WSJ : White House Gives Mixed Signals on Trump’s Health

White House Gives Mixed Signals on Trump’s Health
Doctor says he is happy with president’s condition, but another person familiar with the U.S. leader’s health suggests cause for concern

WASHINGTON—People close to President Trump offered conflicting messages about his health on Saturday after he tested positive for coronavirus, as his physician said he was happy with the U.S. leader’s condition while a person familiar with Mr. Trump’s health said there was more cause for concern.

In a briefing in front of the Walter Reed military hospital Saturday, Dr. Sean Conley said that the president’s symptoms of a mild cough, nasal congestion and fatigue were improving and that he hadn’t had a fever for 24 hours. But he didn’t give a date for the president’s release and declined to provide a definitive answer on whether Mr. Trump had ever received supplemental oxygen, despite repeated pressing.

After Dr. Conley concluded his briefing, a person familiar with the president’s health told reporters that Mr. Trump’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and that the next 48 hours would be critical. “We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery,” the person said.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to requests for clarification on the president’s condition.

From the hospital Saturday, Mr. Trump thanked the medical personnel at Walter Reed, adding: “With their help, I am feeling well!”

The mixed messages emanating from Walter Reed made it difficult to discern the state of the president’s health a day after he was admitted and 36 hours after he disclosed he had tested positive.

Dr. Conley declined to give a date for when Mr. Trump last tested negative, as questions persisted about when the White House learned of the president’s exposure and subsequent positive test. Dr. Conley also referred to the president as being 72 hours into his diagnosis, which would put the date of his positive test on Wednesday. A White House official subsequently said Dr. Conley meant to say it was the third day since the president was diagnosed Thursday night, not that 72 hours had passed since his diagnosis.

In a memo hours after his briefing concluded on Saturday, Dr. Conley said the president had been diagnosed on the evening of Oct. 1, which was Thursday.

On whether the president had ever received oxygen, Dr. Conley said: “Thursday no oxygen, none at this moment, and yesterday with the team while we were all here, he was not on oxygen.”

Mr. Trump was hospitalized on Friday following a positive Covid-19 test early that day for him and first lady Melania Trump, hours after senior White House adviser Hope Hicks was reported to test positive.

The White House said the move was made out of an “abundance of caution.” But it raised questions about his health, his government and his re-election bid one month before election day.

As the president was treated, a cascading list of aides and allies revealed positive test results. Many of them were among the attendees of a Rose Garden ceremony last Saturday where Mr. Trump announced his Supreme Court nominee, which featured close seating and little mask-wearing.

The list included former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Thom Tillis of North Carolina and the Rev. John Jenkins, the president of the University of Notre Dame.

The president’s campaign manager Bill Stepien, who was with the president for debate preparation last weekend and at the first presidential debate in Cleveland, also tested positive, as did former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was involved in debate preparation. Other White House and campaign aides reported negative tests, and some were awaiting results.

The revelation of Mr. Trump’s infection put campaign travel on hold and prompted senior aides to get tests and track down people who may have been exposed to the virus.

Vice President Mike Pence has tested negative twice in the last two days and hasn’t quarantined on the advice of his doctor. The Trump campaign said Saturday that the vice president would hold a campaign event in Arizona on Thursday.

Late Friday evening, Dr. Conley said in a memo that the president had completed his first dose of remdesivir, which is among the few drugs that have been shown to treat Covid-19 and to have been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for such use.

Mr. Stepien was experiencing mild symptoms and plans to quarantine until he recovers, the campaign said. Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel also tested positive earlier this week, the GOP said.

Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson tested positive on Friday, his spokesman said. Mr. Johnson is the third senator this week to test positive for the virus.

As Mr. Trump canceled trips to Florida and Wisconsin, it remained unclear when—or if—the president would be able to return to the campaign trail and whether he would be able to participate in the remaining two debates with Democratic rival Joe Biden. Mr. Biden on Friday tested negative for the virus, his campaign said.

