Member Briefing October 15, 2024
Panel Proposes Steps to Prevent Unauthorized Engine Parts Entering Supply Chain
The ad hoc alliance of commercial aerospace manufacturers and airlines have released their report recommending ways to help prevent unauthorized parts from entering the propulsion supply chain. The Aviation Supply Chain Integrity Coalition was formed early this year in response to a 2023 case involving dozens of turbofan engines produced by CFM International were compromised by parts sourced to a U.K. distributor. According to GE Aerospace, the coalition’s recommendations “are performance-based and technology-agnostic, allowing companies in the aerospace industry flexibility in achieving the outcome”. The proposals include strengthening vendor accreditation, digitizing documentation, and improving part traceability, to be implemented over various timelines.
The Coalition has shared the report with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, along with law enforcement officials. GE Aerospace reported it has started to implement the recommendation, specifically noting it has digitized records dating back to 2015, and now digitizes key paperwork when an engine visits a GE Aerospace shop. It plans to pilot digital signatures in the coming months.
Read more at The Economic Innovation Group
Candy Producers Using Less Chocolate This Halloween Amid Record Cocoa Prices
This Halloween, shoppers can expect to pay more for Hershey and Mars candy bars. Cocoa prices have doubled since the start of 2024 — and prices of the sweet commodity are projected to remain high through at least September 2025 — according to Wells Fargo. Major producers of candy are also altering their products to rely less on the ingredient. The ingredient is at record highs because of changing weather patterns in West Africa, the crop’s main growing region, causing a decline in production.
Producers of more affordable chocolate, namely Hershey, Nestlé and Mars, are being hit particularly hard, and are focusing on boosting candies that do not require the expensive cocoa crop. Branch pointed to new gummy candies launched this Halloween season, including Hershey’s Shaq-A-Licious made with NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal. It also launched a Kit Kat bar this fall with cinnamon toast flavor, which does not contain chocolate.
China’s Exports Slow But Continue Run of Growth
China’s exports grew at a slower pace in September, but extended their streak to a sixth consecutive month, driven by Beijing’s efforts to cement its dominance in global manufacturing. Outbound shipments rose 2.4% from a year earlier in September, down from an 8.7% increase in August, according to data released Monday by the General Administration of Customs. Monday’s trade data showed that imports rose 0.3% on the year in September, slowing from August’s 0.5% rise and undershooting the 1.0% growth expected by economists in the WSJ poll. That put China’s trade surplus at $81.71 billion in September,
China’s shipments to its major trading partners slowed in September, according to calculations by The Wall Street Journal based on the official data. Exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the country’s top trading partner, rose 5.5% on the year in September, cooling from a 9.0% jump in August. Shipment to the European Union and the U.S., the No. 2 and No. 3 trade partners, rose 1.3% and 2.2% in September, down from 13.4% and 5.0% respectively in August.
Global Headlines
Middle East
- Israel And Hamas: The Latest News – The Guardian
- Hezbollah Drone Strike Kills 4 Israeli Soldiers, Injures Dozens - WSJ
- Netanyahu Mulls Plan To Empty Northern Gaza Of Civilians And Cut Off Aid To Those Left Inside – The Hill
- At Least 18 Killed In Israeli Strike On Northern Lebanon, Tensions High With UN Forces - Reuters
- What Is THAAD? US Deploys State-of-the-Art Air Defense Battery to Israel - Newsweek
- Thousands Trapped In Jabalia Camp As Israel Escalates Deadly Attacks In Northern Gaza - Reuters
- Germany Demands Israel Give Assurances It Won’t Use Weapons Against Civilians - Politico
- Interactive Map- Israel’s Operation In Gaza – Institute For The Study Of War
- Map – Tracking Hamas’ Attack On Israel – Live Universal Awareness Map
Ukraine
- Ukraine And Russia: The Latest News – The Guardian
- Ukrainian Journalist, 27, Who Chronicled Russian Occupation Dies In Prison - BBC
- Putin uses North Korean troops to fight in Ukraine, Zelenskyy says - Politico
- Ukraine Faces Bleak Winter as Russia Ramps Up Assaults, U.S. Support Trickles In - WSJ
- Ukraine War Map Shows Kyiv Troops 'Regain Lost Positions' Near Pokrovsk - Newsweek
- Russian Troops Captured Nine Ukrainian Drone Operators, Stripped Them And Then Murdered Them - Forbes
- Russia's Shadow Fleet Poses Threat to Other Countries: Report - Newsweek
- Vladimir Putin’s Spies Are Plotting Global Chaos – The Economist
- Interactive Map: Assessed Control Of Terrain In Ukraine – Institute For The Study Of War
- Map – Tracking Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine – Live Universal Awareness Map
Other Headlines
