REUTERS
"Exclusive: EV maker Rivian to cut 6% of jobs amid price war - internal memo"
By Abhirup Roy and Akash Sriram
February 1, 2023
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Rivian Automotive is laying off 6% of its workforce in an effort to cut costs as the EV maker, already grappling with falling cash reserves and a weak economy, braces for an industry-wide price war.
The company is focusing resources on ramping up vehicle production and reaching profitability, Chief Executive R.J. Scaringe said in an email to employees on Wednesday announcing the job cuts.
Reuters obtained a copy of the email.
Layoffs at Rivian come amid falling EV prices kicked off by cuts made recently by Elon Musk-led Tesla and Ford Motor Co.
The price cuts by Tesla and Ford are expected to hurt EV upstarts such as Rivian, Lucid Group and British startup Arrival, which Monday said it would lay off half its staff.
Despite a blockbuster initial public offering in November 2021, Rivian's shares have fallen nearly 90% from their peak that month to Tuesday's close.
Rivian's stock was trading down 4% on Nasdaq on Wednesday, paring some losses after news of the job cuts.
"We must focus our resources on ramp and our path to profitability," Scaringe said in the email, in which he apologized to employees for the necessity of the cuts.
A Rivian spokesman confirmed the email was sent, but declined further comment.
'BLEEDING CASH'
"They're bleeding cash and would like to grow at a much faster rate, but they continue to struggle with their EV production ramp and have been unable to meaningfully drive down unit costs," CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson said.
"We think that is what's behind this decision."
Rivian is focusing on ramping up production of its R1 trucks and EDV delivery vans for top shareholder Amazon.com, and launching its R2 platform, he said.
"The changes we are announcing today reflect this focused roadmap."
Irvine, California-based Rivian, which has about 14,000 employees, will let go of about 840 staff in a move that will not affect manufacturing operations at its plant in Normal, Illinois.
Rivian, which has been losing money on every vehicle it builds, narrowly missed its full-year production target of 25,000 vehicles last year as it dealt with supply-chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It had previously halved that target.
To further conserve its cash, Rivian late last year shelved plans to build delivery vans in Europe with Mercedes.
Rivian had earlier pushed back by a year to 2026 the planned launch of a smaller R2 vehicle family at the $5 billion plant it is building in Georgia.
Last July, Rivian, which is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results on Feb. 28, laid off staff and suspended some programs as part of a broader restructuring.
The company has a market valuation of $17.8 billion.
Its cash and cash equivalents stood at $13.27 billion as of Sept. 30, 2022, down from over $18 billion a year earlier.
Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco Editing by Ben Klayman and Nick Zieminski
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos- ... 023-02-01/
THE DAILY NEWS
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
REUTERS
"Intel slashes employee, exec pay amid PC market downturn"
By Stephen Nellis
February 1, 2023
Jan 31 (Reuters) - Intel Corp said on Tuesday that it had made broad cuts to employee and executive pay, a week after the company issued a lower-than-expected sales forecast driven by a loss of market share to rivals and a PC market downturn.
The reductions will range from 5% of base pay for mid-level employees to as much as 25% for Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger, while the company's hourly workforce's pay will not be cut, said a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Intel spokesperson Addy Burr said in a statement that the "changes are designed to impact our executive population more significantly and will help support the investments and overall workforce."
Intel last week said its profit margins were plunging as the PC market cools after several years of growth during the pandemic.
Gelsinger also conceded that Intel has "stumbled" and lost market share to rivals such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc, which on Tuesday reported quarterly sales that were above Wall Street's expectations.
The person familiar with Intel's pay cuts said that in addition to 5% decreases for mid-level employees, vice president level employees will see 10% reductions and the company's top executives other than the CEO will get 15% cuts.
The company has also lowered its 401(k) matching program from 5% to 2.5% and suspended merit raises and quarterly performance bonuses, the person said.
Annual performance bonuses based Intel's overall financial performance will remain but those bonuses have been smaller in recent years as the company has lost ground to rivals, the person added.
Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Jamie Freed
https://www.reuters.com/technology/inte ... 023-02-01/
"Intel slashes employee, exec pay amid PC market downturn"
By Stephen Nellis
February 1, 2023
Jan 31 (Reuters) - Intel Corp said on Tuesday that it had made broad cuts to employee and executive pay, a week after the company issued a lower-than-expected sales forecast driven by a loss of market share to rivals and a PC market downturn.
The reductions will range from 5% of base pay for mid-level employees to as much as 25% for Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger, while the company's hourly workforce's pay will not be cut, said a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Intel spokesperson Addy Burr said in a statement that the "changes are designed to impact our executive population more significantly and will help support the investments and overall workforce."
Intel last week said its profit margins were plunging as the PC market cools after several years of growth during the pandemic.
Gelsinger also conceded that Intel has "stumbled" and lost market share to rivals such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc, which on Tuesday reported quarterly sales that were above Wall Street's expectations.
The person familiar with Intel's pay cuts said that in addition to 5% decreases for mid-level employees, vice president level employees will see 10% reductions and the company's top executives other than the CEO will get 15% cuts.
The company has also lowered its 401(k) matching program from 5% to 2.5% and suspended merit raises and quarterly performance bonuses, the person said.
Annual performance bonuses based Intel's overall financial performance will remain but those bonuses have been smaller in recent years as the company has lost ground to rivals, the person added.
Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Jamie Freed
https://www.reuters.com/technology/inte ... 023-02-01/
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
REUTERS
"U.S. investors have plowed billions into China's AI sector, report shows"
By Alexandra Alper
February 1, 2023
WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - U.S. investors including the investment arms of Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc accounted for nearly a fifth of investments in Chinese artificial intelligence companies from 2015 to 2021, a report showed on Wednesday.
The document, released by CSET, a tech policy group at Georgetown University, comes amid growing scrutiny of U.S. investments in AI, Quantum and semiconductors, as the Biden administration prepares to unveil new restrictions on U.S. funding of Chinese tech companies.
According to the report, 167 U.S. investors took part in 401 transactions, or roughly 17% of the investments into Chinese AI companies in the period.
Those transactions represented a total $40.2 billion in investment, or 37% of the total raised by Chinese AI companies in the 6-year period.
It was not clear from the report, which pulled information from data provider Crunchbase, what percentage of the funding came from the U.S. firms.
