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☆ U.S. oil production nears 12 mln barrels/day, at pre-pandemic high
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] The sun is seen behind a crude oil pump jack in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S., November 22, 2019. President Joe Biden has called on oil companies to boost production to reduce fuel prices. A little over two years after the pandemic wrecked havoc on demand and slashed profits, four of the five largest global oil companies brought in roughly $50 billion in net income in the most recent quarter. Crude production rose 0.9% to 11.98 million bpd in August, highest since March 2020, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in monthly figures. In top oil producing states, monthly output rose 1.6% to 5.10 million bpd in Texas and 0.6% to a record 1.58 million bpd in New Mexico, but fell 0.5% to 1.06 million bpd in North Dakota.

☆ Conservatives and anti-vaxxers are frantically lobbying Elon Musk to lift Twitter bans on their idols after he took over
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

An assortment of conservatives are lobbying Elon Musk to undo Twitter bans on prominent allies. Musk has said he opposes permanent bans and plans to roll back moderation on Twitter. But Twitter is enforcing legal sanctions on the networks in the EU and UK which prevents people seeing their content. Twitter has said it never shadowbans anybody, though Musk said Friday he was "digging in" to the allegations. Evolutionary biologist and podcaster Bret Weinstein, who has long questioned COVID-19 vaccine efficacy, also called for Musk to reinstate anti-vaxxer Dr Robert Malone.

☆ As Maine’s winters shorten, tiny ticks threaten state’s mighty moose
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Lauren Owens Lambert | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

“We’ve seen that areas with lower moose density tend to have healthier moose with fewer ticks,” said state Moose Biologist Lee Kantar, who is running the study. Maine's moose population is currently the largest of all the lower 48 states at over 60,000 animals, according to state figures, thanks to an ideal habitat and careful management of the annual moose hunt. Kantar is now leading research to test whether thinning the moose population through increased hunting can help. It is unclear, he said, what an ideal moose population would be for Maine but he hopes the study will help answer that. Each year, the Maine moose hunt draws around 50,000 applications in a lottery for the 2,000 to 3,000 moose permits typically issued.

☆ US workers are stressed, anxious, and disengaged. Here are 3 simple strategies managers can use to help them.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Managers can use a number of research-backed interventions to foster employee happiness. Note to managers: Happiness drives business results. A study published in early 2022 found that employees with high measures of self-reported happiness upon starting their jobs performed better than those with lower measures of happiness. Cultivate happinessWhen it comes to boosting an employee's emotional well-being, there is only so much a boss can do. Lester and his co-researchers have recommended managers lead team exercises geared toward improving employee well-being.

☆ Kraft Heinz Sales Tick Higher as Prices Rise
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Dean Seal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/kraft-heinz-khc-q3-earnings-report-2022-11666784546

☆ Retail money market funds inflows are the highest in 30 years as investors seek safety. Best funds to buy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Carmen Reinicke | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

One fixture of overall money market funds is seeing the highest growth in decades this year – retail money market fund inflows hit $122.1 billion in the week ending Oct. 19, the most since 1992, according to data from Refinitiv Lipper. Overall, the market is seeing outflows driven by institutional investors, with $189.5 billion being withdrawn from U.S. money market funds through Oct. 19. Money market mutual funds offer investors safety, making them a solid place to park cash. He added that investors should also note that not all money market mutual funds are insured by the FDIC, unlike checking and savings accounts or money market deposit accounts. In the quarter ending Sept. 30, Charles Schwab reported $132 million in revenue from money market funds.

☆ What do Indians think about Rishi Sunak’s rise? Like UK-India relations, it’s complicated
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Now, an Indian-origin man has become the Prime Minister of England,” a Zee News anchor said. Leon Neal/Getty Images Sunak and Boris Johnson watch as a sheep is sheared during a visit to a farm in North Yorkshire, England, in July 2019. Danny Lawson/PA Images/Getty Images Sunak speaks during a general election debate in Cardiff, Wales, in November 2019. Hollie Adams/Bloomberg/Getty Images Sunak and Murty are seen with their daughters, Krishna and Anoushka, while campaigning in Grantham, England, in July 2022. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested as much in a tweet welcoming Sunak’s appointment.

☆ BiggerPockets’ housing-market guru says he sees home prices falling up to 10% over the next 12 months with housing affordability at four-decade-lows
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( William Edwards | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

With housing affordability deteriorating, home prices are due to fall, says Dave Meyer. The BiggerPockets housing market expert said he expects a decline of up to 10% in prices. "Houses are just not affordable at these prices with these interest rates," Meyer said. Either mortgage rates would have to skyrocket, he said, or housing prices would have to continue on their torrid pace upward. Morgan Stanley strategists said in late September that they expect home price growth to end 2023 at -3% year-over-over.