- Chinese Manufacturers Will Dominate Flat Panel Display Manufacturing– Forbes
- North Korea Warns South: 'Ready To Open Fire' - Newsweek
- World Fails First Review Of COP Renewable Energy Goal - Politico
- U.K.'s Starmer Urges Global Business to 'Back Britain' - WSJ
- Scale of Chinese Spying Overwhelms Western Governments - WSJ
- China Makes Major Show Of Force With War Games Near Taiwan - DW
- India And Canada Expel Top Diplomats Over Murder Accusations - BBC
- We’ve Entered A New World War, Says Top French Philosopher – Politico
Policy and Politics
Helene, Milton Wreckage Puts Spotlight On Disaster Loan Program
Tussling ratcheted up between the White House and GOP leaders last Thursday over when Congress needs to return to take up emergency disaster relief for victims of the twin hurricanes that have battered Southern states in recent days, including twice-hit Florida. While there’s been substantial confusion and misinformation about the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund, there’s general agreement that FEMA has enough money to get past the elections after receiving $20 billion in the Dec. 20 stopgap law. The Small Business Administration’s disaster loan account, however, is another matter.
The SBA says it has just $50 million left in the account with which to make loans, while thousands of applications a day are coming in and the agency is still sifting through requests for aid related to Hurricane Beryl, which struck Texas in July. The SBA is “quickly exhausting current federal funding to make new offers for affordable recovery loans to homeowners, renters, small businesses, and nonprofits,” SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman said in a statement. President Joe Biden has already called on Congress to come back into session early to refill the SBA’s coffers. Biden said he hasn’t spoken directly to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., about reconvening Congress before next month’s elections. Johnson, who’s been out on the campaign trail and visiting hurricane-stricken districts, continues to argue there is enough money to tide the administration over and lawmakers don’t need to return to Washington until after the elections.
Revisions to the FTC’s HSR Reporting Rules Related to Mergers and Acquisitions Set to Take Effect This January
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced a final rulemaking on a unanimous vote that will expand the reporting requirements for mergers and acquisitions under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the “HSR Act”). The new reporting requirements will go into effect after the new year in mid-January 2025. The slate of changes, while less onerous than the expansive rules initially proposed in June 2023, nevertheless will change the reporting landscape and add significant additional disclosures to the HSR process.
Numerous additional disclosure requirements survive in the final rule, including reporting on officers and directors, identifying deal “team leads”, submission of additional transaction related documents (including certain draft transaction agreements), submission of certain regular course business plans, and requiring descriptions of business lines, overlap products and supply relationships, including with respect to products and services still under development and that are not yet generating revenues (along with projected revenues and volumes for pipeline products). In line with the FTC’s recent focus on private equity, the revised HSR reporting will require disclosure of certain limited partners that have veto or approval rights. Notably absent from the revision are provisions relating to labor information. The FTC recently withdrew from and interagency MOU on cooperation on labor issues.
Read More at National Law Review
Worldwide Efforts to Reverse the Baby Shortage Are Falling Flat
Imagine if having children came with more than $150,000 in cheap loans, a subsidized minivan and a lifetime exemption from income taxes. Would people have more kids? The answer, it seems, is no. These are among the benefits—along with cheap child care, extra vacation and free fertility treatments—that have been doled out to parents in different parts of Europe, a region at the forefront of the worldwide baby shortage. Europe’s overall population shrank during the pandemic and is on track to contract by about 40 million by 2050, according to United Nations statistics.
Birthrates have been falling across the developed world since the 1960s. But the decline hit Europe harder and faster than demographers expected—a foreshadowing of the sudden drop in the U.S. fertility rate in recent years. Two European countries devote more resources to families than almost any other nation: Hungary and Norway. Despite their programs, they have fertility rates of 1.5 and 1.4 children for every woman, respectively—far below the replacement rate of 2.1, the level needed to keep the population steady. The U.S. fertility rate is 1.6. Demographers suggest the reluctance to have kids is a fundamental cultural shift rather than a purely financial one.