Qualcomm Ventures and Intel Capital were involved in 13 and 11 investments in Chinese AI companies respectively, outpaced by GGV Capital which led U.S. firms with 43 total investments in the sector, the data showed.
The Biden administration is expected to unveil an executive order this year curbing some U.S. investments in sensitive Chinese tech industries, as hawks in Washington blame American investors for transferring capital and valuable know-how to Chinese tech companies that could help advance Beijing's military capabilities.
According to the report, U.S. investor GSR Ventures invested alongside China's IFlytek Co Ltd in a Chinese AI company after the speech recognition firm was added to a trade blacklist.
Silicon Valley Bank and Wanxiang American Healthcare investments group made investments in Chinese AI firms alongside China's Sensetime before the powerhouse in facial recognition technology was added to the same trade blacklist.
Both companies were added to the blacklist, which effectively bars them from receiving U.S. tech exports, in 2019 for alleged human rights violations related to the repression of Uighur Muslims.
Some of the largest investments include Goldman Sachs' solo investment in 1KMXC, an AI-enabled robotics company, as well as an investment by three U.S.-based VC firms in Geek+, an autonomous mobile robot company, the report showed.
Only one Chinese AI company that received funding from U.S. investors is involved in developing AI applications for military or public safety uses, according to CSET.
Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Stephen Coates
https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-i ... 023-02-01/
"U.S. investors have plowed billions into China's AI sector, report shows"
By Alexandra Alper
February 1, 2023
WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - U.S. investors including the investment arms of Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc accounted for nearly a fifth of investments in Chinese artificial intelligence companies from 2015 to 2021, a report showed on Wednesday.
The document, released by CSET, a tech policy group at Georgetown University, comes amid growing scrutiny of U.S. investments in AI, Quantum and semiconductors, as the Biden administration prepares to unveil new restrictions on U.S. funding of Chinese tech companies.
According to the report, 167 U.S. investors took part in 401 transactions, or roughly 17% of the investments into Chinese AI companies in the period.
Those transactions represented a total $40.2 billion in investment, or 37% of the total raised by Chinese AI companies in the 6-year period.
It was not clear from the report, which pulled information from data provider Crunchbase, what percentage of the funding came from the U.S. firms.
Qualcomm Ventures and Intel Capital were involved in 13 and 11 investments in Chinese AI companies respectively, outpaced by GGV Capital which led U.S. firms with 43 total investments in the sector, the data showed.
The Biden administration is expected to unveil an executive order this year curbing some U.S. investments in sensitive Chinese tech industries, as hawks in Washington blame American investors for transferring capital and valuable know-how to Chinese tech companies that could help advance Beijing's military capabilities.
According to the report, U.S. investor GSR Ventures invested alongside China's IFlytek Co Ltd in a Chinese AI company after the speech recognition firm was added to a trade blacklist.
Silicon Valley Bank and Wanxiang American Healthcare investments group made investments in Chinese AI firms alongside China's Sensetime before the powerhouse in facial recognition technology was added to the same trade blacklist.
Both companies were added to the blacklist, which effectively bars them from receiving U.S. tech exports, in 2019 for alleged human rights violations related to the repression of Uighur Muslims.
Some of the largest investments include Goldman Sachs' solo investment in 1KMXC, an AI-enabled robotics company, as well as an investment by three U.S.-based VC firms in Geek+, an autonomous mobile robot company, the report showed.
Only one Chinese AI company that received funding from U.S. investors is involved in developing AI applications for military or public safety uses, according to CSET.
Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Stephen Coates
https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-i ... 023-02-01/
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
RIGZONE
"Oil Struggles as Growth Stocks Excel"
by Bloomberg | Julia Fanzeres
Thursday, February 02, 2023
Oil struggled to find a bid after the Federal Reserve’s recent comments spurred traders to shun energy and pour money into interest-rate sensitive stocks.
Crude broke out of a recent pattern of following moves in the equity market.
After the Fed said on Wednesday that it had made progress in taming inflation, equity traders have piled into technology stocks and other rate-sensitive investments.
That has left oil struggling for traction as the commodity’s fundamentals aren’t improving fast enough to change trader sentiment.
“Broadly, commodities have been down as the ‘growth’ trade gets reestablished,” said Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Management.
“The move in rates and Fed posturing has triggered flows out of commodities and energy equities back into growth.”
Crude has traded in a range of about $10 a barrel so far this year, with January seeing the smallest price band of any month since September 2021.
Traders are still waiting for signs of a meaningful demand recovery in China, while the West Texas Intermediate futures curve continues to point to oversupply in the short term.
“There is a lot of hedge fund money on the sidelines, and they will need to see some clear evidence of a strong demand pull from Asia before they reenter the long side,” said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial Securities.
“The market seems to be in a consolidated pattern, but the upside risk in prices remains significant.”
Prices:
WTI for March delivery slipped 53 cents to settle at $75.88 a barrel in New York.
Brent for April settlement was fell 67 cents to settle at $82.17 a barrel.
(with assistance from Norah Mulinda and Asad Zulfiqar)
https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/oil_s ... 6-article/
"Oil Struggles as Growth Stocks Excel"
by Bloomberg | Julia Fanzeres
Thursday, February 02, 2023
Oil struggled to find a bid after the Federal Reserve’s recent comments spurred traders to shun energy and pour money into interest-rate sensitive stocks.
Crude broke out of a recent pattern of following moves in the equity market.
After the Fed said on Wednesday that it had made progress in taming inflation, equity traders have piled into technology stocks and other rate-sensitive investments.
That has left oil struggling for traction as the commodity’s fundamentals aren’t improving fast enough to change trader sentiment.
“Broadly, commodities have been down as the ‘growth’ trade gets reestablished,” said Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Management.
“The move in rates and Fed posturing has triggered flows out of commodities and energy equities back into growth.”
Crude has traded in a range of about $10 a barrel so far this year, with January seeing the smallest price band of any month since September 2021.
Traders are still waiting for signs of a meaningful demand recovery in China, while the West Texas Intermediate futures curve continues to point to oversupply in the short term.
“There is a lot of hedge fund money on the sidelines, and they will need to see some clear evidence of a strong demand pull from Asia before they reenter the long side,” said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial Securities.
“The market seems to be in a consolidated pattern, but the upside risk in prices remains significant.”
Prices:
WTI for March delivery slipped 53 cents to settle at $75.88 a barrel in New York.