Mr. Trump’s positive test results underscored the unrelenting nature of the virus as Americans grapple with the trade-offs between reopening businesses and schools and staying safe. The diagnoses exposed severe holes in the White House’s Covid-19 protocol, which has largely consisted of frequent rapid tests. Health experts say that conducting frequent tests without also wearing masks and social distancing is an ineffective way of combating the virus, since it can take days for a person to test positive after being infected.

The White House will continue to make mask-wearing optional on its grounds, an official said Friday.

White House officials said the president’s diagnosis wouldn’t affect his governing. White House communications director Alyssa Farah said there would be no transfer of power with the president’s move to Walter Reed.

Still, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Pence to host a scheduled call in his place on Friday afternoon.

The news that the president was ill rattled markets and sent a shock wave through Washington, which is grappling with a Supreme Court nomination, trillion-dollar-plus coronavirus aid talks and an election that will decide control of the White House and Congress just a month away. It also creates potential uncertainty for his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, whom Republicans are trying to get confirmed by Election Day.

Democrats called for postponing Judge Barrett’s confirmation, arguing that the infection of two senators could make it difficult to hold in-person hearings. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), who both spoke with Mr. Trump on Friday, said they plan to move forward.

While many Covid-19 patients recover without suffering serious illness, Mr. Trump’s age of 74 puts him at higher risk from the virus, as does his obesity. According to the CDC, people in their 60s and 70s are “at higher risk for severe illness than people in their 50s.”

If the president’s condition were to worsen, he could temporarily transfer power to Mr. Pence under the 25th Amendment. Such a transfer has happened only three times in U.S. history, when then-presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush underwent colonoscopies. In other incidents, such as when Mr. Reagan was shot and had to undergo emergency surgery in 1981, power wasn’t formally transferred.

FT : Autumn walking in the Aeolian Islands

Autumn walking in the Aeolian Islands
There is still time for a blast of sun and sea air before winter takes hold

The new normal looks much like the old one when viewed through the glint of ice cubes chilling a negroni sbagliato on a warm Sicilian evening. Masks are put aside and plump olives and bruschetta are being nibbled on a terrace overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. The volcano on Stromboli, some 40km away from where I’m perched on the Aeolian island of Salina, even puts on a show with random hiccups of fire illuminating the approaching night.

I am here on the inaugural trip of “Bellini Strolls”, a collaboration between Italy specialist Bellini Travel and Maremma Safari Club, a company offering guided walking holidays in less well-known parts of the country. The first outing was supposed to take place in May. Then June. Then early September. And now, at last, our group of British walkers has gathered in Sicily with October knocking on the door.

Leading us is a Tuscan-based guide, Rudston Steward, and Emily FitzRoy, founder of Bellini Travel. We get to know each other on the first night, dining on the terrace of the 16th-century Villa Tasca, owned by winemaker Giussepe Tasca, set in a 20-acre garden on the outskirts of Palermo.

It’s a popular venue for weddings and this year Tasca has opened up the grounds for alfresco food fairs with artisan craft stalls. Tonight it hums quietly with local families chatting, devouring arancini and drinking Sicilian beer and wine.

The following day we transfer along the coast to the port of Milazzo and then on a hydrofoil to Lipari and onwards to Salina, our base for the next five days. Salina is the second-largest island in the Aeolian archipelago, approximately 5km by 7km, and there are well-maintained paths stretching around its two extinct volcanoes, 860-metre high Monte dei Porri and 962-metre Monte Fosse delle Felci.

A few small towns cling to the coast, with whitewashed buildings and cafés serving breakfasts of watermelon and prickly pear granita topped with whipped cream alongside brioche and espresso. It’s easy to see the charms that lured filmmakers here to shoot the movie Il Postino (1994).

