What could Ford’s labor deal mean for the auto industry?

What next for carmakers?

In reaching a tentative contract with the UAW, Ford has taken a step toward making peace with restive workers, one of the costliest problems it has faced in recent years.

With that in mind, investors are considering how much of an impact this week’s initial deal could have on the automaker as it deals with a different major issue: slower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles. The stakes are high, as the UAW pushes for similar concessions from Ford’s rivals as they face similar challenges.

The new contract could cause Ford to lose up to $2 billion annually over four years. Or about 1 percent of sales, according to Barclays analysts. The company said it would look to recoup those costs elsewhere.

Employees were happy with the initial deal, which included a 25 percent pay increase over the duration of the contract and improvements in job security, pensions and more. Robert Carter, an employee, told The Times, “This is the best contract I have seen in my 30 years with Ford.”

Expenses are rising as Ford grapples with other issues. These include costs associated with electric vehicles – the company’s EV division lost $1.3 billion in the third quarter due to investment in new technology and greater competition – and reduced demand for such vehicles.

Experts appear divided on the impact of the contract:

• Some analysts said higher labor costs would hurt Ford as it deals with car price cuts by rivals like Tesla. “It hinders a very competitive market,” said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at Cox Automotive, who suggested Ford could move more production to Mexico to reduce labor costs.

• Others were more optimistic, arguing that other carmakers would need to raise wages. As for Ford, “They haven’t agreed to anything that will take away their competitiveness,” said Joshua Murray, a Vanderbilt University professor who has chronicled the auto giant’s recent troubles.

what to watch: Whether the Ford deal helps the UAW reach agreements with General Motors and Stellantis. Organization met both car manufacturers Thursday, though it’s unclear whether those companies are willing to offer the same terms as Ford, according to Bloomberg.

Save the date: The DealBook Summit will take place on November 29th. Guests included Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase; Representative Kevin McCarthy, former House Speaker; and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. you can Apply to attend here,

What’s going on over here

Sam Bankman-Fried takes the stand. In an unusual move, The judge overseeing the fraud trial of a fallen crypto mogul sent jurors home on Thursday and faced hours of difficult questions Regarding pending testimony. The jury is scheduled to return Friday and Bankman-Fried is expected to continue testifying.

US oil giants deliver mixed results. exxon mobil Co. reported better-than-expected earnings on Friday and raised its dividend, as rising oil prices boosted cash flow. But beamHess, which shook the energy industry earlier this week with a $53 billion takeover bid for Hess, reported it missed profit expectations due to weakness in its overseas refining business.

The search operation in Maine entered its third day. Thousands of people are still in lockdown as police continue to search for the gunman who killed 18 people and injured 13 on Wednesday. The mass shooting has roiled state politics, with Representative Jared Golden, a Democrat, calling for a ban on assault weapons, reversing his previous position; Republican Senator Susan Collins has refused to go that far.

Byron Wien, the influential voice of the markets, has passed away. Former Blackstone and Morgan Stanley investment strategist whose annual “10 Surprises” list makes him a must-read, died on wednesday At the age of 90. Market commentator Jim Cramer said of Wien in 2018, “When he’s right, you can make a fortune.”

Amazon gives investors reason to believe in AI

The Nasdaq Composite looks set for a two-day rebound on Friday. $800 billion The selloff in technology stocks was triggered by weak earnings reports that shook investors’ high expectations about the profit potential of artificial intelligence.

Helping to fuel that rebound were Amazon’s third-quarter results. The e-commerce giant’s latest report — which saw profits triple year-over-year to $9.9 billion — in some ways serves as a snapshot of the state of things on AI, consumer spending, advertising and more .

Investors found new reasons to be optimistic about the impact of AI on profits. Shareholders initially appeared disappointed about the below-expected performance of the company’s Amazon Web Services cloud business, which customers are increasingly relying on to power their AI initiatives.

But that sentiment began to change after Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told analysts that big customers — including Adidas, hedge fund Bridgewater Associates and United Airlines — were turning to AWS to power their new AI apps. He More growth predicted Such AI-driven demand from AWS in the coming quarters, showing a trajectory that more closely tracked Microsoft’s forecast for its cloud business (which investors praised) than Google’s (which they did not ).

