90 cents for second week
• Bill Clinton being treated for infection
• Pope Francis and President Biden will meet at the Vatican on Oct. 29
MARKET FOCUS
Equities today: Global stock markets were mostly higher in overnight trading. The U.S. Dow opened up 220 points higher. It’s been a very good week for banks reporting earnings with Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. posting better-than-expected results. The beats helped drive the S&P 500 Index to its best day since March. Today, Goldman Sachs crushed analysts’ estimates on strong investment banking and trading results. Asian equities moved higher, powered by gains in tech shares. The Nikkei rose 517.70 points, 1.81%, at 29,068.63. The Hang Seng Index advanced 368.37 points, 1.48%, at 25,330.96. European equities are seeing broad gains in early action, with the Stoxx 600 up 0.4% and regional markets up 0.2% to 0.5%.
U.S. equities yesterday: The Dow finished up 534.75 points, 1.56%, at 34,912.56. The Nasdaq gained 251.79 points, 1.73%, at 14,823.41. The S&P 500 rose 74.46 points, 1.71%, at 4,438.26.
On tap today:
• U.S. retail sales for September are expected to fall 0.2% from the prior month. (8:30 a.m. ET). UPDATE: September retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% from the previous month, the Commerce Department said, as households shrugged off supply constraints, the Delta variant and the end of enhanced unemployment benefits. The rise in sales also partly reflects higher consumer prices, which advanced 0.4% in September from August and 5.4% from a year earlier. The retail sales, which aren’t adjusted for inflation, rose 13.9% in September from a year earlier.
• U.S. import prices for September are expected to increase 0.5% from the prior month. (8:30 a.m. ET)
• New York Fed's Empire State manufacturing survey is expected to fall to 26.5 in October from 34.3 one month earlier. (8:30 a.m. ET)
• USDA Weekly Export Sales report, 8:30 a.m. ET.
• University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment survey for October is expected to tick up to 73 from 72.8 in September. (10 a.m. ET)
• U.S. business inventories for August are expected to increase 0.6% from the prior month. (10 a.m. ET)
• Fed Reserve speakers: St. Louis’s James Bullard on monetary policy at 11:45 a.m. ET, and New York’s John Williams at a Bank of France event at 12:20 p.m. ET.
• Baker Hughes rig count is out at 1 p.m. ET.
• President Biden travels to Connecticut today to speak about his economic agenda. The president will deliver remarks in Hartford at 1:45 p.m. ET.
• CFTC Commitments of Traders report, 3:30 p.m. ET.
Toyota, Japan’s biggest carmaker, cut its planned global output for November by around 15%, blaming the worldwide shortage of microchips. The company had previously cut production targets in September and October due to a shortage of components. Nonetheless, it still hopes to make its target of 9m vehicles for the year ending March 31, 2022.
Strikes are now the trend following supply-chain issues. Several strikes occurred before Deere workers represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union went on strike against the agricultural equipment giant Thursday, after a stalemate over a new contract. Dissatisfaction over working conditions amid soaring demand for labor have also led to strikes at Kellogg and Mondelez International’s Nabisco. Shortages of goods and labor during the pandemic led to mandatory overtime policies at employers such as Nabisco, where workers reportedly had to work six to seven days of 12- to 16-hour shifts regularly. Fear of catching Covid-19, the scarcity of childcare, and more workers quitting or retiring have contributed to the tight labor market, giving workers more leverage. Healthcare workers are working longer, more grueling schedules despite higher risks. More than 24,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses and healthcare workers in Southern California voted last week to strike.
What’s next: The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees said 60,000 film and television workers will begin a nationwide strike at 12:01 a.m. Monday if employers don’t provide better working conditions, including “reasonable rest periods, meal breaks, and a living wage.”