☆ WhatsApp is down for thousands of users, making it impossible to send and receive messages
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

WhatsApp went down for thousands of users on Tuesday morning. Users could access the app and their chats, but they weren't able to send or receive messages. The app was still not working an hour after WhatsApp went down. Users appeared to be able to access the app and their chats, but they weren't able to send or receive messages. "We are aware of major disruptions impacting the ability to send messages via the WhatsApp Business Platform.

☆ Akshata Murty: Rishi Sunak’s wife is a software heiress who’s richer than royalty
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Tara John | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

And thanks largely to his wife Murty, Sunak will be one of the richest people to reach the top of the political establishment. Murty has a 0.93% stake in her father’s Indian software company, Infosys, worth approximately $715 million. Even Queen Elizabeth wasn’t as rich – the Sunday Times put the late monarch’s net worth at £370 million (about $420 million) before she died. In April, it was reported that Murty enjoyed a tax status in the UK that meant she could legally avoid to pay taxes on her foreign earnings. “I understand and appreciate the British sense of fairness and I do not wish my tax status to be a distraction for my husband or to affect my family.

Like Truss, Sunak promised a tough approach to illegal immigration and vowed to expand the government’s controversial Rwanda immigration policy. At the time Johnson was running to lead Britain's Conservative Party and Sunak was a member of Parliament. Danny Lawson/PA Images/Getty Images Sunak speaks during a general election debate in Cardiff, Wales, in November 2019. Danny Lawson/PA/Getty Images Sunak delivers a speech during the annual Conservative Party Conference in Manchester in October 2021. Hollie Adams/Bloomberg/Getty Images Sunak and Murty are seen with their daughters, Krishna and Anoushka, while campaigning in Grantham, England, in July 2022.

☆ The markets are returning to the 'old normal' of higher bond yields — what it means for investors
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Michael Santoli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Yet the effects from this point of a return to the "old normal" of higher bond yields and positive real (inflation-adjusted) yields, aren't clearly linear nor entirely negative. The 10-year Treasury yield on those dates: 4.24% now, 3.69% Sept. 22 and 3.07% on June 30. Yet as stock valuations fall and bond yields rise, risk to a long-term buyer is declining and expected future returns climbs. It's common to hear market handicappers discuss higher yields compressing overall equity valuations as if it's a law of physics. Maybe the difference in these regimes has something to do with the absolute level of bond yields and whether deflation or inflation was the main adversary?

Brent crude futures lost 5 cents to trade at $92.33 a barrel by 00:02 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 7 cents to trade at $84.58 a barrel. Brent was on track for a weekly gain of 0.7%, while WTI was expected to fall 1.3%. read moreMeanwhile, Beijing is considering cutting the quarantine period for visitors to seven days from 10 days, Bloomberg news reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Stephanie KellyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Viral video shows Tory MP eviscerating Liz Truss, capturing the political fury that forced her from office
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation on Thursday. A video of a Tory MP tearing apart Truss captures the political fury that led to her quitting. Charles Walker told BBC News he was "livid" and took aim at MPs who put Truss in power. It shows the longtime Conservative MP Charles Walker tearing apart Truss and her supporters, whom he blamed for trashing the party's reputation. The vote was marred by accusations that Conservative MPs were bullied and "manhandled" into voting in support of the government.

"There is more asset allocation towards baskets that combine the top five or 10 crypto assets by market cap. TICK BY TICKMost active crypto ETP products are registered outside the United States, though, with Switzerland, Canada, Australia and Brazil racing ahead with spot crypto offerings. One reason is that U.S. regulators have turned down several applications for spot bitcoin funds, which mirror the cryptocurrency's price movements tick-by-tick, citing multiple reasons including a lack of surveillance-sharing agreements with regulated markets relating to the spot funds' underlying assets. The world's largest bitcoin fund, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC.PK), is down 34% in the same time. At Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust, the AUM have tumbled to $12.2 billion from over $30 billion at the end of 2021, data from the firm showed.

☆ Cramer: 4 things I learned from talking to a dozen Club members and other investors over the weekend
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

This stock market is torturous. I probably spoke to a dozen Club members and we all had a more resigned attitude, accepting that there aren't many opportunities right now. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER .

☆ America’s Red-Hot Warehouse Market Shows Signs of Cooling
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Warehouse space remains tight, with some companies still storing goods on trailers outside distribution centers, but the broader figures suggest the pressure on one supply chain choke point is easing. Newsletter Sign-up The Logistics Report Top news and in-depth analysis on the world of logistics, from supply chain to transport and technology. The firm said companies across the sector signed new leases for 163.1 million square feet of warehouse space in the third quarter compared with 207.4 million square feet the quarter before. “Maybe the froth comes off the top, but you still have a very stable and strong leasing market for industrial. Real-estate experts say part of the decline could be because companies aren’t finding enough empty warehouse space after nearly two years of frenetic construction and leasing.