There were other reasons for caution in Amazon’s report. The company gave a disappointing forecast for the current quarter, which is typically its biggest quarter of the year, with promotions like Prime Day and the holiday shopping season.

Still, Amazon may have helped lift other tech stocks, including Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet and Meta, all of which rose in premarket trading.

Next up for investors: The Commerce Department will report September data for the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge. Economists expect to see a Reading of “Core” PCEThat doesn’t include volatile data points like food and energy at 3.7 percent — sharply lower than a year ago, but still above the Fed’s 2 percent inflation target.

The warmer-than-expected data, which will follow Thursday’s blockbuster GDP data, could reignite the debate over whether the Fed needs to raise interest rates further to curb inflation. That prospect has weighed on stocks in recent months, especially tech stocks.

Twitter – Sorry, X – One Year Later

A year ago today, Elon Musk took control of the social network, then known as Twitter, promising to supercharge the struggling tech company as he had with other businesses like Tesla and SpaceX. Were.

he definitely has changed company, from its name, Now X, to its very small workforce and its approach to content moderation. What the disruption means for its future is debatable.

Recap of the biggest changes:

• Ax laid off 80 percent of its employees, attempted to break leases and aimed to reduce costs across its businesses.

• It significantly relaxed restrictions on content, in line with Musk’s commitment to what he has called free-speech absolutism. Critics say this has allowed misinformation and hate speech to spread on the platform.

• X also introduced new subscription services, including services involving user verification and promotion of posts, sometimes leading to the impersonation of major government, business, and media accounts.

These have had major consequences for the health of the platform. Advertisers have significantly reduced their presence on X, according to one estimate, with the company’s top five ad buyers cutting their spending by two-thirds.

X’s audience has also declined, along with daily active users. 16 percent decline year-on-year, according to data provider Sensor Tower. (That said, in a meeting with employees on Thursday, Musk said that Says it has about 100 million monthly active users.

Musk stressed that improvements are coming. At a company town hall on Thursday, he cited ambitions Take on YouTube and LinkedIn Because he wants to turn X into a super-app that offers a wide range of services. He also reiterated his plans Start Payment on Platform,

Could those initiatives boost putting pressure on its creditors – remains to be seen.

“I have a strong feeling that I will not be the victim of the next road accident. If we become second-rate, over time we become irrelevant.”

, Prabhakar Raghavan, Google’s senior vice president, overseeing search and other products. As the search giant began its defense in the Justice Department’s landmark antitrust case, it argued that Google built a dominant business to fend off many of its rivals.

Morningstar faces new heat in Florida

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running second in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, has stepped up his attack on the corporate world’s embrace of so-called ESG investing. His latest target is Morningstar – and it also has an Israel angle.

Florida has placed Morningstar on its “List of Screened Companies Boycotting Israel”. At issue is Sustainalytics, a division that scores companies based on their commitment to ESG (environmental, social and governance) factors. The state government accused Sustainalytics’ ranking methodology of penalizing companies “for supporting Israeli interests in Judea and Samaria” – referring to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

“Florida will hold companies accountable for discriminating against Israel,” DeSantis said Thursday.

Morningstar has denied the allegation. He has 90 days to respond to the state’s questions, otherwise Florida risks terminating all business ties.

Morningstar has been under scrutiny. The Anti-Defamation League and JLens, an investment adviser focused on Jewish issues, have raised concerns about how the firm rates companies doing business in Israel. JLens have argued Anti-Israel bias played a role in some of Sustainalytics’ recommendations.

Morningstar recently agreed change its functioning, It no longer uses data from the UN Human Rights Council, and has removed terms such as “occupied Palestinian territories”. Morningstar also reiterated this on Thursday Protest against boycott, disinvestment and sanctions movementWhich wants to marginalize Israel and its business interests.

ESG-bashing is central to DeSantis’s politics. He has slammed Disney for opposing his state’s so-called Don’t Say Gay law. And he has threatened to pull billions of government funds from investment giants like BlackRock and Vanguard if they support ESG investment policies.

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