BlackRock, Other ESG-Minded Investors Should Back His McDonald's Campaign, Icahn Says
Carl Icahn is urging BlackRock Inc. and other big index-fund managers focused on socially conscious investing to support his proxy fight at McDonald's Corp. for better treatment of pregnant pigs.
The billionaire activist investor, who has a McDonald's stake worth roughly $50,000, nominated two directors to the fast-food chain's board in February as part of his campaign, a departure from his typical fights for changes in financial strategy and the like.
Buying a Tesla Will Remain a Luxury
Tesla is doing very well-so well you might wonder why it has been raising prices so aggressively.
The electric-vehicle pioneer on Wednesday reported yet another record quarter for profits, far ahead of analyst forecasts, despite delivering a similar number of cars to customers. The explanation is a combination of price increases and, given the backdrop of soaring commodity prices, surprisingly low inflation in its bill of materials. Teslas sold for an average price of about $52,200-up 2.9% compared with the fourth quarter-while their average cost rose 1.7% to $36,500.
Tech Wage Inflation Puts Pressure on Companies
Wage inflation in the technology sector is accelerating, pressuring companies to boost compensation for key roles by 20% or more as they compete for a limited pool of workers skilled in areas such as cloud computing and data science.
There is no single source of data on all tech jobs, but it is clear from a range of market analysts and executives that demand for labor in the tech sector is on the rise. During the first quarter, U.S. employers posted 1.1 million tech jobs, an increase of 43% from a year earlier, according to information technology trade group CompTIA.
Fed's Powell Could Seal Expectations of Half-Point Rate Rise in May
The Federal Reserve has indicated it is likely to raise interest rates next month by a half-percentage point and begin shrinking its $9 trillion asset portfolio, a double-barreled effort to remove stimulus to curb price pressures.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will have an opportunity to reinforce that signal when he speaks Thursday afternoon in his last scheduled public appearance before the central bank's policy meeting May 3-4.
S&P Revamp of Insurer Ratings Draws Criticism
When ratings firms tweak the way they determine the creditworthiness of insurers, it is ordinarily a humdrum affair, awash in technical minutia.
S&P Global Markets' latest effort has managed to anger insurance companies, state insurance regulators and rival ratings firms. It has also accomplished the seemingly impossible: a bipartisan protest of its actions on Capitol Hill.
Eurozone Inflation Hits Record High of 7.4%, But Below Preliminary Reading
The eurozone's annual rate of inflation rose further in March, marking the highest print in history despite being below the level of the preliminary reading.
Consumer prices rose 7.4% on year in March after a 5.9% rise in February, according to the final estimate released Thursday by Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency. The figure has been lowered from the preliminary estimate of 7.5%. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal forecast eurozone inflation at 7.5% on year in March.
Russia Comes Closer to Default After Swaps Watchdog Rules Against Ruble Payments
Russia is inching closer to a default on its sovereign debts after an industry body overseeing the credit-default swaps market ruled Wednesday that the Kremlin failed to meet its obligations to foreign creditors when it paid them with rubles earlier this month.
Russia paid bondholders in rubles on April 6 after the U.S. blocked Russia from using American banks to channel payments on its dollar-denominated bonds. The Russian Ministry of Finance said it had attempted to remit dollar interest payments due to bondholders through JPMorgan Chase & Co., but the bank declined to process some $649 million in payments because the U.S. Treasury didn't grant approval.
Malaysia, Indonesia Exports Offer Protection From Global Slowdown -- Analysis
Malaysia and Indonesia are likely to continue posting record exports with soaring prices for thermal coal, palm oil and other products giving both Southeast Asian nations some protection from a slowing global economy, analysts say.
In Malaysia's case, "fundamentally we see two supporting pillars [in] semiconductor demand and commodities," said OCBC economist Wellian Wiranto. "While the overall global demand backdrop is weaker than previously expected, these supports should help to keep Malaysia's exports broadly supported."
