Business Highlights: UAW’s confrontational leader is in the spotlight; Chevron buys Hess for $53B
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UAW’s confrontational leader makes gains in strike talks, but some wonder: Has he reached too far?
WAYNE, Mich. (AP) — Throughout its 5-week-old strikes against Detroit’s automakers, the United Auto Workers union has cast an emphatically combative stance, reflecting the style of its pugnacious leader, Shawn Fain. Armed with a list of what even Fain has called “audacious” demands for better pay and benefits, the UAW leader has embodied the exasperation of workers who say they’ve struggled for years while the automakers have enjoyed billions in profits. Yet as the strikes have dragged on, analysts and even some striking workers have begun to raise a pivotal question: Does Fain have an endgame to bring the strikes to a close?
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Chevron buys Hess for $53 billion, 2nd megadeal in the oil patch this month as energy prices soar
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Chevron is buying Hess Corp. for $53 billion and it’s not even the biggest acquisition in the energy sector this month as major producers seize the initiative while oil prices surge. The Chevron-Hess deal comes less than two weeks after Exxon Mobil said that it would acquire Pioneer Natural Resources for about $60 billion. Crude prices are up 9% this year and have been hovering around $90 per barrel for about two months. Chevron said Monday that the acquisition of Hess adds a major oil field in Guyana as well as shale fields in North Dakota.
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Autoworkers strike at Stellantis plant shutting down big profit center, 41,000 workers now picketing
DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers union has once again escalated its strikes against Detroit Three automakers, this time adding a factory that makes Ram pickup trucks for Stellantis. The union says in a statement that 6,800 members walked out Monday morning at the Sterling Heights, Michigan, Assembly Plant, a huge profit center for the company. The move came just three days after union President Shawn Fain reported progress in talks with General Motors and Stellantis but said the companies will have to make better offers. No progress was reported with Ford. The union went on strike Sept. 15 at one assembly plant from each company. About 40,800 workers are now on strike against all three automakers.
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An off-duty pilot is accused of trying to shut down the engines of a Horizon Air jet in midflight
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A off-duty pilot riding in the cockpit of a Horizon Air passenger jet tried to shut down the engines in midflight. The incident happened Sunday on a flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco. The plane diverted to Portland, Oregon, where it was met by law enforcement officers. Alaska Airlines, which owns Horizon, said Monday that the crew reported “a credible security threat related to an authorized occupant in the flight deck jump seat” — one of its pilots, who was off duty. Authorities in Oregon identified the man as Joseph David Emerson. The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office says he is being held on 83 counts each of attempted murder and reckless endangerment and one count of endangering an aircraft.
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Stock market today: Wall Street swings to a mixed finish as yields veer in the bond market
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street wobbled to a mixed close, continuing a monthslong run where it’s slavishly followed the cue of the bond market. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% Monday. The Dow fell 190 points, and the Nasdaq composite edged up 0.3%. All three indexes slumped at the start of trading, hurt by a continued rise for Treasury yields. The 10-year yield again touched its highest level since 2007. But yields eventually eased back after crude oil prices tumbled to take some pressure off inflation. That helped to relax conditions for the stock market, particularly for Big Tech and other high-growth companies.
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Tesla says Justice Department is expanding investigations and issuing subpoenas for information
DETROIT (AP) — Federal prosecutors have expanded investigations into Tesla beyond the electric vehicle maker’s partially automated driving systems, and they have issued subpoenas for information instead of simply requesting it. The company disclosed in a Monday regulatory filing that the Department of Justice is looking into “personal benefits, related parties, vehicle range and personnel decisions” without giving details. Legal experts say that the filing indicates that prosecutors may be investigating CEO Elon Musk, and whether the company has been candid in describing the features of its vehicles. Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment.
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EPA proposes banning cancer-causing chemical TCE used in automotive care and other products
WOBURN, Mass. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to ban the cancer-causing chemical trichloroethylene. The chemical is known as TCE. It’s used in a range of consumer products, including automobile brake cleaners, furniture care products and arts and crafts spray coating. The EPA wants to ban manufacturing, processing and distributing the chemical within a year. Companies using it in electric vehicle batteries or in making some refrigerants would be get more time to transition away from it. The EPA has found TCE causes liver cancer, kidney cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It can also damage the central nervous system, liver, kidneys and immune system.
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Deal to force multinational companies to pay a 15% minimum tax is marred by loopholes, watchdog says
WASHINGTON (AP) — An ambitious 2021 agreement by more than 140 countries and territories to weed out tax havens and force multinational corporations to pay a minimum tax has been weakened by loopholes and will raise only a fraction of the revenue that was envisioned, a tax watchdog backed by the European Union has warned. The landmark agreement, brokered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, set a minimum global corporate tax of 15%. The idea was to stop multinational corporations from using accounting and legal maneuvers to shift earnings to low- or no-tax havens. Those havens are typically places like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands where the companies actually do little or no business.
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A price cap on Russian oil aims to starve Putin of cash. But it’s largely been untested. Until now
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Prices for Russian oil have risen well above a price cap imposed by Western allies as part of sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. And that is putting the cap to its first serious test. The idea is to limit President Vladimir Putin’s earnings from oil by barring Western insurers and shippers from handling oil above $60 per barrel. But some traders and shippers are finding ways around the restrictions. And Russia’s profits have risen even before the Israel-Hamas war pushed up global oil prices. The first signs of enforcement are appearing 10 months after the price cap was imposed, but sanctions advocates say the crackdown needs to go further to really hurt Russia.
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The S&P 500 fell 7.12 points, or 0.2%, to 4,217.04. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 190.87 points, or 0.6%, to 32,936.41. The Nasdaq composite rose 34.52 points, or 0.3%, to 13,018.33. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies dropped 14.91 points, or 0.9% to 1,665.88.