We set off from the village of Leni and soon begin our ascent of Monte dei Porri. Each day’s walk covers around 11km so it’s not terribly hard going, but there’s a lot of “up” and Steward has warned us in pre-departure emails to do some fitness preparation. The volcanic terrain is sometimes friable and requires concentration while many parts are exposed with little shade. The actual “stroll” part of the trip appears to be towards well-earned cocktails each evening.

Steward, 46, is evidently a fan of the islands, having first arrived on neighbouring Filicudi for a week in 2005 and ending up staying four months. He describes the flora and fauna in detail when we stop for water and to take photos. “For Italy, the Aeolian Islands are quite exotic,” he tells me during one pause. “They’re a good reminder for Europeans that you don’t have to go half way around the world to access off-the-beaten-track places.”

Not all the islands of the archipelago have their own water supply, but Salina does and in places the steep hillsides have been terraced for farming. Along the path we pass artemisia, sea squill, olive trees and cacti with prickly pears. A pair of Eleanora’s falcons fly above us, swooping out over the cliffs before their long migration to Madagascar. At lunchtime, we wolf panini stuffed with Sicilian cheese and capers, and juicy peaches, before picking our way down zigzag paths accompanied by the gentle click-click of hiking poles.

The start of the walk each day is relatively early to give enough time to rest and relax in the afternoon. In the town of Pollara, after our hike, we wander down to the sea, stopping to pick up ice-cold beers from a bar. We dive off the rocks looking for octopus, with the small craggy island of Scoglio Faraglione a few hundred yards away. I’m too tired to tackle the crossing, even though the thought of spotting its Aeolian wall lizards (only found on this and three other islands) does sound tempting.

The reward for hiking under a hot Mediterranean sun comes when we all gather round the dinner table to swap stories under the stars, either at that night’s hotel or a local restaurant. Menus are generally dispensed with and plates of pasta followed by swordfish or pork are just put in front of us and quickly mopped up, helped down by Sicilian wine, grappa and fennel liqueur.

My favourite evening meal is at the Principe di Salina hotel in Malfa where the owner’s mother, Silvana, who until two years ago was a gastroenterological surgeon, emerges from the kitchen with a huge metal pot offering seconds of her wonderful pasta. No one says no.

Another night, thanks to FitzRoy’s fit-to-burst contacts book, we are invited to the home of Giuseppe Mascoli, who set up the London private members’ club Blacks and pizza chain Franco Manca and now spends most of his time at his home on Salina. He’s a bon viveur and gracious host, treating us to pasta, slices of roasted pumpkin and sausages made from black pigs that roam in the Nebrodi mountains. He’s also evangelical about natural wines, making his own in amphora stored in the ground at his villa. He pours them for us liberally, the younger ones through a sieve.

Over the next days we continue to circumnavigate the island. We explore different sides of the volcanoes, chatting as we go, enjoying swims, picnics and post-hike massages, and relishing, above all, the chance to be out in the sun and fresh air ahead of what could be a long, dark winter.

WSJ : Manhattan Offices Are Nearly Empty, Threatening New York City’s Recovery

Manhattan Offices Are Nearly Empty, Threatening New York City’s Recovery
About 1 in 10 office workers have returned since Covid-19 hit, far fewer than elsewhere, hurting local businesses

Manhattan office employees are returning to work at a much slower pace than those in most other major U.S. cities, raising the risk that New York faces a more protracted and painful recovery from the coronavirus pandemic than much of the rest of the country.

Wall Street bankers have been trickling back to their glass towers, while real-estate firms have tried to set an example by encouraging staff to return in force. But most of the city’s lawyers, media and publishing employees, tech industry workers and others have stayed away, real-estate brokers say.

Overall, about 10% of Manhattan office workers were back as of Sept. 18, according to CBRE Group Inc., a commercial real estate services firm.