More on Deere strike: Just over 10,000 workers at Deere & Company plants in the U.S. went on strike Thursday after more than 90% of the UAW rejected the company’s latest contract offer. The six-year offer from Deere would have raised wages by 20% over the life of the contract and increased some benefits. Deere has 28,100 employees in the U.S., with about 4,000 production workers at non-union plants or represented by other unions still on the job, the company said. In the contract, Deere would have set top-scale Deere production workers’ wages at just over $30 per hour, rising to $31.84 after five years. Workers told the Waterloo Courier the company bargained for incremental wage increases over six years, equal to about a $1.20 raise in hourly pay at the end of the six-year contract. This is the first UAW strike at Deere since 1986 when a walkout lasted for 163 days. UAW members on strike will be able to get strike pay which will start on the eighth day of the strike at $275 per week, or $55 per day. Deere said it would shift some duties for salaried workers that are not involved in the strike, with employees and others entering factories to keep operations going for the company’s agriculture and construction industries. Brad Morris, vice president of labor relations, "Deere & Company does not currently have an estimate of when employees affected by the strike will resume activities or the timing for completion of negotiations with the UAW."
“John Deere is committed to a favorable outcome for our employees, our communities, and everyone involved,” said Brad Morris, vice president of labor relations for Deere & Co. “We are determined to reach an agreement with the UAW that would put every employee in a better economic position and continue to make them the highest-paid employees in the agriculture and construction industries.
Deere stock closed slightly higher Thursday, a sign that investors were not yet overly concerned about the work stoppage. The strike comes five months after Deere & Co.’s stock hit a new all-time high of just over $400 per share. The stock’s since fallen about 20% to $330 per share, but it’s still up over 22% this year, outpacing the broader market’s gains.
Market perspectives:
• Outside markets: The U.S. dollar index was slightly higher ahead of a barrage of U.S. economic updates, with mixed tone in global currencies versus the greenback. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was slightly higher around 1.54%. Gold and silver futures were posting sharp losses ahead of U.S. economic reports, with gold under $1,775 per troy ounce and silver under $23.20 per troy ounce.
• Crude oil prices have continued rising ahead of U.S. trading, with U.S. crude around $82 per barrel and Brent around $84.80 per barrel. Futures were higher in Asian trading, with U.S. crude up 44 cents at $81.75 per barrel and Brent up 49 cents at $84.49 per barrel.
• IEA warns rising energy prices could slow global recovery. Rising energy prices could boost inflation and hold back the global economic recovery, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Thursday (Oct. 14). IEA said record coal and natural gas prices and rolling blackouts in some countries “are prompting the power sector and energy-intensive industries to turn to oil to keep the lights on and operations humming.” It noted provisional data from August “already indicates that there is some unseasonably high demand for fuel oil, crude and middle distillates for power plants across a number of countries, including China, Japan and Pakistan in Asia, Germany and France in Europe and Brazil.” Meanwhile, rising energy prices “are also adding to inflationary pressures that, along with power outages, could lead to lower industrial activity and a slowdown in the economic recovery." IEA also predicted OPEC+ oil demand is set to outpace supply until at least the end of 2021, while drawdowns have global oil product stocks at their lowest levels in eight years.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission is set to allow the first U.S. Bitcoin futures ETF to begin trading next week, Bloomberg reports. The proposals by ProShares and Invesco are based on futures contracts, differentiating them from those previously rejected. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he accepted crypto’s role in making payments. Positive developments helped push Bitcoin to within a couple of dollars of $60,000 this morning, its highest level since April. Meanwhile, Russia is considering energy tariffs for crypto mining amid a wave of migration following China's ban. Special energy tariffs could hit miners, and the energy minister said he's figuring out how to distinguish energy used for crypto and other sources.
• Metals prices surged to multiyear highs after smelters, facing soaring energy bills and pressure to cut their carbon emissions, curtailed production. Zinc for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange jumped to its highest level in more than three years on Thursday, and aluminum prices on the exchange climbed to their highest level since 2008.
• No move yet to 24/7 operations at the Port of Los Angeles. Executive Director Gene Seroka says he doesn’t know how quickly the busiest U.S. gateway for container shipping can extend its hours, adding “we’re not going to create artificial deadlines” on a move that the White House hopes will ease supply-chain strains. Jammed up inland transport networks and warehouses are adding to broader logistics woes for retailers ahead of the holidays. Port officials are talking with terminal operators and big importers about how to roll out the extended hours, which haven’t gained much traction in a pilot at the neighboring port of Long Beach. The backlog off the port complex now extends to 60 container ships, with 25 more set to arrive in coming days.
