Laura weakens and moves into the land
Hurricane Laura appears to have narrowed the heart of U.S. fuel production and chemical infrastructure along the Gulf Coast, causing less chaos than predicted. Officials still had to deal with a chlorine leak and fire at BioLab, a chemical production facility in the Lake Charles, La., Area, and Motiva Enterprises reported a leak at their Port Arthur refinery, Tex., But said it happened at the closure of ‘ the refinery before the hurricane arrived. While Laura has been demoted to a tropical depression, nearly 800K homes and businesses in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas are still without power.
Interest rate to stay low
The fun at Jackson Hole ends today as the two-day virtual symposium ends with the latest livestreams of central bankers and other influential officials. Nothing is likely to compare with yesterday’s speech by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, which will have a transformative effect on US monetary policy for the foreseeable future. The central bank said interest rates will remain low to support the devastated economy of the pandemic, even if inflation for periods of time exceeds its target level of 2%. Stock prices, bonds and gold all made several U-turns on the news, while stocks visited another green session at night. Dow and S&P are 500 futures up 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively, while Nasdaq futures cover the flatline.
Abe ends up as Japan’s longest-serving prime minister
The dismissal of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for health reasons prompted the Nikkei fall 1.4% at night, while the safe haven yen strengthen 0.5% against the dollar, because the political uncertainty can demand money to come home again. “Monetary and fiscal policy will remain intact for now, but the mood will be sour like last time,” said Tsutomu Soma, a bond trader at Monex in Tokyo. “It will take a long time for Japan to see a long government again.” Abe, who has struggled for years with the chronic disease ulcerative colitis, returned in December 2012 as prime minister for a rare second term, promising to revive growth with his “Abenomics” mix of hyper-easy monetary policy, fiscal spending and reforms.
Fast coronavirus tests
In a move that would substantially expand the nation’s rapid testing capacity, the Trump administration has unveiled a $ 750M deal to purchase 150M rapid COVID-19 tests from Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), “This is a major development that will help our country stay open, get Americans back to work and children back to school,” senior adviser Alyssa Farah told the White House. Abbott said the new antigen test (about the size of a credit card) showed sensitivity of about 97% and could yield results in 15 minutes.
NBA set to resume playoffs?
After sitting for two days protesting, NBA players are expected to go to court again Saturday and Sunday. The Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday refused to play their playoff game against Orlando in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man who was shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wis. Hours later, players from 13 teams, coaches and league. officials held a late-night meeting that reported off the rails. Related names ESPN (NYSE: DIS), TNT (NYSE: T), Nike (NYSE: NKE), DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG),
Look out, Fitbit!
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has introduced a wristband for health and fitness tracking called Halo, priced at $ 64.99, in addition to a subscription service and smartphone app. It brings some new offerings, including technology to track people’s fat percentage, sleep temperature and their emotional state, such as two microphones and an LED flashlight, but lacks a screen. It’s Amazon’s first major move in wearables, which Gartner estimates will be a $ 52B market by 2020.
Europe will launch 737 MAX test flights
Boeing’s (NYSE: BA) ground 737 MAX takes a major step back to the air after the European Union Aviation Safety Agency said it would send pilots to Canada to conduct test flights, to circumvent coronavirus-related travel routes. EASA will conduct the validation flights from Vancouver in the week of September 7, two months after the FAA and Boeing completed certification test flights in the US, followed by Canada this week. Boeing recently withdrew its first 737 MAX order this year as Poland’s Enter Air placed an order for two jets with options to buy two more. BA + 1% market.
Go deeper: Production defect found in Boeing Dreamliners