That represents only a modest uptick from the 6% to 8% who were back in July, a month after the city allowed nonessential workers to return for the first time since offices closed in March because of the pandemic. The monthslong stretch of near-empty office buildings has had a debilitating knock-on effect in Midtown Manhattan and other business districts, leading many small shops and restaurants to shut down for good.

Nationally, about 25% of office workers have returned as of this month, on average, according to real-estate services firms. Some large metropolitan areas are considerably higher, such as Dallas at 40% and the Los Angeles metro area at 32%, industry professionals say. The reoccupation rate in New York’s suburbs is 32%, according to CBRE, which manages 20 million square feet of office property in the region.

The tech-heavy San Francisco region is also struggling, with office occupancy in the 15% range. Technology companies, which are more used to remote work than other businesses, have been among the slowest to return to the office. Some like Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. have announced plans to extend work from home well into the future.

The low rate in New York has disappointed city officials, who had been counting on more people returning to work after Labor Day. Many private schools reopened earlier this month and a number of New York families came back after leaving the city over the summer.

While New York City struggled to contain the virus in early spring, it now has a much lower per capita rate of new Covid-19 infections than in many cities where a higher percentage of the workforce is back at their desks.

“We all expected [the re-occupancy rate] to be closer to 20% to 25%, which is what’s happening around the rest of the U.S.,” said Mary Ann Tighe, CBRE’s chief executive of the New York region.

But a number of civic and business leaders say New York’s reliance on mass transit—and concerns that the new coronavirus could spread through subways, buses or regional trains—has kept many people working from home. Cities that have more driving commuters have seen a higher percentage of workers return.

Some also say that delays in New York public schools’ reopening has made parents reluctant to return to the office if it means leaving children at home alone.

While most front-line New York City employees have returned to work, Mayor Bill de Blasio hasn’t announced plans to bring back thousands of the city’s white-collar workforce, further depressing office turnout. “We’ll continue to release updated guidance to city workers as we move forward to an eventual full return,” a spokesman for the mayor said.

New Yorkers’ slow return to the workplace is the latest blow to the nation’s biggest city, which has also suffered from homeowners fleeing Manhattan for larger spaces, rises in murders and homelessness, and the shutting or partial closings of Broadway theaters, museums and other popular attractions.

The dearth of employees at their desks could also have long-term consequences for the city’s economy and tax base. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which relies heavily on commuter revenue, faces a $12 billion shortfall by the end of 2021 and is considering crippling service cuts. Manhattan’s low office turnout also has contributed to a $9 billion drop in sales tax and other revenue the city government is projecting for its fiscal year that started July 1.

About two million people worked daily in Manhattan’s central office districts before the pandemic, mostly white-collar workers but also employees of bars, restaurants, stores and other businesses. A number of once-thriving outlets that depend on office workers for business have already called it quits. That has helped push the city’s unemployment rate during the summer to 20%, the highest rate in more than 40 years.

Café Metro, a quick-service restaurant down the block from the MetLife building in Midtown, is closing early next month. On Thursday at the start of lunchtime, the previously bustling restaurant was nearly empty with just one dining customer and another placing an order.

“Ninety percent of our revenue depends on office workers and another 10% depends on tourists,” said Edison Castillo, the eatery’s manager. “We have lost both ways. I used to have 55 employees between both morning and night shifts. Right now we are down to six.”

Kamakura Shirts, a high-end Japanese dress-shirt store located blocks away from Grand Central Terminal, said it is closing at the end of this year. Kakeru Kitatsuru, the store’s manager, said that sales have dropped as much as 70% since mid-March.

“Because we’re located on Madison Avenue, a lot of the workers around here are our customers,” he said.

New York’s business and civic leaders say they don’t expect a surge of workers returning soon, but some are hopeful that momentum is building. Public schools are starting to reopen after previous delays, and partial indoor dining resumes this week. The city’s shopping malls and gyms also recently opened their doors again.

Still, legal considerations remain an issue, and not just in New York. Business owners feel exposed to employee lawsuits if they require workers to return and some get infected.