Brent for April settlement was fell 67 cents to settle at $82.17 a barrel.
(with assistance from Norah Mulinda and Asad Zulfiqar)
https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/oil_s ... 6-article/
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
CNBC
"Treasury yields hold steady as investors digest Fed rate decision"
Sarah Min @_SARAHMIN Sophie Kiderlin @SKIDERLIN
PUBLISHED THU, FEB 2 2023
U.S. Treasury yields held steady Thursday as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision and assessed the outlook for monetary policy.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury was little changed at 3.396%.
The 2-year Treasury yield dipped more than 1 basis point to 4.092%.
Yields and prices have an inverted relationship.
One basis point is equivalent to 0.01%.
Weekly jobless claims were lower than expected at 183,000, while economists polled by Dow Jones expected a print of 195,000.
The data comes a day before the Labor Department releases its monthly nonfarm report, which is expected to show the economy added 187,000 jobs in January.
Tech stocks rallied Thursday on the back of better-than-expected results from Meta.
The Facebook-parent company surged about 23% in its best day since 2013 after reporting a fourth-quarter revenue beat and announced a $40 billion stock buyback.
On Wednesday, the Fed concluded its first meeting of the year with a 25 basis point rate hike.
That marked a slowdown of the pace of rate hikes compared to previous increases.
The central bank had hiked rates by 50 basis points at its last meeting in December and implemented 75 basis point increases at each of its previous four meetings.
However, the central bank also indicated that rates would rise further, reigniting concerns about whether the pace of rate increases and keeping rates elevated for longer could drag the U.S. economy into a recession.
The Fed has been hiking interest rates in an effort to curb persistently high inflation, which it said on Wednesday was cooling slightly.
Earnings season continues with Apple, Alphabet and Amazon among those reporting on Thursday.
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/treasur ... ision.html
"Treasury yields hold steady as investors digest Fed rate decision"
Sarah Min @_SARAHMIN Sophie Kiderlin @SKIDERLIN
PUBLISHED THU, FEB 2 2023
U.S. Treasury yields held steady Thursday as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision and assessed the outlook for monetary policy.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury was little changed at 3.396%.
The 2-year Treasury yield dipped more than 1 basis point to 4.092%.
Yields and prices have an inverted relationship.
One basis point is equivalent to 0.01%.
Weekly jobless claims were lower than expected at 183,000, while economists polled by Dow Jones expected a print of 195,000.
The data comes a day before the Labor Department releases its monthly nonfarm report, which is expected to show the economy added 187,000 jobs in January.
Tech stocks rallied Thursday on the back of better-than-expected results from Meta.
The Facebook-parent company surged about 23% in its best day since 2013 after reporting a fourth-quarter revenue beat and announced a $40 billion stock buyback.
On Wednesday, the Fed concluded its first meeting of the year with a 25 basis point rate hike.
That marked a slowdown of the pace of rate hikes compared to previous increases.
The central bank had hiked rates by 50 basis points at its last meeting in December and implemented 75 basis point increases at each of its previous four meetings.
However, the central bank also indicated that rates would rise further, reigniting concerns about whether the pace of rate increases and keeping rates elevated for longer could drag the U.S. economy into a recession.
The Fed has been hiking interest rates in an effort to curb persistently high inflation, which it said on Wednesday was cooling slightly.
Earnings season continues with Apple, Alphabet and Amazon among those reporting on Thursday.
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/treasur ... ision.html
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
REUTERS
"TREASURIES-Yields flat as investors brace for key U.S. jobs report"
By David Randall
FEBRUARY 2, 2023
NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Thursday as investors digested a more dovish tone from the Federal Reserve and prepared for a closely watched jobs report on Friday.
The strength of the labor market is a key concern for the Fed, which announced a 25 basis-points interest rate hike Wednesday as it attempts to bring inflation down to its target rate of 2%.
The S&P 500 rose more than 1% on Wednesday, and is up more than 7% for the year, after Fed Chair Jerome Powell seemed to strike a more dovish tone in a press conference.
Yields on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury, which move inversely to prices, fell after the meeting and have declined by more than 40 basis points in 2023.
On Thursday, the 10-year yield dropped to a two-week low, while the two-year yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, tumbled to its weakest level since early October.
"The Fed came out fairly dovish yesterday and said that they see inflation easing in a lot of different areas of the economy, but you may be seeing a muted reaction today because people don't want to get too far out over their skis with the non-farm payrolls report coming tomorrow," said Ellis Phifer, managing director, Fixed Income Capital Markets at Raymond James.
Economists polled by Reuters expect Friday's report to show that the U.S. economy added 185,000 payroll jobs in January and the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.6%.
Job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers surged 136% to 102,943 in January, the highest for the month since 2009, in a move driven largely by layoffs at large technology firms, according to global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
At the same time, initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 3,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 183,000 for the week ended Jan. 28, the Labor Department said.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 200,000 claims for the latest week.
The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was flat at 3.398%.
The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was little changed at 3.552%.
A closely-watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes, seen as an indicator of economic expectations, remained inverted at -69.90 basis points.
The U.S. two-year yield was down 1.4 basis points at 4.093%.
(Reporting by David Randall; Additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Barbara Lewis, Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-bon ... SL1N34I2PH
"TREASURIES-Yields flat as investors brace for key U.S. jobs report"
By David Randall
FEBRUARY 2, 2023
NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Thursday as investors digested a more dovish tone from the Federal Reserve and prepared for a closely watched jobs report on Friday.
The strength of the labor market is a key concern for the Fed, which announced a 25 basis-points interest rate hike Wednesday as it attempts to bring inflation down to its target rate of 2%.
The S&P 500 rose more than 1% on Wednesday, and is up more than 7% for the year, after Fed Chair Jerome Powell seemed to strike a more dovish tone in a press conference.
Yields on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury, which move inversely to prices, fell after the meeting and have declined by more than 40 basis points in 2023.
On Thursday, the 10-year yield dropped to a two-week low, while the two-year yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, tumbled to its weakest level since early October.
"The Fed came out fairly dovish yesterday and said that they see inflation easing in a lot of different areas of the economy, but you may be seeing a muted reaction today because people don't want to get too far out over their skis with the non-farm payrolls report coming tomorrow," said Ellis Phifer, managing director, Fixed Income Capital Markets at Raymond James.