☆ Futures tick down ahead of big bank earnings, retail sales data
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Bansari Mayur Kamdar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The lenders are set to report their earnings later in the day. "The size of these provisions will be the clearest indication of the scope of the consumer crisis that's expected in the coming quarter." ET, Dow e-minis were down 49 points, or 0.16%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 7.25 points, or 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 39.5 points, or 0.36%. Apart from banks' earnings, U.S. retail sales data at 8:30 am ET is also on investors' radar to get clues on demand as the Federal Reserve aggressively raises rates to fight inflation. However, by close, Wall Street dramatically rebounded from the selloff, advancing over 2% helped by technical support and investors covering short bets.

☆ Cramer’s week ahead: Take any chance to sell stocks during a busy week of earnings
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

CNBC's Jim Cramer on Friday advised investors to take any chance to sell stocks next week as the busy earnings season continues. Monday: Bank of AmericaQ3 2022 earnings release at 6:45 a.m. Tuesday: Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, NetflixGoldman SachsQ3 2022 earnings release at 7:30 a.m. Johnson & JohnsonQ3 2022 earnings release between 6:25 and 6:40 a.m. Friday: VerizonQ3 2022 earnings release at 7:30 a.m.

☆ Europe likely entering another COVID wave, says WHO and ECDC
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 12 (Reuters) - Another wave of COVID-19 infections may have begun in Europe as cases begin to tick up across the region, the World Health Organization and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Wednesday. "We are unfortunately seeing indicators rising again in Europe, suggesting that another wave of infections has begun." Public health experts have warned that vaccine fatigue and confusion over available vaccines will likely limit booster uptake in the region. read moreMillions of people across Europe remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, the WHO and ECDC noted. They urged European countries to administer both flu and COVID-19 vaccines ahead of an expected surge in cases of seasonal influenza.

☆ Factbox: From property to bonds, four financial flashpoints for the euro zone
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Francesco Canepa | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Euro banknotes are seen in this illustration taken July 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationFRANKFURT, Oct 12 (Reuters) - While a financial storm gathers nearby, the euro zone has so far been comparatively unscathed. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterHere's a look at four possible flashpoints that are keeping investors and regulators awake at night: property prices, bank loans, government bonds and "shadow banks". REAL TROUBLEThe euro zone enjoyed a real-estate boom until last year, with home prices rising by some 40% since 2015 and commercial real estate prices up 26%. gross debt-to-income ratio for selected euro zone countriesSPREAD TOO THINThe rise in interest rates has raised fresh questions about one of the world's most indebted borrowers: Italy.

☆ Markets are worried the Fed is going too far
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Wall Street is worried that yet another high reading on the Consumer Price Index will prompt another massive interest rate increase and inflict more pain on markets and the US economy. But this full-steam-ahead approach by the Fed, based on the notion that iron-clad data is protection enough, has given some economists pause. Last week’s nonfarm payroll report roiled markets, but job openings have now fallen by 1.8 million since their March peak. The IMF believes that global inflation will peak late this year, but will “remain elevated for longer than previously expected,” even as central banks work aggressively to bring it under control. ▸ The Consumer Price Index, a closely watched measures of inflation in the US is due to be released on Thursday.

☆ China's Communist Party leadership reshuffle: what to look for
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Yew Lun Tian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Visitors are seen silhouetted against a Chinese Communist Party flag displayed at the Museum of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, China September 3, 2022. REUTERS/Florence LoBEIJING, Oct 11 (Reuters) - China's ruling Communist Party will reshuffle its leadership when it holds a once-in-five-years Congress starting Oct 16, with Xi Jinping widely expected to stay on for a third term as general secretary, China's senior-most position. Economic tsar and Vice Premier Liu He, 70, is due for retirement. The only woman in the Politburo, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, 72, is also due to retire. Xu Qiliang and Zhang Youxia, both military chiefs in the Politburo age 72, are also due to retire.

If the CPI shows that prices are still slow to come down, mortgage rates may tick up further. Mortgage rates aren't directly impacted by the federal funds rate, but investor expectations of how Fed decisions will impact the economy can push mortgage rates up or down. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage calculatorUse our free mortgage calculator to see how today's mortgage rates would impact your monthly payments. 30-year fixed mortgage ratesThe current average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 6.66%, according to Freddie Mac. 15-year fixed mortgage ratesThe average 15-year fixed mortgage rate is 5.9%, a slight decrease from the prior week, according to Freddie Mac data.

Flu cases are already rising in parts of the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The convergence of viruses is hitting health care systems as they're forced to reckon with staffing shortages that worsened during the pandemic. Staffing deficits mean there is little wiggle room to accommodate any additional surges of patients, whether they're sick with Covid, flu or other illness. But as the cold weather sets in and people increasingly gather indoors, Covid cases are expected to rise. The vast majority of Covid cases circulating now are an omicron subvariant, BA.5.

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