FINANCIAL MARKETS
Stocks up broadly on Wall Street after solid US jobs report
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose broadly in afternoon trading on Wall Street Friday as traders welcomed news of a rebound in hiring by U.S. employers last month. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% and is on track for its best week since July. The Dow Jones Industrials rose 0.5% and the Nasdaq rose 0.1%. Small-company stocks, which stand to benefit greatly from further gains in the economy, were up far more than the rest of the market. Expedia soared after reporting earnings per share that were more than double what analysts were expecting. Pfizer rose after reporting encouraging study results for a COVID-19 treatment.
ECONOMY-JOBS REPORT
US employers shrug off virus and step up hiring
WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers boosted their hiring in October, adding a solid 531,000 jobs, the most since July and a sign that the recovery from the pandemic recession is overcoming a virus-induced slowdown. The unemployment rate fell to 4.6% last month from 4.8% in September. The jobs report also showed that the gains in August and September weren’t as weak as initially reported: The government revised its estimate of hiring for those two months by a hefty combined 235,000 jobs. All told, the figures point to an economy that is steadily recovering from the pandemic recession, with healthy consumer spending prompting companies in nearly every industry to add workers.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PFIZER-PILL
Pfizer says COVID-19 pill cut hospital, death risk by 90%
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pfizer says its experimental pill for COVID-19 cut rates of hospitalization and death by nearly 90% among patients with mild-to-moderate infections. The company announced Friday it will soon ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and international regulators to authorize its pill, which is taken twice a day for five days. A similar pill from competitor Merck is currently under FDA review and was cleared Thursday by U.K. regulators. Drugmakers around the world have been racing to develop an easy-to-use pill to blunt the effects of COVID-19. All therapies now authorized in the U.S. require an IV or injection.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-EMERGENT-BIOSOLUTIONS
Report: US cancels vaccine maker’s multimillion dollar deal
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government has canceled a multimillion dollar deal with Emergent BioSolutions, a Maryland- based vaccine manufacturer with facilities in Baltimore that were found to have produced millions of contaminated vaccine doses this spring. The Washington Post reported that the company disclosed the development on Thursday in a conference call discussing its latest financial results. The problems with the vaccines earlier this year caused a monthslong delay in production. Emergent BioSolutions played a role in the Trump administration’s effort to speed up vaccine development and distribution. But after winning a contract from the previous administration, Emergent quickly ran into production problems.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GOP PUSHBACK
11 states file suit against Biden’s business vaccine mandate
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The attorneys general of 11 states have filed a lawsuit challenging a vaccine mandate for employers issued by President Joe Biden’s administration. The suit filed in the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals contends that authority to compel vaccinations rests with the states, not the federal government. The new mandate applies to private employers with at least 100 workers. Missouri’s GOP Attorney General Eric Schmitt says in a court filing the mandate is “unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise.” Other suing include Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
CONGRESS-BUDGET
Democratic leaders aim for House votes amid final budget disputes
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic leaders are trying to resolve lingering concerns by moderates in hopes of finally pushing President Joe Biden’s multitrillion-dollar domestic agenda through the House. Leaders have met privately with centrists who want an official cost estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office before voting on a $1.85 trillion social and environment bill. Democrats can lose no more than three votes in the narrowly divided House to pass the legislation. Leaders say complete CBO figures won’t be ready for days or more. Democrats want to pass that legislation and a separate $1 trillion infrastructure measure after faring poorly in this week’s off-year elections.
CLIMATE-COP26
US envoy says climate aid goal to be met in 2022
GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — U.S. climate envoy John Kerry says developed nations will start making good on their joint pledge of $100 billion in annual climate aid to developing nations next year. That’s at least a year earlier than some estimates. “So there is genuine progress,” Kerry told reporters on Friday. The United States and other developed nations committed to the financing pledge under the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord. Less wealthy countries say they cannot switch their economies to cleaner fuel, and protect their people from increasing natural disasters without substantial foreign aid. And they say established economies should pay, since they historically have been responsible for most of the climate damage from burning coal and petroleum.
FLINT WATER
Michigan to pay $300K to only staffer fired over Flint water
DETROIT (AP) — The state of Michigan says it will pay $300,000 to the only employee who was fired as a result of lead-contaminated water in Flint. Liane Shekter Smith was head of the state’s drinking water division in 2014-15 when Flint switched its water source and didn’t use corrosion control additives. As a result, lead leached from old pipes. An arbitrator recently said Shekter Smith was wrongly fired by officials who were likely looking for a scapegoat during the scandal. The arbitrator awarded about $192,000 in back pay and other compensation, but Michigan agreed to pay even more to close off any possible appeals and end the dispute.