Iron-Ore Market Facing Deeper Hole in Supply -- Analysis
The war in Ukraine may have pushed up iron-ore prices by stoking fears of supply disruptions in the region, but the latest production reports from the industry's biggest miners show a market hampered by supply challenges globally, including from a labor shortfall and the Covid-19 pandemic.
This week, Rio Tinto PLC, Vale SA and BHP Group Ltd., the world's top three producers of the steel ingredient, reported what analysts lamented as weak production of the commodity in the major mining hubs of Australia and Brazil during the three months through March.
Russian Offensive Bears Down on Donbas as West Races to Supply Ukraine With More Weapons
PAVLOHRAD, Ukraine-Russian forces Wednesday made incremental gains in their offensive in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, as Western nations rushed more weapons to the outgunned Ukrainian military.
In the Donbas port city of Mariupol, besieged by Russian forces since late February, the remaining Ukrainian defenders warned that time was running out and asked to be evacuated to a third country, alongside the wounded and the civilians sheltering in the shrinking area under Ukrainian control. Russia has insisted on an unconditional surrender and kept pounding the Ukrainian forces-who are mostly holed up in the sprawling Azovstal steel plant-with artillery and airstrikes.
States Can Spend $6.4 Billion of Infrastructure Fund to Limit Carbon
WASHINGTON-State governments will be able to spend $6.4 billion on electric-vehicle charging stations, bike trails, energy-efficient streetlights and other projects under new guidelines issued by the Biden administration for use of federal infrastructure money aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
The guidelines, released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Transportation, will help state governments determine projects that are eligible for funding under the roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure legislation passed last year.
Israel Airstrikes Target Gaza After Rocket Fire Amid Jerusalem Tensions
GAZA CITY-Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes in Gaza in response to a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory, the second exchange of fire this week, raising fears of a widening conflict amid heightened tensions over access to holy sites in the contested city of Jerusalem.
Israel's military said its warplanes targeted a military post and an underground site where chemical materials are stored for making rocket engines. It added that the strikes would significantly impair rocket-production capabilities for militants in Gaza.
China Air Crash Report Gives Few New Clues on Boeing 737's Fatal Nosedive
HONG KONG-China's initial report into what led a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 to nosedive into a mountain last month, killing all 132 people on board, offers few new clues to help solve the mystery behind the nation's worst air disaster in almost three decades, a summary of the findings shows.
France's Macron and Le Pen Clash During Presidential Debate
PARIS-French President Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen clashed over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, trading blows over which candidate was closer to Moscow and better equipped to navigate the economic fallout from the war.
Wednesday's duel on national television was the first and only debate between the candidates, making it a pivotal event for millions of French voters who tuned in before casting ballots in Sunday's runoff election. Polls show Mr. Macron leading Ms. Le Pen by around 9 percentage points, a margin that pales in comparison to the 32-point margin Mr. Macron notched in 2017.
Putin Oversees Test-Launch of Ballistic Missile He Says Will Make Enemies 'Think Twice'
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday oversaw the first test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that he said would make those threatening his country "think twice," in his latest nuclear saber-rattling since launching his war in Ukraine.
Since sending Russian troops into the neighboring country in late February, Mr. Putin has repeatedly raised the threat of nuclear war in an effort to deter the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from getting involved in the conflict.
Write to sarka.halas@dowjones.com TODAY IN CANADA
Mullen Group 1Q EPS C$0.17; Net C$16.4M; Rev C$456.9M
Expected Major Events for Thursday
06:00/JPN: Mar Revised Machine Tool Orders
06:45/FRA: Apr Monthly business survey (goods-producing industries)
08:59/JPN: Apr Monthly Economic Report
10:00/FRA: 4Q OECD Quarterly Employment Situation
12:30/US: Apr Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey
12:30/US: 04/16 Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report - Initial Claims
12:30/US: U.S. Weekly Export Sales
14:30/US: 04/15 EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report
20:30/US: Foreign Central Bank Holdings
20:30/US: Federal Discount Window Borrowings
23:01/UK: Apr UK Consumer Confidence Survey
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