Economists polled by Reuters expect Friday's report to show that the U.S. economy added 185,000 payroll jobs in January and the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.6%.
Job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers surged 136% to 102,943 in January, the highest for the month since 2009, in a move driven largely by layoffs at large technology firms, according to global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
At the same time, initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 3,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 183,000 for the week ended Jan. 28, the Labor Department said.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 200,000 claims for the latest week.
The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was flat at 3.398%.
The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was little changed at 3.552%.
A closely-watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes, seen as an indicator of economic expectations, remained inverted at -69.90 basis points.
The U.S. two-year yield was down 1.4 basis points at 4.093%.
(Reporting by David Randall; Additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Barbara Lewis, Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-bon ... SL1N34I2PH
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
REUTERS
"Fed's Powell says no rate cuts this year, and markets hear it differently"
By Ann Saphir and Lindsay Dunsmuir
February 2, 2023
Feb 2 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had a clear message on Wednesday: as "gratifying" as it is that inflation has begun to slow, the central bank is nowhere near to reversing course or declaring victory.
"It's going to take some time" for disinflation to spread through the economy, Powell said in a news conference following the Fed's latest quarter-point interest rate increase.
He said he expects a couple more rate hikes still to go, and, "given our outlook, I just I don't see us cutting rates this year."
Investors ignored him, keeping bets on just one more rate hike ahead and piling further into bets that rates will be lower by year's end than they are now.
It's not obvious which view will prove right: neither the Fed nor markets have a great predictive record since the central bank's current round of rate hikes began last March.
Markets have repeatedly had to scrap bets for a quick pivot, pushing those expectations out farther as the central bank charged ahead with the most aggressive policy tightening in 40 years.
For their part, Fed policymakers each quarter through last year kept ratcheting up their own estimates for how high they'd push interest rates as inflation proved stronger and stickier than anticipated.
Not once did they signal rates would get cut this year.
How the current disconnect resolves will largely come down to whether inflation drops faster than the central bank expects, or labor markets soften further than it hopes.
"The actual outcome is data dependent, and we won't have the data to confirm or deny...until we are deeper into the first half of the year," said Tim Duy, chief U.S. economist at SGH Macro Advisors.
And as long as there's that uncertainty, it is in Powell's interest to try to keep financial markets from betting too hard on rate cuts that would loosen financial conditions, possibly undermining the Fed's hard-won progress against inflation.
Even simply acknowledging the possibility of a rate cut later in the year could undo some of the Fed's work, forcing more Fed tightening and making it even harder to avoid a recession.
Thus Powell's repeated assertions about not cutting rates, and indeed needing to take them at least above 5% as policymakers forecast in December.
"It is our judgment that we're not yet in a sufficiently restrictive policy stance, which is why we say that we expect ongoing hikes will be appropriate," Powell said.
But so far, said Kroll Institute's Global Chief Economist Megan Greene, "the markets aren't buying what the Fed is peddling."
The central bank's benchmark overnight lending rate is now 4.50%-4.75%.
Traders of interest-rate futures are pricing in one more 25 basis point increase in March before the Fed pauses to assess how its run-up in interest rates from near zero one year ago is slowing the economy.
Rate cuts, they expect, will start in September - a view Powell said Wednesday is driven by the expectation of fast-receding inflation.
Either cutting in September or waiting until next year, would be in the historical range.
Since the 1990s, the interlude between rate hikes and rate cuts has varied from as long as 18 months in 1997-1998 to as short as five months in 1995.
Inflation data is trending in the right way over the past three months.
By the Fed's preferred measure, inflation is now running at a 5.0% annual rate, still more than twice the central bank's 2% goal, but down from a high of 7% last summer.
Wage pressures are also easing, which could allow the Fed to reduce rates later this year as it tries to engineer an elusive 'soft landing,' where inflation comes down without severe harm to economic growth and employment.
DON'T WANT TO REV THE ECONOMY
The Fed is also wary of going too easy on inflation and cutting rates too soon.
Powell and others point to the last big inflation war the Fed fought, in the last 1970s and early 1980s, as a cautionary tale.
"Investors are inviting him to be Arthur Burns, and he doesn't want to accept that invitation," Dreyfus and Mellon Chief Economist Vincent Reinhart said of Powell.
It was on Fed Chair Burns' watch, in the 1970s, that the Fed repeatedly raised rates and then cut them to fight rising unemployment, only for prices to explode again and force more rate hikes.
His successor Paul Volcker ended up jacking rates to almost 20% to finally quash the inflation that Burns had let get out of hand.
The Fed, Powell said Wednesday, cannot risk doing too little.
"We have no incentive and no desire to overtighten, but if we feel like we've gone too far ... if inflation is coming down faster than we expect, then we have tools that would work on that," he said.
Then there's the thorny issue of financial conditions, a proxy for how easy it is to access credit and which the Fed watches closely to see how tight borrowing costs are in reality.
Financial conditions began to ease following the central bank's policy meeting last November and while Powell largely brushed off such concerns on Wednesday, the Fed can ill afford for them to ease further.
"This loosening of financial conditions is undoubtedly not what the Fed was aiming for, and we expect a cacophony of Fed speeches in the coming weeks will aim to reorient the Fed's message," said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY Parthenon.
Reporting by Ann Saphir and Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Andrea Ricci
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/feds ... 023-02-02/
"Fed's Powell says no rate cuts this year, and markets hear it differently"
By Ann Saphir and Lindsay Dunsmuir
February 2, 2023
Feb 2 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had a clear message on Wednesday: as "gratifying" as it is that inflation has begun to slow, the central bank is nowhere near to reversing course or declaring victory.
"It's going to take some time" for disinflation to spread through the economy, Powell said in a news conference following the Fed's latest quarter-point interest rate increase.
He said he expects a couple more rate hikes still to go, and, "given our outlook, I just I don't see us cutting rates this year."
Investors ignored him, keeping bets on just one more rate hike ahead and piling further into bets that rates will be lower by year's end than they are now.
It's not obvious which view will prove right: neither the Fed nor markets have a great predictive record since the central bank's current round of rate hikes began last March.
Markets have repeatedly had to scrap bets for a quick pivot, pushing those expectations out farther as the central bank charged ahead with the most aggressive policy tightening in 40 years.
For their part, Fed policymakers each quarter through last year kept ratcheting up their own estimates for how high they'd push interest rates as inflation proved stronger and stickier than anticipated.
