Business Highlights: Government shutdown rapidly approaching; Tesla faces strike in Sweden
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Siemens Gamesa scraps plans to build blades for offshore wind turbines on Virginia’s coast
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A European company has cancelled plans to build blades for offshore wind turbines in coastal Virginia. It’s the latest sign of struggle within the U.S.’s nascent offshore wind industry. Siemens Gamesa confirmed the cancellation Friday. The proposed $200 million factory would have created more than 300 jobs. And it would have aided Virginia in its aspirations to become a hub for offshore wind. Inflation and raised interest rates have led to the recent cancellation of some offshore wind projects in the U.S. However, Dominion Energy’s plans for a massive windfarm off the coast of Virginia Beach remain on schedule.
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Jezebel, an incisive feminist voice since the height of the blogosphere era, is shutting down
NEW YORK (AP) — Jezebel, the sharp-edged feminist website founded at the height of blogosphere era, is shutting down after 16 years. Its parent company, G/O Media, said Thursday that 23 staffers would be laid off, including Jezebel’s team, as part of a restructuring to cope with economic headwinds and a difficult digital advertising environment. The company also announced the departure of G/O Media editorial director Merrill Brown. In a memo to the company, G/0 Media CEO Jim Spanfeller said he made the decision to suspend publication of Jezebel after an unsuccessful search for a buyer for the website.
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New Speaker Mike Johnson grasps for a funding plan with a government shutdown rapidly approaching
WASHINGTON (AP) — New House Speaker Mike Johnson is facing his first big test as he tries to win House Republican support for a short-term funding plan to avert a government shutdown. The task looks increasingly difficult. Federal agencies are making plans for a shutdown that would shutter government services and halt paychecks for millions of federal workers and military troops. It’s a disruption that Johnson has said he wants to avoid. But House lawmakers left Washington without a plan after a week of setbacks. Republicans who were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations say Johnson is still sounding out support among Republicans and is expected to unveil the legislation over the weekend.
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Drinks giant Diageo sees share price slide after warning about sales in Caribbean and Latin America
LONDON (AP) — Spirits and beer giant Diageo saw billions wiped off its market value on Friday after it warned that a sharp slowdown in its business in Latin America and the Caribbean was hitting sales and potential profits. In early trading in London, the company’s share price was down by 14% after it told investors that it expects growth in the first half of the current financial year to be slower than the previous half-year. It blamed a “materially weaker” outlook in Latin America and the Caribbean as a result of “macroeconomic pressures” and customers downtrading to cheaper products. The region accounts for around 11% of Diageo’s total sales.
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Oil companies attending climate talks have minimal green energy transition plans, AP analysis finds
Oil and gas companies have a large presence at international climate talks aimed at getting the world to sharply reduce emissions, which lead to climate change. The companies say they are part of the transition to green energy, and indeed have the capital and engineering prowess to help technologies like wind, solar and carbon capture further develop. But an Associated Press review of nearly 40 oil and gas companies that participated in last year’s climate talks, called COP27, cast doubts on any true commitment to energy transition. Most companies have minimal, if any, investment in green energies, and instead invest billions of dollars in traditional activities of exploration, extraction and refining of oil. Many of the same companies are expected to be at COP28.
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Tesla faces strikes in Sweden unless it signs a collective bargaining agreement
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Pressure is growing on Tesla in Sweden, where a trade union is demanding that the Texas-based automaker sign a collective bargaining agreement, which most employees in the Scandinavian country have. Tesla has no manufacturing plant in Sweden, but 130 members of the powerful metalworkers’ union IF Metall walked out on Oct. 27 at seven workshops across the country where its popular electric cars are serviced. Other trade unions joined in solidarity, including dockworkers at Sweden’s four largest ports who decided Tuesday to stop the delivery of Tesla vehicles to increase pressure on the automaker to accept the metal workers’ demands. Tesla, which is non-unionized globally, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Barbie’s Ken left out again as Cabbage Patch Kids and Fisher-Price Corn Popper make Toy Hall of Fame
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Fans have pushed the Fisher-Price Corn Popper into the National Toy Hall of Fame. It joins baseball cards, Cabbage Patch Kids and NERF foam toys in the class of 2023, announced Friday. The Fisher-Price push toy was voted in by fans as part of the Toy Hall of Fame’s 25th anniversary celebration. Baseball cards, Cabbage Patch Kids and NERF toys were chosen in the usual way, with input from a panel of national experts. Each year, the Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York, recognizes a group of toys that have inspired creative play and enjoyed long-lasting popularity.
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Biden and Xi will meet Wednesday for talks on trade, Taiwan and fraught US-China relations
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will discuss trade, Taiwan and fraught U.S.-Chinese relations when they meet next week in the San Francisco Bay area. Biden and Xi will be in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. China’s Foreign Ministry confirms Xi will attend APEC at Biden’s invitation. Biden and Xi have no shortage of difficult issues to address in their first engagement in a year. Taiwan’s upcoming election, differences over U.S. export controls on advanced technology, North Korea, the Israel-Hamas war and more are expected to be on the agenda.
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The S&P 500 rose 67.89 points, or 1.6%, to 4,415.24. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 391.16 points, or 1.2%, to 34,283.10. The Nasdaq composite rose 276.66 points, or 2%, to 13,798.11. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 18.09 points, or 1.1% to 1,705.32.