• DP World chief sees supply chain issues persisting for two years. Global supply chains could be plugged for up to two years as the world has become so reliant on China for manufacturing, Sultan bin Sulayem, chair of DP World, told the Financial Times. “I don’t believe you will see an easing in the problem of supply chains for the next two years — it’s the ripple effect,” he said. “Delays today are not just the problem of what is not delivered, the problem is also the other products that can’t be delivered. They are in a queue now.” Tough anti-Covid rules in China have contributed to the situation as the country has become such a key in the global supply chain. “China will not tolerate or allow any opportunity for this (virus) to spread,” he told the paper. “So, if they have an infection, they close the port — and that reflects in the supply chain.” DP World operates some 81 marine and inland terminals throughout emerging markets and developed countries. Bin Sulayem predicted companies could move some operations into developed countries, seeking to take advantage of a more-educated workforce as manufacturing becomes more automated.
• USDA daily export sales:
— 396,000 MT soybeans to unknown destinations during 2021-2022 MY
— 326,750 MT soybeans received during reporting period to unknown destinations, 2021-2022 MY
— 132,000 MT soybeans to China during 2021-2022 marketing year
• Ag demand: Japan received no offers in a tender to purchase 80,000 MT of feed wheat and 100,000 MT of feed barley.
• NWS weather: Severe weather and Excessive Rainfall on tap from the Mid-South to the Great Lakes today; severe storms possible in the Northeast on Saturday... ...Fresh injection of cooler than normal temperatures overtaking the Rockies and Heartland arrives in the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys on Saturday; abnormally warm along the East Coast... ...Elevated fire weather conditions in Southern California; wet pattern returns to the Pacific Northwest.
Items in Pro Farmer's First Thing Today include:
• Followthrough buying overnight
• Corn use in feed rations rises in China
• China to restart wheat auctions next week
• Russia again raises its wheat export tax
• Smaller NOPA crush expected for September
• Cattle futures looking for an upside breakout
• Pessimistic attitudes persist in hog futures
POLICY FOCUS
— Sinema rules out vote on reconciliation package before infrastructure bill. Reuters (link) cites “a source briefed on a meeting” who said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) told fellow Democrats in the House of Representatives this week that she will not vote for a multitrillion-dollar package that is a top priority for President Joe Biden before Congress approves a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. In a previously unreported online meeting with a group of at least nine moderate House Democrats on Wednesday, Sinema and fellow moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)] said they would not abide by any deadlines adopted by leadership to force votes on the package. According to Reuters, the group “suggested putting a November deadline for passing the multi-trillion dollar and moving on with the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but Manchin and Sinema rejected that idea, arguing artificial deadlines are a bad idea.”
— Progressives nix Democratic leaders’ pleas to agree to reconciliation cuts. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned fellow Democrats on Thursday they “must put aside our differences” as the party struggles to coalesce around President Joe Biden’s huge but now-scaled-back package of social services and climate change strategies. Schumer’s letter comes as progressive leaders in Congress are steering them away from what the progressives call a “false choice” over what to keep or cut as Democrats try to trim what had been a $3.5 trillion proposal to about $2 trillion.” Progressive leaders are reportedly making the case that the package should not simply be narrowed as centrist lawmakers prefer, but instead kept as Biden’s bigger vision but for fewer than 10 years. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) wrote Wednesday, “We have been told that we can either adequately fund a small number of investments or legislate broadly, but only make a shallow, short-term impact. We would argue that this is a false choice.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a letter to her caucus on Monday, suggested many Democrats would rather scrap some programs entirely to keep others untouched. She wrote, “Overwhelmingly, the guidance I am receiving from Members is to do fewer things well.”
AFGHANISTAN
— An explosion at a Shia mosque in the Afghan city of Kandahar killed at least 16 people and injured dozens more during Friday prayers. Islamic State Khorasan Province, a terrorist outfit that is an enemy of the Taliban, is expected to claim responsibility. A week ago, a suicide attack by ISKP left at least 50 people dead in the northern city of Kunduz.