“Businesses are not able to force their employees to do anything in this situation,” said Kathryn Wylde, chief executive of the Partnership for New York City business organization. “Or they do so at their peril.”

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an exception. This month, the bank told senior sales and trading employees that they were required to return to work unless they had child-care issues or medical conditions. About 25% of the bank’s New York City employees are reporting each day.

More common has been businesses offering the option of coming back. Citigroup Inc. said it would allow more employees to return on a voluntary basis.

A Citi spokeswoman said that 30% of New York employees indicated on a survey that they would like to return to the workplace. That level is safe and brings enough people into the office “to create a good buzz,” she said. Still, only 5% of its Manhattan workforce has returned, the bank said.

Deutsche Bank AG told New York City employees they don’t have to return until July.

Some businesses are trying to lure employees back with free food, transportation or other incentives. Citi is providing 40 days of subsidized child care, nanny placement services and help for employees looking for a caregiver to supervise online learning. Hearst Corp.’s benefits include free parking in the city and additional child-care reimbursement.

But for some New Yorkers who recall the early weeks of the pandemic, when the rates of sickness and death were among the highest in the world, complimentary parking might not be enough to bring them back to midtown and the prospect of mixing with crowds. Many were traumatized, said Chris Jones, senior vice president of the Regional Plan Association, an urban policy organization.

“There were sirens blaring every night,” he said. “That’s had a psychological impact.”

(ZH) Ultra-Rich Collateralize Fancy Artwork And Penthouses To "Access Cheap Mone

Ultra-Rich Collateralize Fancy Artwork And Penthouses To "Access Cheap Money"


Mortgage lenders have set aside billions of dollars for future defaults as millions of homeowners are in forbearance. This year, lenders have quickly tightened standards for average Americans, only dishing out loans to the ultra-rich.
JPMorgan is one bank that has temporarily stopped accepting new home equity lines of credit, or HELOC, applications due to a surge in delinquencies.
With ordinary folks unable to access cheap credit, even though rates are historically low, the ultra-rich, this year, have been collateralizing everything from artwork to New York penthouses to obtain cheap loans.

We first highlighted this phenomenon back in March, during the dark days of the virus pandemic, days after global equities crashed and credit markets locked up. We noted, "ultra-wealthy are increasingly requesting financing against fine art as a way to build liquidity."
So maybe, just maybe, over the past decade, the ultra-rich became massive asset gathers, using money that cost basically nothing, to purchase fancy artwork, million-dollar Ferraris, rare wine, and overpriced penthouses in top metro areas. That is, because, when shit hits the fan, these folks can leverage these assets to tap into cheap credit; and since these assets don't trade on major exchanges and price on a daily basis, aren't subjected to wild volatility swings.
Bloomberg is out with a report that JPM has issued a massive $42.5 million loan on an NYC penthouse owned by a Russian billionaire's family. The penthouse, at 15 Central Park West, is worth an estimated $88 million. Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev tried to sell the property but failed at finding a buyer, has decided to leverage the asset to tap into cheap credit, with an interest rate bearing 2.9%.
"The family tried to sell it a few years later as prices for ultra-expensive properties in the city had started to slip. Instead, they choose to leverage the asset," Bloomberg noted.
Bloomberg provides several other examples of wealthy people taking out mortgages on their penthouse.
"Outdoor advertising mogul Drew Katz obtained a $15 million mortgage in August for a New York penthouse that he bought four years ago for $22 million, filings show. In April, hedge fund founder Dan Och obtained a $50 million mortgage for a home on Manhattan's Billionaire's Row that he acquired last year. The following month, a U.S. company controlled by Mexican heiress Karen Virginia Beckmann -- part of the family behind Jose Cuervo tequila -- received a $19 million mortgage for a condo it bought three years ago in the same area."