Not once did they signal rates would get cut this year.
How the current disconnect resolves will largely come down to whether inflation drops faster than the central bank expects, or labor markets soften further than it hopes.
"The actual outcome is data dependent, and we won't have the data to confirm or deny...until we are deeper into the first half of the year," said Tim Duy, chief U.S. economist at SGH Macro Advisors.
And as long as there's that uncertainty, it is in Powell's interest to try to keep financial markets from betting too hard on rate cuts that would loosen financial conditions, possibly undermining the Fed's hard-won progress against inflation.
Even simply acknowledging the possibility of a rate cut later in the year could undo some of the Fed's work, forcing more Fed tightening and making it even harder to avoid a recession.
Thus Powell's repeated assertions about not cutting rates, and indeed needing to take them at least above 5% as policymakers forecast in December.
"It is our judgment that we're not yet in a sufficiently restrictive policy stance, which is why we say that we expect ongoing hikes will be appropriate," Powell said.
But so far, said Kroll Institute's Global Chief Economist Megan Greene, "the markets aren't buying what the Fed is peddling."
The central bank's benchmark overnight lending rate is now 4.50%-4.75%.
Traders of interest-rate futures are pricing in one more 25 basis point increase in March before the Fed pauses to assess how its run-up in interest rates from near zero one year ago is slowing the economy.
Rate cuts, they expect, will start in September - a view Powell said Wednesday is driven by the expectation of fast-receding inflation.
Either cutting in September or waiting until next year, would be in the historical range.
Since the 1990s, the interlude between rate hikes and rate cuts has varied from as long as 18 months in 1997-1998 to as short as five months in 1995.
Inflation data is trending in the right way over the past three months.
By the Fed's preferred measure, inflation is now running at a 5.0% annual rate, still more than twice the central bank's 2% goal, but down from a high of 7% last summer.
Wage pressures are also easing, which could allow the Fed to reduce rates later this year as it tries to engineer an elusive 'soft landing,' where inflation comes down without severe harm to economic growth and employment.
DON'T WANT TO REV THE ECONOMY
The Fed is also wary of going too easy on inflation and cutting rates too soon.
Powell and others point to the last big inflation war the Fed fought, in the last 1970s and early 1980s, as a cautionary tale.
"Investors are inviting him to be Arthur Burns, and he doesn't want to accept that invitation," Dreyfus and Mellon Chief Economist Vincent Reinhart said of Powell.
It was on Fed Chair Burns' watch, in the 1970s, that the Fed repeatedly raised rates and then cut them to fight rising unemployment, only for prices to explode again and force more rate hikes.
His successor Paul Volcker ended up jacking rates to almost 20% to finally quash the inflation that Burns had let get out of hand.
The Fed, Powell said Wednesday, cannot risk doing too little.
"We have no incentive and no desire to overtighten, but if we feel like we've gone too far ... if inflation is coming down faster than we expect, then we have tools that would work on that," he said.
Then there's the thorny issue of financial conditions, a proxy for how easy it is to access credit and which the Fed watches closely to see how tight borrowing costs are in reality.
Financial conditions began to ease following the central bank's policy meeting last November and while Powell largely brushed off such concerns on Wednesday, the Fed can ill afford for them to ease further.
"This loosening of financial conditions is undoubtedly not what the Fed was aiming for, and we expect a cacophony of Fed speeches in the coming weeks will aim to reorient the Fed's message," said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY Parthenon.
Reporting by Ann Saphir and Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Andrea Ricci
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/feds ... 023-02-02/
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
REUTERS
"U.S. weekly jobless claims drop to nine-month low; productivity gains speed"
By Lucia Mutikani
February 2, 2023
Summary
* Weekly jobless claims drop 3,000 to 183,000
* Continuing claims decrease 11,000 to 1.655 million
* Productivity accelerates at 3.0% rate in fourth quarter
* Unit labor costs grow at 1.1% pace
WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a nine-month low last week as the labor market remains resilient despite higher borrowing costs and mounting fears of a recession this year.
The surprise decline in weekly jobless claims reported by the Labor Department on Thursday raised cautious optimism that the economy could skirt a recession or just experience a shallow and short downturn.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told reporters on Wednesday that "the economy can return to 2% inflation without a really significant downturn or a really big increase in unemployment."
"Some day soon economists will have to take down those calls for recession in 2023 because the labor market refuses to budge from the lowest unemployment rate in decades," said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS in New York.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 183,000 for the week ended Jan. 28, the lowest level since April 2022.
It was the third straight weekly decline in applications.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 200,000 claims for the latest week.
Unadjusted claims slipped 872 to 224,356 last week.
There were notable declines in applications in Kentucky, California and Ohio, which offset increases in Georgia and New York.
Claims have been running low this year, consistent with a persistently tight labor market.
The government reported on Wednesday that there were 11 million job openings at the end of December, with 1.9 openings for every unemployed person.
"The labor market has yet to respond meaningfully to a rapid increase in interest rates," said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in White Plains, New York.
Outside the technology industry and interest-rate sensitive sectors like housing and finance, employers have been reluctant to lay off workers after struggling to find labor during the pandemic, and also because they are optimistic economic conditions will improve later this year.
An Institute for Supply Management report on Wednesday said manufacturers "are indicating that they are not going to substantially reduce head counts as they are positive about the second half of the year."
Stocks on Wall Street were trading higher.
The dollar rose against a basket of currencies.
U.S. Treasury yields fell.
TIGHT LABOR MARKET
The U.S. central bank on Wednesday raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to the 4.50%-4.75% range, and promised "ongoing increases" in borrowing costs.
The claims report showed the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, fell 11,000 to 1.655 million during the week ending Jan. 21.
That partially revised the increases logged in the prior two weeks in the so-called continuing claims.
The claims data has no bearing on January's employment report, scheduled for release on Friday, as it falls outside the survey period.
According to a Reuters poll of economists, nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 185,000 jobs last month.
The economy created 223,000 jobs in December.
The unemployment rate is seen rising to 3.6% from a more than 50-year low of 3.5% in December.
The raft of layoffs in the technology sector pushed up job cuts in January.
A separate report on Thursday from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers surged 136% to 102,943.
That was the highest January total since 2009.
The technology sector accounted for 41% of the job cuts, with 41,829 layoffs.
