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☆ ECB policymakers stick with hike plans even as recession looms
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Balazs Koranyi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] Signage is seen outside the European Central Bank (ECB) building, in Frankfurt, Germany, July 21, 2022. But policymakers on Friday appeared to be on message that rates will keep going up. Investors now see ECB rates peaking at around 2.75%, above levels near 2.5% seen on Thursday after the ECB's rate hike and language tweaks. RECESSIONThe policymakers' reinforcement of the rate hike message comes as a recession now looks almost certain, and will likely prompt a barrage of further criticism from European leaders. But ECB chief Christine Lagarde pushed back on the criticism on Thursday, arguing that breaking inflation was the ECB's chief mission and governments could help by providing targeted support for the most vulnerable.

The surge in restrictive housing — informally known as solitary confinement — has perplexed BOP Director Colette Peters, who told NBC News that she "asked the same question when we saw the numbers come forward, so I'm curious as well." Colette Peters, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Sept. 29. The federal government houses more than 142,000 inmates in its custody across the United States. It really is limiting the use of restrictive housing when absolutely necessary," Peters said. "We know so much more now from research around what solitary confinement can do to the hearts and minds of those there, and so this is something we need to take very seriously."

☆ Unilever CFO Struggles With Forecasting Accuracy Amid High Inflation
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Unilever on Thursday said its expected net inflation from materials is €4.5 billion—equivalent to $4.5 billion—for 2022, up from €1.3 billion the previous year. Materials inflation generally ranged from €100 million to €300 million during the years before 2021, Mr. Pitkethly said. “Our forecasting accuracy has been a lot worse over the last year or so since this period of inflation hit,” he said. Graeme Pitkethly, chief financial officer at Unilever. Further hiking prices in the fourth quarter is a “distinct possibility,” Mr. Pitkethly said, adding he doesn’t expect the increases to deter consumer demand.

☆ Unilever raises guidance but is downbeat on Europe, China consumer sentiment
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Unilever on Thursday gave a dire assessment of consumer sentiment in Europe and China, two of its key markets, but raised its full year sales forecast as it lifted prices to counter soaring costs. Shoppers around the world paid 12.5% more for Unilever products in the quarter - a record price hike for the company - with sales volumes declining 1.6%. "Consumer sentiment in Europe is at an all time low," Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly told reporters, warning of fears of a "confluence of events" in Europe with energy prices and inflation rising and consumers' savings waning. "Both the premium segments of the market and the value segments of the market are actually growing quite quickly, at an equivalent rate," Pitkethly told journalists. In China, Unilever's third biggest market that has been doubling down on Covid-19 lockdowns, sales grew by 1%.

Along with other consumer goods companies, Unilever has faced a surge in labor, freight and ingredients costs. Billionaire Peltz in recent weeks met two possible contenders to replace Jope, one of the sources said. FLORIDA TALKSEven before Jope announced his departure, Peltz met with a former consumer goods CEO in Florida, one of the sources said. In the last month, Peltz and his team also approached another former consumer packaged goods CEO about the Unilever job, the source said. Peltz supports Unilever's sustainability strategy, including a plan to decarbonize the company's business units, Unilever has said.

☆ Democratic ex-cop Demings closes in on Republican Rubio in Florida
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Richard Cowan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Graeme Jennings/Pool via REUTERS/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Representative Val Demings enters the final weeks of her campaign to unseat Republican U.S. "This race is about Val Demings versus Marco Rubio," said Christian Slater, communications director for Demings' campaign. Allies of Demings acknowledge that she faces political headwinds in Florida including Biden's low popularity. Demings also served as one of the Democratic House managers in Trump's first Senate impeachment trial in 2020. Jose Parra, an adviser to the Florida Democratic Party, said that for Demings to win, she would need to boost turnout among voters in south Florida, including Rubio's birthplace Miami, and lure independents in a vote-rich corridor traversing central Florida.

☆ What Cramer is looking at Tuesday — Fed rate watch, 2-year Treasury yield surge, Ford warning
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

What I am looking at Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022 U.S. stock futures were up Tuesday until the 2-year Treasury yield kept up its relentless run to 4%. BofA takes timber company Weyerhaeuser (WY) to neutral (hold) from buy. Etsy (ETSY) started with a neutral (hold) at BofA. Truist takes Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) to buy from hold; cuts Carnival (CCL) price-target to $10 per share from $8. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ The Artemis I mission launches NASA's return to the moon, 50 years after the last moonwalk. Astronauts explain why it took so long.
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-27 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | Hilary Brueck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

NASA is about to launch its new Space Launch System toward the moon for the first time. The rocket is designed to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years. NASA astronauts say it's taking so long to return to the moon because of politics and money. It's not just that the Space Launch System is giant, standing taller than the Statue of Liberty. NASA/Kim ShiflettAs early as 2004, former President George Bush was setting goals to return astronauts to the moon.

☆ Navid Afkari: Executed Iranian wrestling star’s voice is ‘everywhere now’
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-28 | by ( Don Riddell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +20 min

Editor’s Note: Wrestler Navid Afkari was executed by the Iranian government on September 12, 2020. On that fateful morning, he learned that another Iranian wrestler, Navid Afkari, had been executed, hanged for a crime that his family and friends say he didn’t commit. The spirit of wrestling is deeply engrained in Iranian culture, where it has transcended the arena of sport. The executionAccording to the Afkari family, his final days were brutal, but there wasn’t necessarily any reason to think that the end was near. Iranians in Canada on Mel Lastman Square demonstrate against the execution of wrestler Navid Afkari by the Iranian regime, in Toronto, Ontario in September 2020.

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