This signifies that banks are willing to lend to the wealthiest clients, enabling them to weather the virus pandemic better than average folks who have primarily had their credit lines reduced or entirely cut off.
"Rates are low and so clients are looking to take advantage, using some form of debt to be able to access cheap money," said Casey S. Kriedman, a financial adviser at the Broad Group, a New York-based unit of UBS Global Wealth Management.
Remi Frank, head of BNP Paribas wealth management's key client group, said, "banks are happy to lend to very rich people, the richer you are the more you borrow."
And we've seen how that has turned out with billionaire Ronald Perelman's leveraged empire as it recently collapsed in a deluge of fire sales.
More or less, the virus pandemic is exacerbating the wealth inequality gap as the rich survive on cheap credit. Simultaneously, working-poor households have experienced job loss, food insecurity, and depletion of emergency savings.

FT Lex : Laundry apps: come clean

Laundry apps: come clean
Online clothes washing services have the best chance of success in the US

“Uber for laundry” is a catchy slogan. But picking up dirty clothes and returning clean ones to customers is a low-margin business with high set-up costs. Scaling is expensive and mix-ups cause havoc. No wonder apps offering to outsource chores hit a snag with clothes washing, despite the initial enthusiasm of venture capitalists.

A lost pizza delivery is merely irritating. Losing half your clothes is a reason to never outsource the service again.

On-demand laundry service Washio folded in 2016 after raising more than $16m. FlyCleaners laid off more than 100 employees last year. Cleanly, a New York-based laundry service with its own app, recently merged with dry cleaning company NextCleaners. In Europe two of the largest on-demand laundry startups — Laundrapp and Zipjet — have also merged.


Cash-intensive startups have struggled to satisfy the growing focus of backers on profitability. This year, coronavirus has also shuttered laundromats.

Closed offices means less demand for dry cleaning. Grand View Research estimates the global dry-cleaning and laundry services market will decline from $106bn last year to $104bn in 2020, before recovering to reach $118bn by 2023.


In the UK, 93 per cent of homes have washing machines, according to Statista. In the US only 80 per cent of homes have one. Launderettes remain popular, but their prevalence is shrinking. Ten years ago there were 74 for every million Americans — now there are 62.

With no national brand of laundromats to spoil their fun, online laundry apps have the best chance of success in the US.

Coronavirus is accelerating the division of labour into well-paid professionals and insecure gig workers. That raises issues of inequality. But it could also give new impetus to apps deploying the latter to relieve the former of time-consuming chores like laundry.

WSJ : GM, Ford Need Electric-Car Batteries, but Take Different Paths to Get Them

GM, Ford Need Electric-Car Batteries, but Take Different Paths to Get Them
Some car companies, like Tesla, are getting more involved in making batteries, while others favor buying from others

Auto makers, pumping billions of dollars into developing electric cars, are now facing a critical choice: get more involved with manufacturing the core batteries or buy them from others.

Batteries are one of an electric vehicle’s most expensive components, accounting for between a quarter and a third of the car’s value. Driving down their cost is key to profitability, executives say.

But whereas the internal combustion engine traditionally has been engineered and built by auto makers themselves, battery production for electric cars is dominated by Asian electronics and chemical firms, such as LG Chem Ltd. 051910 4.47% and Panasonic Corp. PCRFY -2.34% , and newcomers like China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. 300750 2.05%

With regulators world-wide pushing car companies to sell more electric cars, auto executives worry there won’t be enough factories building high-quality batteries.

California, the U.S.’s largest car market, said last month it would end the sale of new gasoline- and diesel-powered passenger cars by 2035, putting pressure on the auto industry to accelerate its shift to electric vehicles.

The race to lock in supplies for electric cars has auto makers taking varied paths.

While most make the battery pack, a large metal enclosure often lining the bottom of the car, they also need the cells that are bundled together to form the core electricity storage.

Tesla several years ago opened its Gigafactory in Nevada to make batteries with Panasonic, which in the shared space would produce cells for the packs. The electric-car maker wanted to secure production specifically for its own models and lower manufacturing and logistics costs.