Retailers announced 13,000 job cuts, while financial firms planned to lay off 10,603 workers.
"It is difficult to completely square the seemingly contrasting messages from the jobless claims data and the Challenger job cuts data," said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York.
"One possible explanation for the recent divergence is that people are getting laid off, but they are not filing for unemployment insurance."
"This may be because people are easily able to find new work or because severance payments are delaying eligibility for unemployment benefits."
Despite labor market tightness, wage inflation is slowing and could continue doing so as a third report from the Labor Department showed worker productivity accelerating at a 3.0% annualized rate in the fourth quarter, the fastest in a year, after rising at a 1.4% pace in the third quarter.
Productivity fell at a 1.5% rate from a year ago and dropped 1.3% in 2022.
But that was largely because of distortions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Productivity was up 5.1% from the fourth quarter of 2019.
As result, unit labor costs - the price of labor per single unit of output - increased at a 1.1% rate.
That was the smallest gain since the first quarter of 2021 and followed a 2.0% pace of growth in the third quarter.
Though unit labor costs rose at a 4.5% rate from a year ago, they were below their peak of 7.0% over the 12 months through the second quarter of 2022.
"The upshot is that, even without a rise in the unemployment rate and with job openings suspiciously resilient, the labor market no longer appears to be a significant source of inflationary pressure," said Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.
Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-w ... 023-02-02/
"U.S. weekly jobless claims drop to nine-month low; productivity gains speed"
By Lucia Mutikani
February 2, 2023
Summary
* Weekly jobless claims drop 3,000 to 183,000
* Continuing claims decrease 11,000 to 1.655 million
* Productivity accelerates at 3.0% rate in fourth quarter
* Unit labor costs grow at 1.1% pace
WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a nine-month low last week as the labor market remains resilient despite higher borrowing costs and mounting fears of a recession this year.
The surprise decline in weekly jobless claims reported by the Labor Department on Thursday raised cautious optimism that the economy could skirt a recession or just experience a shallow and short downturn.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told reporters on Wednesday that "the economy can return to 2% inflation without a really significant downturn or a really big increase in unemployment."
"Some day soon economists will have to take down those calls for recession in 2023 because the labor market refuses to budge from the lowest unemployment rate in decades," said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS in New York.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 183,000 for the week ended Jan. 28, the lowest level since April 2022.
It was the third straight weekly decline in applications.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 200,000 claims for the latest week.
Unadjusted claims slipped 872 to 224,356 last week.
There were notable declines in applications in Kentucky, California and Ohio, which offset increases in Georgia and New York.
Claims have been running low this year, consistent with a persistently tight labor market.
The government reported on Wednesday that there were 11 million job openings at the end of December, with 1.9 openings for every unemployed person.
"The labor market has yet to respond meaningfully to a rapid increase in interest rates," said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in White Plains, New York.
Outside the technology industry and interest-rate sensitive sectors like housing and finance, employers have been reluctant to lay off workers after struggling to find labor during the pandemic, and also because they are optimistic economic conditions will improve later this year.
An Institute for Supply Management report on Wednesday said manufacturers "are indicating that they are not going to substantially reduce head counts as they are positive about the second half of the year."
Stocks on Wall Street were trading higher.
The dollar rose against a basket of currencies.
U.S. Treasury yields fell.
TIGHT LABOR MARKET
The U.S. central bank on Wednesday raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to the 4.50%-4.75% range, and promised "ongoing increases" in borrowing costs.
The claims report showed the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, fell 11,000 to 1.655 million during the week ending Jan. 21.
That partially revised the increases logged in the prior two weeks in the so-called continuing claims.
The claims data has no bearing on January's employment report, scheduled for release on Friday, as it falls outside the survey period.
According to a Reuters poll of economists, nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 185,000 jobs last month.
The economy created 223,000 jobs in December.
The unemployment rate is seen rising to 3.6% from a more than 50-year low of 3.5% in December.
The raft of layoffs in the technology sector pushed up job cuts in January.
A separate report on Thursday from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers surged 136% to 102,943.
That was the highest January total since 2009.
The technology sector accounted for 41% of the job cuts, with 41,829 layoffs.
Retailers announced 13,000 job cuts, while financial firms planned to lay off 10,603 workers.
"It is difficult to completely square the seemingly contrasting messages from the jobless claims data and the Challenger job cuts data," said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York.
"One possible explanation for the recent divergence is that people are getting laid off, but they are not filing for unemployment insurance."
"This may be because people are easily able to find new work or because severance payments are delaying eligibility for unemployment benefits."
Despite labor market tightness, wage inflation is slowing and could continue doing so as a third report from the Labor Department showed worker productivity accelerating at a 3.0% annualized rate in the fourth quarter, the fastest in a year, after rising at a 1.4% pace in the third quarter.
Productivity fell at a 1.5% rate from a year ago and dropped 1.3% in 2022.
But that was largely because of distortions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Productivity was up 5.1% from the fourth quarter of 2019.
As result, unit labor costs - the price of labor per single unit of output - increased at a 1.1% rate.
That was the smallest gain since the first quarter of 2021 and followed a 2.0% pace of growth in the third quarter.
Though unit labor costs rose at a 4.5% rate from a year ago, they were below their peak of 7.0% over the 12 months through the second quarter of 2022.
"The upshot is that, even without a rise in the unemployment rate and with job openings suspiciously resilient, the labor market no longer appears to be a significant source of inflationary pressure," said Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.
Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-w ... 023-02-02/
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
REUTERS
"Nasdaq, S&P 500 post strong gains on Fed relief, Meta surge"
By Lewis Krauskopf, Shreyashi Sanyal and Yohann M Cherian
February 2, 2023
Summary
* Meta soars on cost controls, $40 bln share buyback
* Merck slides on disappointing forecast, UnitedHealth drops
* S&P 500, Nasdaq hit roughly 5-month highs
* Indexes: Dow down 0.11%, S&P up 1.47%, Nasdaq up 3.25%
Feb 2 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq and S&P 500 ended higher on Thursday and touched roughly five-month highs as a more dovish-than-expected message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell boosted equities and Meta Platforms shares soared on rigorous cost controls.
The Dow slipped, dragged down by declines in some big healthcare stocks.
Investors were still digesting the Fed's policy decision on Wednesday and comments from Powell, who acknowledged progress in the fight against inflation and appeared reluctant to push back against the rally in stocks and bonds.