Health and Wellness
Persistent infection could explain long-haul symptoms in some people
A new long COVID study shows that a persistent infection could explain why some people experience long-haul symptoms, according to researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The Brigham team found that people with wide-ranging long COVID symptoms were twice as likely to have virus proteins in their blood, compared to those without long COVID symptoms. “If we can identify a subset of people who have persistent viral symptoms because of a reservoir of virus in the body, we may be able to treat them with antivirals to alleviate their symptoms,” said lead author Zoe Swank, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Pathology at the Brigham.
The researchers looked at 1,569 blood samples from 706 people, including 392 participants from the National Institutes of Health-supported Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery Initiative — who had previously tested positive for a COVID infection. With a highly sensitive test they developed, researchers looked for whole and partial proteins from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They also analyzed data from the participants’ long COVID symptoms, using electronic medical chart information or surveys that were gathered when the blood samples were taken.
Read more at The Boston Herald
Election 2024
- Harris Targets Black Men With New Economic Proposals - Reuters
- Democrats Welcome Trump To NY, Just Maybe Not MSG – City & State
- Internal Polling Memo Has Warning Signs For Senate Republicans - Politico
- Senate Rankings: 5 Seats Most Likely To Flip – The Hill
- Kamala Harris Has More Billionaires Openly Backing Her Than Trump (But Many Are Staying Silent) - Forbes
- Trump Or Harris? Here Are The 2024 Stakes For Airlines, Banks, Evs, Health Care And More - CNBC
- Trump Biopic ‘The Apprentice’ Struggles In Debut Weekend After Controversy - Forbes
- Real Clear Politics Latest General Election Polls – Real Clear Politics
- Real Clear Politics Electoral Map
- Latest Polls - FiveThirtyEight
Industry News
China-Europe Rivalry Heats Up At Paris Car Show As EV Tariffs Loom
Chinese and European automakers went head-to-head at the Paris car show on Monday, with tensions running high as the EU gears up to impose hefty import tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles and the industry struggles with weak demand. This year's event - the largest car show in Europe - comes at a pivotal time. Struggling European automakers need to prove they are still in the game, while Chinese rivals are aiming to get a foothold in a competitive market.
Nine Chinese brands including BYD and Leapmotor are unveiling their latest models at this year's event, according to Paris auto show CEO Serge Gachot. That is the same as in 2022 when they made up almost half the brands present. This year, they account for only about a fifth of the brands thanks to a much stronger showing from Europe's auto industry - a sign of its determination to defend its home turf. Earlier this month, EU member states narrowly backed import duties on Chinese-made EVs of up to 45%, meant to counter what the European Commission says are unfair subsidies from Beijing to Chinese manufacturers. Beijing denies unfair competition and has threatened counter-measures.
Nobel Economics Prize Awarded To 3 Americans For Studies Of Prosperity Gaps Between Countries
Three U.S.-based academics won the 2024 Nobel economics prize on Monday for their research into why global inequality persists, especially in countries dogged by corruption and dictatorship. Simon Johnson and James Robinson, both British-American, and Turkish-American Daron Acemoglu were commended for their work on “how institutions are formed and affect prosperity,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
The work of the three economists is based on the history of colonialism, and the different ways in which national experiences have affected institutions, such as the protection of property rights or the way in which political decisions are made. Their broadest conclusion is that democracies are better at delivering prosperity over the long term, although they acknowledge that authoritarian governments can be effective at exploiting existing resources, such as raw materials or workers. However, authoritarian forms of government typically fail to innovate, which is a strength of democracies.
Mattel Builds a More Nimble Supply Chain
When “Weird Barbie” became an unexpected breakout hit of the “Barbie” movie last year, Mattel kicked its new supply chain strategy into action. The toy maker accelerated the doll’s design and manufacturing process to tap in to the attention to the character, rapidly bringing to store shelves a doll that—like its on-screen inspiration—looks like it’s been “played with too much.” It was one example of how one of the world’s largest toy makers has revamped its supply chain, shuttering some factories, outsourcing production at others and fine-tuning work at some sites to prepare for the expected spark from the Barbie movie.
The idea has been to reset a supply chain long focused on relatively predictable seasonal patterns in the children’s toy market to make it more flexible to respond to rapid shifts in consumer demand. The changes have cut Mattel’s costs and helped increase its profit to $57 million in the quarter ended June 30, from $27 million a year earlier, even as sales declined.