Now it is looking to in-source more of that production.

While Tesla will continue to buy cells from Panasonic and other suppliers, it is also working on its own cell technology and production capabilities to ensure it can keep up with demand for its cars, said Chief Executive Elon Musk last month.

Following Tesla’s lead, General Motors Co. GM 0.26% and South Korea’s LG Chem are putting $2.3 billion into a nearly 3-million-square-foot factory in Lordstown, Ohio, which GM says will eventually produce enough battery cells to outfit hundreds of thousands of cars each year.

In Europe, Volkswagen AG VOW -0.42% is taking a similar path, investing about $1 billion in Swedish battery startup Northvolt AB, including some funding to build a cell-manufacturing plant in Salzgitter, Germany, as part of a joint venture.

Others like Ford F 2.07% Motor Co. and Daimler AG DMLRY -0.36% are steering clear of manufacturing their own cells, with executives saying they prefer contracting with specialized battery makers.

Supply-chain disruptions have already challenged some new model launches and put projects at risk, auto makers say.

For instance, Ford and VW have agreements in place with SK Innovation 096770 0.72% to supply battery cells for future electric-vehicle models. The South Korean company is building a factory in Georgia to help meet this demand, but a fight over trade secrets has put the plant’s future in jeopardy and could disrupt new model launches, both auto makers have said in legal filings.

GM executives say the risk of relying on suppliers has pushed them to produce their own battery cells, albeit with LG Chem.

“We’ve got to be able to control our own destiny,” said Ken Morris, GM’s vice president of electric vehicles.


Bringing the manufacturing in house will give the company more control over the raw materials it purchases and the battery-cell chemistry, Mr. Morris said.

But establishing production, even in a joint venture, is a costly proposition, and it won’t necessarily ensure a timely supply of cells. There are also risks with making big investments on one battery technology because a breakthrough could make it obsolete.

Ford cites those factors in deciding against a similar investment for now.

The company sees the industry’s conventional model of contracting with independent suppliers to build parts as better suited to its battery-cell needs, Ford executive Hau Thai-Tang told analysts in August.

“We have the competitive tension with dealing with multiple suppliers, which allows us to drive the cost down,” Mr. Thai-Tang said, adding that the company expects to pay prices for cells in line with GM and Tesla.

Meanwhile, Ford can leave the capital-intensive task of conducting the research and setting up manufacturing facilities to the battery companies, Mr. Thai-Tang said.

Germany’s Daimler has tried both strategies.

The car company made its own lithium-ion cells through a subsidiary until 2015. But the capital required to scale up was better spent elsewhere, said Ola Källenius, Daimler’s chief executive officer.

The auto maker instead signed long-term supply agreements with Asian companies like Chinese battery-maker CATL and Farasis Energy 688567 0.43% (Ganzhou) Co., which Daimler invested in last year.

The company has said it is spending roughly $23.6 billion on purchase agreements but keeping its battery research in-house.

“Let’s rather put that capital into what we do best, cars,” Mr. Källenius said.

FT : Nancy Pelosi raises prospect of new airline bailout

Nancy Pelosi raises prospect of new airline bailout
US House speaker promises support for industry even if broader economic stimulus talks fail

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, pleaded on Friday for US airlines to halt their plans to cut thousands of jobs, telling them that an agreement on further fiscal support for their sector and possibly the rest of the US economy would come soon.

“The massive furloughs and firings of America’s airline workers jeopardise the livelihoods of tens of thousands and threaten to accelerate the devastating economic crisis facing our nation,” Ms Pelosi said in a statement. “Today I am calling upon the airlines to delay their devastating job cuts as relief for airline workers is being advanced in Congress.”

Ms Pelosi said the federal aid for airlines to keep their employees on payroll — extending the support offered early in the pandemic — would either come through a broader stimulus package being hammered out with the Trump administration, or from a standalone bill tailored for the aviation sector.