“I think the reaction to yesterday’s Fed comments really encouraged investors to go risk on,” said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.
"The bottom line for investors I think is that the Fed’s comments were unexpected.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 39.02 points, or 0.11%, to 34,053.94, the S&P 500 gained 60.55 points, or 1.47%, to 4,179.76 and the Nasdaq Composite added 384.50 points, or 3.25%, to 12,200.82.
Shares of megacap stocks Apple, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet also gained strongly ahead of results due after market close on Thursday, with Apple rising 3.7%, and Amazon and Alphabet both up over 7%.
In initial after-hours trading, however, shares of all three companies fell after their respective results.
After a bruising 2022, U.S. stock markets have made a strong start to the year, with tech and other stocks that lagged last year leading the rebound amid hopes that the Fed will temper its aggressive rate hikes, which in turn could alleviate some pressure on equity valuations.
Those trends continued on Thursday.
The communications services sector jumped 6.7%, its biggest daily gain in almost three years, led by a 23.3% surge for Facebook parent Meta.
The company revealed stricter cost controls this year and a $40 billion share buyback, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg called 2023 the "year of efficiency."
The S&P 500's 50-day moving average moved above the 200-day moving average, a pattern known as a "golden cross" that is perceived by many as a bullish technical signal for near-term momentum.
The energy sector, one of last year's standout performers, fell 2.5%, while healthcare dropped 0.7%.
UnitedHealth Group shares fell 5.3% after the U.S. government proposed Medicare Advantage reimbursement rates below analyst estimates, and the stock weighed down the Dow.
A 3.3% decline in Merck shares, after the drugmaker forecast 2023 earnings below Wall Street estimates, also dragged on the blue chip index.
Shares of drugmaker Eli Lilly dropped 3.5% after sales of its closely watched diabetes drug missed estimates.
Data showed jobless claims fell last week to a nine-month low, highlighting the labor market's resilience, ahead of monthly U.S. employment numbers on Friday.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.29-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.55-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 36 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 162 new highs and 16 new lows.
About 15 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, compared with the 11.7 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.
Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York, Shreyashi Sanyal and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi, Anil D'Silva and Cynthia Osterman
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/nasd ... 023-02-02/
"Nasdaq, S&P 500 post strong gains on Fed relief, Meta surge"
By Lewis Krauskopf, Shreyashi Sanyal and Yohann M Cherian
February 2, 2023
Summary
* Meta soars on cost controls, $40 bln share buyback
* Merck slides on disappointing forecast, UnitedHealth drops
* S&P 500, Nasdaq hit roughly 5-month highs
* Indexes: Dow down 0.11%, S&P up 1.47%, Nasdaq up 3.25%
Feb 2 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq and S&P 500 ended higher on Thursday and touched roughly five-month highs as a more dovish-than-expected message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell boosted equities and Meta Platforms shares soared on rigorous cost controls.
The Dow slipped, dragged down by declines in some big healthcare stocks.
Investors were still digesting the Fed's policy decision on Wednesday and comments from Powell, who acknowledged progress in the fight against inflation and appeared reluctant to push back against the rally in stocks and bonds.
“I think the reaction to yesterday’s Fed comments really encouraged investors to go risk on,” said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.
"The bottom line for investors I think is that the Fed’s comments were unexpected.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 39.02 points, or 0.11%, to 34,053.94, the S&P 500 gained 60.55 points, or 1.47%, to 4,179.76 and the Nasdaq Composite added 384.50 points, or 3.25%, to 12,200.82.
Shares of megacap stocks Apple, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet also gained strongly ahead of results due after market close on Thursday, with Apple rising 3.7%, and Amazon and Alphabet both up over 7%.
In initial after-hours trading, however, shares of all three companies fell after their respective results.
After a bruising 2022, U.S. stock markets have made a strong start to the year, with tech and other stocks that lagged last year leading the rebound amid hopes that the Fed will temper its aggressive rate hikes, which in turn could alleviate some pressure on equity valuations.
Those trends continued on Thursday.
The communications services sector jumped 6.7%, its biggest daily gain in almost three years, led by a 23.3% surge for Facebook parent Meta.
The company revealed stricter cost controls this year and a $40 billion share buyback, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg called 2023 the "year of efficiency."
The S&P 500's 50-day moving average moved above the 200-day moving average, a pattern known as a "golden cross" that is perceived by many as a bullish technical signal for near-term momentum.
The energy sector, one of last year's standout performers, fell 2.5%, while healthcare dropped 0.7%.
UnitedHealth Group shares fell 5.3% after the U.S. government proposed Medicare Advantage reimbursement rates below analyst estimates, and the stock weighed down the Dow.
A 3.3% decline in Merck shares, after the drugmaker forecast 2023 earnings below Wall Street estimates, also dragged on the blue chip index.
Shares of drugmaker Eli Lilly dropped 3.5% after sales of its closely watched diabetes drug missed estimates.
Data showed jobless claims fell last week to a nine-month low, highlighting the labor market's resilience, ahead of monthly U.S. employment numbers on Friday.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.29-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.55-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 36 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 162 new highs and 16 new lows.
About 15 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, compared with the 11.7 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.
Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York, Shreyashi Sanyal and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi, Anil D'Silva and Cynthia Osterman
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/nasd ... 023-02-02/
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
FOX NEWS
"Biden's administration, the least transparent in our history, is about to get a great big wake up call"
Opinion by David Bossie
1 FEBRUARY 2023
In the name of political expediency and to make life as painful as possible for President Trump and his allies, House Democrats under the leadership of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the illegitimate January 6 Committee made the conscious decision to set new precedent and change the rules when it comes to legislative branch power and congressional oversight.
In doing so, they didn’t change things temporarily, they changed things forever.
Republican committee chairman should now utilize the new rules accordingly.
Apparently, Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice didn’t get the memo.
Recently, DOJ attempted a return to pre-Trump precedent when they informed House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that they wouldn’t be cooperating with his document requests and will instead commence with the customary foot-dragging that used to be part of the "give and take" in our system of checks and balances -- until now.
On account of the decisions made by Trump-deranged Democrats and Attorney General Garland himself, stonewalling Congress is no longer an accepted norm.
The January 6 Committee created a new standard of "no mercy" and the Biden administration took full advantage of it.