— The U.S. plans to resume regular evacuation flights from Afghanistan before the end of the year to help U.S. citizens and residents and some visa applicants leave. Kabul’s international airport remains closed to regular passenger aviation, and it isn’t clear who will manage air-traffic control and ground operations. The State Department is working with the Taliban and foreign governments on issues including documentation for travelers and permission to fly over other countries.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION PERSONNEL
— Former FDA chief may be tapped to lead agency again. President Joe Biden may name former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf to again lead the agency, according to several media outlets. Califf led the FDA late in the Obama administration after winning Senate confirmation on a vote of 89-4. Interestingly, several groups issued statements about the potential nomination — both in support and opposition to the potential choice. Califf would be viewed as a “safe” nominee, but it is not clear whether progressive lawmakers would also back the choice as they have called for more diversity among appointees in the Biden administration. Acting Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock, formerly a top candidate, was criticized over the FDA’s approval of an Alzheimer’s drug in June.
CHINA UPDATE
— China's central bank: Evergrande is unique and most real estate developers are stable. The People’s Bank of China said today that indebted developer China Evergrande is its own case, and that most real estate businesses in the country are stable. Property giant Evergrande has $300 billion in liabilities and missed yet another payment to investors in U.S. dollar-denominated debt on Oct. 11. The risks posed by Evergrande are “controllable,” Zou Lan, director of the People’s Bank of China’s financial markets department, said in Mandarin at a press conference. “China Evergrande Group’s problems in the real estate industry are an individual phenomenon,” he said, noting that property prices have remained stable. “Most real estate businesses are operating stably and have good financial indicators, and the real estate industry overall is healthy.”
— Microsoft’s LinkedIn is closing down the version of its site that operates in China — the last major U.S. social-media network operating openly there. LinkedIn said it would replace its professional-networking service, which restricts some content to comply with government demands, with a job board lacking social-media features, such as the ability to share opinions and news stories. Western internet companies have struggled in China, which has some of the world’s most stringent censorship rules.
— Soybeans main activity for U.S. export sales to China. Data for the week ended Oct. 7 showed sales activity for U.S. ag products to China was mostly for soybeans. USDA reported net sales of 58 tonnes of wheat, 1,475 tonnes of corn, 2,510 tonnes of sorghum, 640,013 tonnes of soybeans, and 12,114 running bales of U.S. cotton for 2021-22. For 2021, activity included net sales of 3,427 tonnes or pork and 4,278 tonnes of beef.
— Corn use in feed rations rises in China. Chinese corn prices have dropped around 15% from record levels in March and are virtually on par with wheat prices for the first time in a year. That has prompted some feed makers and livestock/poultry producers, especially in the key Shandong feeding region, to start using more corn in feed rations. Wheat use in feed rations reportedly already has been halved in some areas of the country.
— China to restart wheat auctions next week. China plans to auction 1 MMT of wheat from state-owned reserves on Oct. 20. These will be the first sales of state reserves since May. While corn is starting to regain some of the share in feed rations it lost to wheat over the past year, some feed makers and livestock/poultry producers are waiting to see how the wheat auctions affect prices of both grains before making a switch away from wheat as feed.
TRADE POLICY
— EU/U.K. continue to battle. European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, the bloc’s Brexit negotiator, told member states they should expect a dramatic response if the U.K. walks away from its commitments over Northern Ireland. The two sides are starting a new round of negotiations after the U.K. demanded extensive changes. Earlier this week, the EU was reportedly ready to offer a package of concessions to ease trade barriers.
— USTR Tai’s WTO agenda remarks shy on specifics. U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai delivered remarks at the WTO Thursday which provided broad strokes of U.S. views on the trade body, including that the U.S. still sees a need for reforms to the appeals process at the WTO. The U.S. still supports the trade body but said the upcoming 12th ministerial conference in November presents an opportunity for countries to work together to “make the WTO relevant to the needs of regular people,” sounding a theme from the Biden administration’s worker-centered trade policy. The Trump administration blocked appointments to the WTO Appellate Body on view reforms to that system were badly needed. The Biden administration has not dropped the block of appointing new members to the Appellate Body, with Tai saying U.S. concerns are still that too many countries get around negotiating by using litigation. Appellate Body reports have sometimes exceeded 1,000 pages which shows the system has become “unwieldy and bureaucratic.” She urged WTO members not to “pre-judge” reforms and to work together to find a solution without elaborating specific proposals the U.S. may offer.
As for the ministerial conference, Tai urged countries to work for “achievable outcomes” including agreement on intellectual property waivers for Covid vaccines, trade facilitation and potentially fisheries.