UNIVERSITY-FREE SPEECH-VOTING LAW
University changes course; professors may testify in lawsuit
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The University of Florida is reversing its position, saying three professors can testify as experts in a lawsuit challenging a new state election law that critics say restricts voting rights. The university last month had said that the three professors were prohibited from testifying in the lawsuit since doing so would put the school in conflict with the administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, which pushed the election law. University president Kent Fuchs said Friday that he’s asking the office responsible for approving professors’ outside work to reverse recent rejections on requests to serve as expert witnesses in litigation.
PHILANTHROPY-UNITED-WAY-CEO
New United Way CEO on mission to improve workplace culture
UNDATED (AP) — Angela Williams has taken the helm of the nation’s largest charity with a powerhouse resume behind her — and a long list of challenges in front of her. As the first woman and the first African American to lead United Way Worldwide, she must deal with the fallout of accusations by three former employees of a toxic workplace culture that led to an internal investigation and a recommendation that the organization improve its workplace culture, morale, and procedures for preventing and punishing discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Williams previously led Easterseals, where she broadened its governing structure to include a wider variety of voices at the top levels of the organization.
GLADYS KNIGHT-RESTAURANT
Gladys Knight’s son gets prison over restaurant taxes
ATLANTA (AP) — The son of R&B legend Gladys Knight has been sentenced to serve two years in prison for failing to withhold payroll taxes for the restaurants that bore his mother’s name. Shanga Hankerson opened his first restaurant, Gladys Knight’s Chicken and Waffles, in Atlanta in 1997. Over the next several years, he opened at least three more locations in Georgia and Washington, D.C. Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine said in a news release that Hankerson, 45, “willfully disregarded his tax obligations for many years.” Prosecutors say Hankerson failed to remit more than $1 million in payroll taxes from at least 2012 to 2016. He was sentenced Wednesday.
EU-NETHERLANDS-YUKOS
Russia gets partial win in $50B case over bankrupt oil giant
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch Supreme Court has handed Russia at least a temporary victory in its appeal of a $50 billion arbitration award to former shareholders of bankrupted oil giant Yukos. The decision Friday quashed a lower court ruling, effectively setting aside a $50 billion award made to the former shareholders in 2014 and sending the case to another court in Amsterdam to consider Russian claims that the shareholders committed fraud in the original arbitration hearings. However, the highest Dutch court rejected the rest of Russia’s arguments, a move welcomed by the former shareholders. Russian officials welcomed the ruling but said “it is regrettable” the court didn’t dismiss the award outright.
PORTUGAL-LABOR LAW
Portugal protects employees with new rules on home working
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s parliament has approved new labor laws on working from home. The regulations introduce additional protection for employees who do their job away from company premises. The new rules are a response to the trend of more staff working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Socialist government says it sees benefits in working from home but wants to adapt labor legislation to it. The regulations approved Friday bring new penalties for companies that disturb the privacy of staff or their families and obligate employers to compensate staff for work-related expenses incurred at home. Companies not complying with the rules will be liable for fines.
PELOTON-STOCK
After sprinting through pandemic, Peloton hits the wall
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Peloton is suffering its worst day as a publicly traded company after telling investors that it will likely lose more money than it had expected in fiscal 2022. Peloton thrived during the pandemic, recording its first and only profitable quarters with Americans unable to hit the gym, instead setting up places to work out at home. But Peloton’s sky-high sales have stalled since the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Gyms have reopened and people are beginning to spend money on other things, like travel and restaurants. Shares tumbled 33% to around $60 Friday, the worst trading day for the company just 10 months after shares hit an all-time high above $171.
OBIT-AARON FEUERSTEIN
Aaron Feuerstein, famously generous mill owner, dies at 95
BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — Aaron Feuerstein has died at age 95 after a life in which he gained fame for continuing to pay workers at his Massachusetts textile mill even after a fire shuttered operations. Feuerstein died Thursday night of complications from a fall days before at his home in Brookline. He used to own Malden Mills. The textile factory in Lawrence was known for its Polartec synthetic fleece fabric. The complex burned in December 1995, but Feuerstein continued to pay his workers for months after the blaze. He also committed to rebuilding the factory that his grandfather had opened it in 1906. Malden Mills reopened in 1997, but the company, later rebranded as Polartec, struggled in the ensuing years. It filed for bankruptcy in 2007 and was eventually sold to a private equity firm, which closed the mill and moved its diminished operations to Tennessee.
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