Amazon To Deliver Same-Day Prescriptions In 20 More U.S. Cities In 2025
The Seattle-based company plans to add 20 more cities to the rapid drug delivery service footprint in 2025, according to an announcement on its website. The list of markets on track to get the service includes Boston, Dallas, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and San Diego. Other cities will be announced in the coming months. Amazon started its Amazon Pharmacy arm in 2020. The pharmacy already gets drugs to customers through conventional means in an average of two or fewer days, the company says.
The pharmacy already gets drugs to customers through conventional means in an average of two or fewer days, the company says. The company has been offering same-day delivery service by embedding rapid pharmacies in Amazon Same-Day Delivery sites. The planned expansion should make the service available to about 45% of U.S. customers by the end of 2025, Amazon says.
Boeing Factory Strike Crosses 1-Month Mark As Pressure Mounts On New CEO
It’s been just over a month since more than 30,000 Boeing machinists walked off the job after overwhelmingly voting down a tentative contract. Costs and tensions have only risen since then. The strike is adding to pressure on Boeing’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, who was brought in over the summer to solve the plane maker’s various troubles. The strike, which S&P Global Ratings estimates costs Boeing more than $1 billion a month, bookends an already difficult year that started with a near-catastrophic blowout of a 737 Max door plug and comes six years after the first of two fatal Max crashes put the storied manufacturer in constant crisis mode.
The union and company remain at an impasse, and airplane production at factories in the Seattle area and other locations has been idled, depriving Boeing of cash. Boeing last week pulled a sweetened contract offer that the union had rejected, saying it wasn’t negotiated. Boeing officials had been upbeat to airline customers about getting to a deal in the weeks before the original vote, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the conversations were private. But that optimism didn’t pan out, as workers on Sept. 13 voted 95% against an initial tentative labor deal.
Boeing Will Cut About 10% Of Its Workforce Amid Strike And Financial Struggles
10% of Boeing’s workforce will be gutted in the coming months, the aerospace company announced Friday, the latest sign of trouble for Boeing as it deals with billion-dollar losses and an ongoing factory strike. Boeing said in its announcement it needs to reset its workforce levels to “align” with its “financial reality and to a more focused set of priorities,” noting executives, managers and employees will be affected by the layoffs. The layoffs will cut about 17,000 people from the company, CNBC reported.
Boeing also announced production and delivery changes, saying it will delay deliveries of its new 777X long-range airplane until 2026 and stop producing its 767 freighters, planes primarily used for shipping goods, by 2027. The layoff news comes shortly after Boeing published preliminary third quarter results Friday, which revealed the company expects to report a loss of $9.97 a share. Boeing is also in the middle of a strike from more than 30,000 factory workers who sought a new contract earlier this week before pay talks eventually collapsed
See The Comet And A Supermoon: The Night Sky This Week
This week, it's all about the full “Hunter’s Supermoon.” However, there are a few other notable celestial sights to see — not least the possibility of a view of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, an occultation (eclipse) of Saturn and a view of the moon close to the beautiful Pleiades star cluster. Here’s everything you need to know about stargazing and astronomy this week:
Monday, Oct. 14-Wednesday, Oct. 16: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS After Sunset. These early evenings are ideal for seeing Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) and its tail after sunset sunrise. The view will be best for those north of the equator. It’s just visible to the naked-eye visibility, but binoculars will give you a terrific view.
Thursday, Oct. 17: Full ‘Hunter’s Supermoon.’ The tenth of the 12 full moons in 2024, the full “Hunter’s Moon” will be the biggest and brightest “supermoon” of the year. From North America, the best time to see it will be at moonrise where you are during dusk.
Saturday, Oct. 19: Moon And Pleiades. Look east tonight, and you’ll see a bright waning gibbous moon adjacent to the Pleiades (pronounced “plee-er-deez”)—also known as the “Seven Sisters” for its shining stars—the closest open cluster of stars to the solar system and a spectacular sight with both the naked eye and through binoculars.
NASA Launches Mission To A Moon Of Jupiter To Find Out If It Could Support Life
For decades, an icy moon of Jupiter has been considered one of the most promising places to search for extraterrestrial life in the solar system. Thought to have an underground ocean and a potentially habitable environment, Europa has long seemed a tantalizing target in our cosmic backyard. Now, humanity is poised to get a closer look at Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon.
At 12:06 p.m. ET on Monday, NASA launched a new mission to Europa, dubbed Europa Clipper. The largest spacecraft the agency has ever built for a planetary science mission, the probe lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Now begins the long journey to Jupiter. Europa Clipper is scheduled to enter the planet’s orbit in 2030 after a five-and-a-half-year flight of 1.8 billion miles.