Absent from Tai’s remarks, however, was any mention of China, which struck some observers as odd since most of the readouts of Tai’s individual meetings with her trade counterparts around the globe have included mention of working to combat actions by “non-market economies,” widely viewed as a reference to China.
ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
— Still quiet on the RFS front. There have been few rumblings in recent weeks surrounding the potential announcement of proposed levels for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program from EPA. Expectations in September were that the release of the proposed levels was imminent, including Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) telling reporters the week of Sept. 20 it would be released that Friday. However, no such announcement was made and after Grassley made the comments, two additional meetings were scheduled at the Office of Management and Budget on the proposed levels where they have been under review since Aug. 26.
— Climate change poses "systemic risks" to the U.S. financial system, according to a White House report. Link to White House fact sheet. The report laid out five main areas:
- Promoting the resilience of the financial system;
- Protecting pensions and savings from climate-related financial risk;
- Making federal government procurement decisions with climate in mind;
- Including climate-related risk in federal lending and underwriting; and
- Bolstering infrastructure and communities by encouraging more resilient land use and construction practices.
— The global energy crisis is exposing "deeper problems as the world shifts to a cleaner energy system," the Economist writes in its cover story (link). These include "inadequate investment in renewables and some transition fossil fuels, rising geopolitical risks and flimsy safety buffers in power markets." Upshot: "Without rapid reforms there will be more energy crises and, perhaps, a popular revolt against climate policies."
— Big list of Biden Cabinet members to be at COP26. The White House announced the slate of administration officials that will be in Glasgow next month for the COP26 gathering, including several Cabinet members. President Joe Biden will attend along with climate envoy John Kerry, national climate adviser Gina McCarthy, Secretary of State Tony Blinken; EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Rick Spinrad, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Eric Lander and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese. The broad slate of officials is aimed at demonstrating the U.S. commitment to addressing climate issues.
— Republicans on House Energy and Commerce panel seek answers from DOE’s Granholm on actions to address energy prices. Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are asking Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to lay out the actions being considered by the Biden administration to address rising energy prices, including the authorities the Department of Energy (DOE) may use for some of the potential actions such as tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) or banning US crude exports with winter approaching and predictions of a cold winter.
The lawmakers said while they understand the global supply chain issues and the pandemic have influenced prices that have risen to seven-year highs, “we are deeply concerned that the administration’s anti-fossil fuel agenda is significantly contributing to higher bills for American families and businesses.” The rise in domestic energy prices “presents serious threats to the health, safety, and welfare of Americans and requires immediate attention.”
Specifically, they asked Granholm to respond by Oct. 21 on several issues, including what the administration is doing to increase U.S. oil production, what “legal authorities and policy justification supporting DOE’s consideration of an SPR release and a crude oil export ban,” along with analysis and projections from the agency on energy prices, actions taken by the administration that could be causing or contributing to the price increases.
Bottom line: It is unlikely that any potential response from Granholm will not satisfy the lawmaker queries and are largely an effort to keep the energy price issue high profile with voters.
— DOE announces $13.5 million investment in offshore wind wildlife and environmental data projects. The Department of Energy (DOE) announced it is investing $13.5 million in four environmental and wildlife data monitoring projects aimed at supporting offshore wind development. DOE said the projects are being funded jointly with the Department of Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and “will inform offshore wind siting, permitting and help protect wildlife and fisheries as offshore wind deployment increases,” and support the Biden administration’s goal to develop 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030. Two projects will support wildlife and fisheries monitoring efforts on the East Coast with two focused on preparing the West Coast for floating offshore wind development by collecting wildlife distribution data and developing tools to monitor the environmental effects of floating offshore wind energy.
LIVESTOCK, FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY
— McDonald's is testing out its McPlant burger in several cities. The McPlant, featuring a plant-based patty created in partnership with Beyond Meat, will be available at eight restaurants for a limited time starting Nov. 3, McDonald's said Thursday. The restaurants are in cities including El Segundo and Manhattan Beach in California; Cedar Falls, Iowa; Irving and Carrollton, Texas; and Jennings and Lake Charles, Louisiana, McDonald's said.
— Another potential logistics problem: getting food to schools. USDA Sec. Tom Vilsack is consulting with food industry officials to see how USDA can help schools overcome challenges and get the food they need. As the economy has reopened, “the demand was great. And I think what we have seen is a significant fragility of our supply chain systems, not just in the United States, but globally,” Vilsack said Thursday.
