월스트리트저널 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 구독 추천(2023.9.14)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

 

◈ Higher Fuel and Labor Costs Put Dent in Corporate Profits(연료비와 인건비 상승으로 기업 이익에 타격)

Energy and labor costs are cutting further into some corporate profits, in the latest sign that inflationary forces continue to course through industries, pressure executives and worry Wall Street.

American Airlines cut on Wednesday its quarterly profit forecast, citing surging jet fuel costs and a new pilot contract ratified in August. Package delivery giant United Parcel Service said this week it expects to book about $500 million more in contract-related costs than it expected by year-end, hitting its profit margins. In Detroit, workers are threatening a strike this week against the big three U.S. automakers.

Industries from travel to manufacturing have been contending with worker shortages as the U.S. economy emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic, providing leverage that labor unions are using to negotiate higher pay and expanded benefits. In California, healthcare facilities and restaurant operators reached separate deals this week with workers that are set to raise minimum pay for employees in the state, while West Coast dockworkers this summer secured a 32% raise through 2028.

 

◈ A 3% Mortgage Rate In a Grim 7% World? A Startup Sees Gold(암울한 7% 세계에서 3%의 모기지 금리? 스타트업이 금을 보다)

There are millions of outstanding mortgages with a 3% interest rate. A new startup says it can help today’s home buyers get their hands on them.

Mortgage rates are now above 7%, leaps and bounds above the 3% they grazed two years ago. Buyers and sellers alike are giving up, sucking demand and supply out of the housing market. And things are expected to stay that way, with the Federal Reserve signaling plans to keep rates high for the foreseeable future.

Roam, a real-estate company that launched Wednesday, is betting that it can popularize an obscure workaround. “Assumable loans” allow sellers to transfer their own mortgage loans to the buyer alongside the house.

In theory, the idea sounds great, at least for discouraged house hunters who can inherit a lower-rate loan. Sellers, in turn, might fetch higher prices for their houses.

 

◈ Gasoline Boosts Inflation(휘발유가 인플레이션을 높이다)

Consumer prices rose in August at the fastest pace in more than a year due to a jump in energy costs, illustrating the potential obstacles to wringing inflation out of the economy without a sharper slowdown.

The consumer-price index, a closely watched inflation gauge, rose 0.6% in August from the prior month, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. More than half of the increase was due to higher gasoline prices.

So-called core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy items, rose by a relatively mild 0.3% last month after even lower readings in June and July. The August rise reflected higher costs for items such as airfares and vehicle insurance.

The monthly core reading likely keeps Federal Reserve officials on course to hold interest rates steady at their meeting next week without resolving a debate over whether they will need to raise them again this year to slow the economy and maintain recent progress on inflation.

 

◈ India Keeps Pulling Internet Plug, Hampering Digital Economy(인도가 인터넷 플러그를 계속 뽑아 디지털 경제를 방해하고 있다)

When Indian authorities shut the internet across a remote northeast state in May, Amy Aribam said it wiped out the more than $9,000 in monthly revenue for her home business selling saris online.

Four months later, Aribam is back online but the internet remains down for many, and the women who weave her silk and cotton saris by hand are suffering. “We couldn’t communicate with our customers,” Aribam said. “Our business is completely online.”

Nine years after Modi was elected, the world’s most populous democracy leads the world in internet shutdowns, according to tallies by digital-rights groups.

Last year’s 84 cutoffs in various parts of the country exceeded the combined total for all other nations, including Iran, Libya and Sudan, New York-based digital rights group Access Now says. Since 2016, when the group began collecting data, India has accounted for more than half of all internet shutdowns.

 

◈ S&P, Nasdaq Gain, Dow Falls After Data(S&P, 나스닥 상승, 다우지수 하락)

Investors largely liked what they saw in Wednesday’s inflation report, solidifying their bets that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady at the end of next week’s policy meeting.

Major stock indexes were modestly higher for most of the day before losing some momentum in the final 90 minutes of the session. The S& P 500 added 0.1%, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%. Treasury yields were little changed, with the yield on the 10-year note settling at 4.248%, from 4.263% Tuesday.

The consumer-price index rose 0.6% in August from the prior month, the fastest pace in more than a year. Higher gasoline prices were responsible for more than half of the increase.

Core prices, the preferred gauge of the Fed that excludes volatile food and energy categories, rose a more modest 0.3%—slightly above the 0.2% estimate of economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.

 

◈ Saudi Oil Cuts Set to Keep Gasoline Prices at High Levels(사우디 석유 감산으로 휘발유 가격을 높은 수준으로 유지할 예정)

Saudi Arabia’s decision to extend cuts to its crude-oil output until the end of the year is likely to lead to a significant supply shortfall for the rest of the year, keeping prices higher at the pump, according to the International Energy Agency.

In its monthly report, the IEA said cuts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have led to 2.5 million barrels a day being removed from the market since January, though this has mostly been mitigated by record supply coming from the U.S. and Brazil, with non-OPEC supply up by 1.9 million barrels a day.

However, with Saudi production as well as Russian exports being reduced until the end of the year, the market is likely to see a significant shortfall of about 1.1 million barrels a day in the fourth quarter, which is likely to support prices, the IEA said Wednesday.

The unwinding of the cuts in 2024 should bring the market back to surplus, but a lack of oil inventories could mean high volatility in the market, the Paris-based agency added.

 

오늘도 경제신문으로 세상을 봅니다.