In essence, this means that no one can run out the clock out on Congress without serious consequences -- not even political appointees at the Justice Department.
To put things in the proper context, this dramatic change in precedent is crashing into the least transparent administration in history.
For the past two years, the Biden administration was not forced to answer any tough questions from either the Democrat majority in Congress or the biased mainstream media.
Because of that disastrous arrangement, President Biden, his cabinet, senior staffers, and faceless bureaucrats mistakenly believe they’re all untouchable.
Thankfully for the American people, with the election of the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives, there’s finally someone minding the store in Washington.
Republicans have been entrusted with the majority in the U.S. House -- the People’s House -- partly because millions of citizens believe the Biden administration is in dire need of some accountability.
Americans want answers about our open southern border, Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal, the targeting of parents who attend school board meetings, COVID-19 origins, Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified information and his family’s foreign business ties, and the unprecedented raid of Mar-a-Lago.
Telling congressional Republicans, "Sorry, it’s really none of your business," is no longer a sustainable strategy because of the changes that were put into place during the previous Congress.
The Justice Department isn’t a fortress; it’s part of your government that’s supposed to be of the people, for the people, and by the people.
Everyone knows that the executive branch has grown far too big and powerful, but that doesn’t mean Congress is no longer a co-equal branch of government.
Republicans in the House must use all powers at their disposal -- along with the new precedent that’s been set -- to keep the executive branch from becoming an unaccountable monarchy or in the words of Joe Biden -- an autocracy.
Some of these powers include subpoenas and the ability to hold individuals and entities in contempt of Congress.
But in the words of Eric Clapton, "it’s in the way that you use it."
In the post-January 6 Committee world that we live in, document requests that are brushed aside must be followed up with subpoenas without delay.
And subpoenas that are refused must be enforced and complied with or met with speedy contempt of Congress votes and criminal referrals.
Criminal referrals must be handled in a totally non-partisan fashion and fully investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Columbia.
If the evidence supports a criminal indictment, then charges should be brought.
This is the "Bannon-Navarro" contempt of Congress doctrine that the Democrats created; we can’t have a two-tiered system of justice in this country.
Republicans in Congress have their work cut out for them, there’s no doubt about that.
America has a $31 trillion national debt, critical race theory and woke culture are infecting our public schools, deadly fentanyl is pouring across our border, and social media companies are censoring free speech.
These are trying times indeed and moving the ball down the field with a small majority will be tough every step of the way -- but this is no time to back down from a fight.
The Democrats made their bed, now they have to lie in it.
The Biden administration must not be allowed to go back to playing by the rulebook that they just ran roughshod over to achieve their political goals.
So, send the subpoenas, demand transparency, and hold them accountable -- using the new rules they created.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 1d06eab6ca
"Biden's administration, the least transparent in our history, is about to get a great big wake up call"
Opinion by David Bossie
1 FEBRUARY 2023
In the name of political expediency and to make life as painful as possible for President Trump and his allies, House Democrats under the leadership of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the illegitimate January 6 Committee made the conscious decision to set new precedent and change the rules when it comes to legislative branch power and congressional oversight.
In doing so, they didn’t change things temporarily, they changed things forever.
Republican committee chairman should now utilize the new rules accordingly.
Apparently, Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice didn’t get the memo.
Recently, DOJ attempted a return to pre-Trump precedent when they informed House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that they wouldn’t be cooperating with his document requests and will instead commence with the customary foot-dragging that used to be part of the "give and take" in our system of checks and balances -- until now.
On account of the decisions made by Trump-deranged Democrats and Attorney General Garland himself, stonewalling Congress is no longer an accepted norm.
The January 6 Committee created a new standard of "no mercy" and the Biden administration took full advantage of it.
In essence, this means that no one can run out the clock out on Congress without serious consequences -- not even political appointees at the Justice Department.
To put things in the proper context, this dramatic change in precedent is crashing into the least transparent administration in history.
For the past two years, the Biden administration was not forced to answer any tough questions from either the Democrat majority in Congress or the biased mainstream media.
Because of that disastrous arrangement, President Biden, his cabinet, senior staffers, and faceless bureaucrats mistakenly believe they’re all untouchable.
Thankfully for the American people, with the election of the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives, there’s finally someone minding the store in Washington.
Republicans have been entrusted with the majority in the U.S. House -- the People’s House -- partly because millions of citizens believe the Biden administration is in dire need of some accountability.
Americans want answers about our open southern border, Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal, the targeting of parents who attend school board meetings, COVID-19 origins, Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified information and his family’s foreign business ties, and the unprecedented raid of Mar-a-Lago.
Telling congressional Republicans, "Sorry, it’s really none of your business," is no longer a sustainable strategy because of the changes that were put into place during the previous Congress.
The Justice Department isn’t a fortress; it’s part of your government that’s supposed to be of the people, for the people, and by the people.
Everyone knows that the executive branch has grown far too big and powerful, but that doesn’t mean Congress is no longer a co-equal branch of government.
Republicans in the House must use all powers at their disposal -- along with the new precedent that’s been set -- to keep the executive branch from becoming an unaccountable monarchy or in the words of Joe Biden -- an autocracy.
Some of these powers include subpoenas and the ability to hold individuals and entities in contempt of Congress.
But in the words of Eric Clapton, "it’s in the way that you use it."
In the post-January 6 Committee world that we live in, document requests that are brushed aside must be followed up with subpoenas without delay.
And subpoenas that are refused must be enforced and complied with or met with speedy contempt of Congress votes and criminal referrals.
Criminal referrals must be handled in a totally non-partisan fashion and fully investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Columbia.
If the evidence supports a criminal indictment, then charges should be brought.
This is the "Bannon-Navarro" contempt of Congress doctrine that the Democrats created; we can’t have a two-tiered system of justice in this country.
Republicans in Congress have their work cut out for them, there’s no doubt about that.
America has a $31 trillion national debt, critical race theory and woke culture are infecting our public schools, deadly fentanyl is pouring across our border, and social media companies are censoring free speech.
These are trying times indeed and moving the ball down the field with a small majority will be tough every step of the way -- but this is no time to back down from a fight.
The Democrats made their bed, now they have to lie in it.
The Biden administration must not be allowed to go back to playing by the rulebook that they just ran roughshod over to achieve their political goals.
So, send the subpoenas, demand transparency, and hold them accountable -- using the new rules they created.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 1d06eab6ca