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
— Summary: Global cases of Covid-19 are at 239,642,888 with 4,882,474 deaths, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. case count is at 44,768,043 with 721,567 deaths. The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center said that there have been 405,444,558 doses administered, 188,281,747 have been fully vaccinated, or 57.4% of the U.S. population.
— Biden: Labor Department issuing emergency rules for vaccine mandates. President Joe Biden said the Labor Department will soon issue emergency rules on Covid-19 vaccine mandates for workplaces with 100 or more employees, saying that although coronavirus infections are down 47% and hospitalizations have declined 38%, about 66 million Americans remain unvaccinated. The reason more companies have issued Covid-19 vaccine mandates is because “they work,” increasing their percentage of inoculated employees to more than 90%, Biden said. “The plan I laid out in September is working, but we can’t let up now.”
— FDA’s vaccine advisory panel on Oct. 26 will consider whether to recommend Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine for children five to 11. If that happens, “we are ready,” Biden said, adding the U.S. has purchased enough doses.
— Moderna’s half-dose booster shot got a unanimous nod Thursday from the FDA’s vaccine advisors, who endorsed it for those 65 and older, and younger adults with underlying health issues or at-risk jobs or living situations. The advisors will consider Johnson & Johnson’s boosters today.
POLITICS & ELECTIONS
— Biden’s approval numbers keep slipping. Biden’s crashing polling numbers continue as he fumbles with the border crisis, a 13-year high in inflation, and the threat of empty toy shelves on Christmas Eve. In a new Zogby Poll, Biden hit another job performance low, 36.4%.
— Trump : Republicans must agree the 2020 election was stolen or he’ll aid the Democrats. Many believe former President Donald Trump was the key reason why Republicans lost both Georgia Senate races during January runoff elections. Turnout in Republican strongholds fell because Trump told his voters the election in November had been stolen and the state’s GOP officials were corrupt. Democrats narrowly won both seats in the conservative state, handing the party unified control of Congress. Now, Trump is threatening that he might repeat this act in the next national elections. “If we don’t solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020,” Trump said in a statement Wednesday, “Republicans will not be voting in ‘22 or ‘24. It is the single most important thing for Republicans to do.” Democrats have already used Trump’s election denial against the GOP in their California gubernatorial recall rout and are now using it in a tight Virginia Governor’s race.
CONGRESS
— Presidential commission to study possible reforms to America’s Supreme Court advised against increasing the number of justices. That could undermine the court’s “legitimacy,” the commission wrote in documents released before its meeting today. It was more amenable to the idea of term limits, which could make the court appear “fairer” and “less arbitrary.” A final report is expected in November. “Unmistakably, the overall trend over the last three decades has been toward more partisan conflict, which has affected nominations to the lower courts, as well as the Supreme Court,” the initial analysis by the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States concludes, after recounting battles over former President Donald Trump’s three nominees to the court. Regarding the issue of the size of the court, a subcommittee concludes that “we do not believe there is a formal legal obstacle to expansion of the Supreme Court,” but whether justices should be added “as a prudential matter presents a more difficult question.”
OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE
— Cotton AWP over 90 cents for second week. The Adjusted World Price (AWP) moved up to 92.88 cents per pound effective today (Oct. 15), the second straight week above 90 cents per pound. It remains the highest AWP since the week of Sept. 23, 2011, when it was 86.71 cents per pound. That mark was registered after the AWP had already had a string of 44 weeks in a row over the 90-cent mark that ended the week of Aug. 12, 2011. Meanwhile, USDA said Special Import Quota #26 would be established Oct. 21 for the importation of 49,482 bales of Upland cotton, applying to supplies purchased not later than Jan. 18 and entered into the U.S. not later than April 18.
— Former President Bill Clinton was hospitalized Tuesday at the University of California Irvine Medical Center with sepsis, a blood infection. Clinton, 75, is responding to antibiotics, but will remain hospitalized for at least one more day, according to media reports. The Clinton Foundation said he was in the L.A. area for private events related to the foundation.
— Pope Francis and President Biden, the second Catholic to hold the job, will meet at the Vatican on Oct. 29, weeks before U.S. bishops are expected to vote on whether to deny the president Communion over his support of abortion rights.
