>>Wholesale Prices Jumped In September
(Undated) -- Wholesale prices rose more than expected in September, according to numbers out from the Labor Department this morning. The Producer Price Index, which measures the costs producers pay, jumped half a percent, against analysts' predictions of point-three-percent. It's the smallest increase in three months but a sign that inflation continues to be a persistent problem. Gasoline costs led the increase, up more than five percent. Prices for vegetables, however, saw a nearly-14-percent drop.
>>Investors React To War In Israel By Piling Into Safe Haven Assets
(New York, NY) -- Oil prices surged and the Israeli currency fell at the start of the week as investors reacted to the conflict between Hamas and Israel. Oil rose Monday with U.S. benchmark WTI crude jumping more than four-percent. Chevron's gain of nearly three-percent, which helped lead the Dow Jones up for the day. Halliburton and Marathon Oil were among the top gainers on the S&P 500. Defense stocks did very well to start the week, with Northrop Grumman surging eleven-percent, with Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics rounding out the top five gainers on the S&P 500. War tends to see investors move to 'safe haven' asset as gold rose one-point-one-percent while the safest European bonds rallied. The yields on the benchmark ten-year German and U.K. bonds slid. At home, investors poured into US government bonds, which are traditionally seen as safer investments, driving Treasury yields lower.
>>Walgreens Names Veteran Healthcare Executive Tim Wentworth New CEO
(Deerfield, IL) -- Walgreens has named veteran healthcare executive Tim Wentworth as the pharmacy chain's new CEO. Wentworth is coming out of retirement to lead Walgreens as it's facing challenges transitioning from being a healthcare retailer to a health services provider. Wentworth was the CEO of Express Scripts, the nation's biggest pharmacy benefits company, before he retired in 2021. He'll take over as Walgreens CEO on October 23.
>>Utah Sues TikTok Over Alleged Misleading About Safety, China Connection
(Salt Lake City, UT) -- Utah is suing TikTok, arguing that the social media app misled people about connections to its Chinese parent company and deceptively claimed the platform is safe. Utah Governor Spencer Cox announced the suit on Tuesday and cited research on social media's affect on adolescents, including a recent U.S. Surgeon General report. Among other complaints, Utah's lawsuit accuses TikTok of deploying and marketing what it calls an addictive product with design features intended to manipulate children. Utah follows Arkansas and Indiana in suing TikTok while Montana has banned the app.
>>General Motors Canada Strike Ends Hours After It Started
(Canada) -- A strike at General Motors' Canadian plants is now over, just less than a day after it started. That's according to Unifor, a union that represents more than four-thousand workers at the company. Auto workers began striking on Monday when GM refused to settle on a deal similar to the one the union reached with Ford. According to Unifor, the company gave in after the strike began.
>>A Million Coal Jobs May Be Lost By 2050
(Washington, DC) -- Nearly a million coal jobs could be lost by 2050 after the coal industry's expected closures. Close to half a million of those will be gone by 2035, according to a report from the Global Energy Monitor. That's about an average of 100 layoffs per day. The report analyzed 4,300 coal mines across the job. It shows that China and India are expected to have the biggest job cuts. China employs more than one-and-a-half-million coal miners and is expected to lose close to a quarter of a million.
>>Survey: Americans Less In Favor Of Corporations Involving Themselves In Social Issues
(Washington, DC) -- Americans are less enthused now about corporations involving themselves in advocacy for social issues than last year. A new report from the Public Affairs Council shows 57-percent surveyed said they support companies trying to engage politically, down from 66-percent in 2022. There's a line drawn between politically parties, with Democrats more likely than Republicans to say corporations should be involved in issues involving discrimination on the basis of race or gender.
