Warning on AI | Oil prices rally | Flooding in China's grain basket
Significantly higher insurance and shipping costs are likely to follow the increased attack in the Black Sea. In recent negotiations with major automakers, the United Auto Workers union has made quite a forward proposition. The union has requested a significant wage increase of 40%, along with the stipulation that employees appointed at newly established electric-vehicle battery factories will fall under the umbrella of the union's national contracts. These strong demands have been influenced by the substantial profits gained by Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.
Yellow committed to reimbursing the $700 million loan received from the U.S. gov't amid the pandemic. This loan is part of the $1.3 billion in debt repayments the company claims are due by 2024, which includes a significant $567.4 million private-equity loan. • Oil prices reached their highest point in four months, largely due to increasing global supply concerns. Over the weekend, a critical Russian oil export port was attacked by Ukraine, which has further intensified these concerns. Considering Russia's status as the world's second largest crude oil exporter, this event bears significant implications for the international market.
Impacts: Russian exports of approximately 500,000-550,000 barrels a day of crude and 450,000 barrels of refined products from Novorossiysk are now endangered. The port also loads about 250,000 barrels a day of crude from Kazakhstan which subsequently gets shipped to Romania for refining. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, or CPC, loading tankers with about 1.3 million barrels of crude per day is also under threat.
— The state of Oregon decided to revise a longstanding ban in place since 1951, which prohibited drivers from pumping their own gas. This change was enacted by a new law signed on Friday and became effective immediately, leaving New Jersey as the only state in the U.S. where drivers cannot pump their own fuel. However, the transition in Oregon comes with safeguards. The new law doesn't eliminate full service entirely in the state's 16 most populated counties.
HEALTH UPDATE — While a small percentage of U.S. adults are currently using prescription weight loss drugs, nearly half of them are interested in incorporating them into their health care routines, according to a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. This signals high public awareness about these newer medications which are quickly gaining traction.