But the standalone bill sponsored by Democratic Representative Peter DeFazio from Oregon was blocked hours later by Republicans, who objected to bringing it to the floor through unanimous consent, which dispenses with a recorded vote.

Ms Pelosi’s call for airlines to halt their job cuts highlighted the mounting pressure on Congress and the White House to reach a compromise on new fiscal support to avoid deepening the economic pain heading into the November election. On Thursday evening the House of Representatives passed a $2.2tn stimulus package, which was roundly dismissed as excessive by congressional Republicans and the White House.

Ms Pelosi and Steven Mnuchin, the US Treasury secretary, continued their negotiations on Friday on the hunt for a deal. While Ms Pelosi suggested that US president Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis might alter the dynamics of the negotiations by emphasising the seriousness of the health crisis, she also laid out several areas of lingering disagreement with the administration, including the scale of help for state and local governments, the language related to unemployment benefits, and the amount of tax credits for child care.

Even if a deal is reached in the coming days between Ms Pelosi and Mr Mnuchin, it is unlikely to be voted on in Congress well into next week, and it faces uncertain prospects in the Republican-controlled Senate, where lawmakers in the majority have been sceptical of the need for additional spending in excess of $1tn.

Airlines received a $50bn aid package in March, with half specifically earmarked to support payrolls. Legislative restrictions prevented airlines from furloughing employees for six months if they accepted the funds.

Lawmakers and industry executives had originally expected demand for air travel to rebound within that window. Instead, demand has remained depressed and airlines and aviation unions have watched for months as the bleak October 1 deadline approached.

American Airlines began furloughing 19,000 employees on Thursday, while United began to furlough 13,000.

But American chief executive Doug Parker said in a September 30 letter to staff that if congressional efforts “are successful over the next few days, we will reverse our furlough processes and recall any impacted team members”.

Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines have delayed the day of reckoning. Delta plans to cut pilots on November 1. Southwest, which has never furloughed employees in its five-decade history, has told staffers their jobs remain safe until the end of the year.

Gary Kelly, Southwest chief executive, on Thursday said that if lawmakers fail to extend additional aid, “we’ll be forced to . . . reduce our salaries, wages and benefits specifically by seeking concessions, or as a last resort, lay-offs and furloughs”.

Aviation unions have continued to push for legislation even as the deadline passed. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, tweeted on Friday that supporters needed to mobilise to save jobs.

“We have a bill in the House,” she wrote. “Payroll Support Program Extension Act, HR 8504. Burn up the House lines everyone. Call and demand this is passed now.”

Barrons : A French Water and Waste Utility Deal Turned Messy. What Investors Nee

A French Water and Waste Utility Deal Turned Messy. What Investors Need to Know.

The corporate buyer upped its offer price, and the seller—favorable to a bid from the start—grew even more eager to sell. What was unusual about the attempt by French water and waste group Veolia Environnement to buy a major stake in its French rival Suez, is that it took so long. In fact, it’s still not fully resolved.

Why the delays? The French water industry’s complex history and shareholding structure help explain the resistance to an acquisition that, in another context, would have been agreed to within days. Whether the merger is good for shareholders is another matter.

In August, Veolia (ticker: VIE.France) offered to buy a 29.9% stake in its competitor Suez (SEV.France) from Engie (ENGI.France), a big French energy group. Suez had been spun off from Engie a few years ago.

The offer, at 15.5 euros ($18.17) a share, came in at a 50% premium over Suez’s coronavirus-battered stock price. Since major investments in waste and recycling infrastructure will be needed globally for years to come as economies go green, the combined company would be “in a strong position to take a leading role in waste management across the globe,” wrote Helen McGeough, a senior analyst for the Independent Commodity Intelligence Services.

Stock markets have remained indifferent to the impact of the sale on Engie, with the group’s shares remaining flat at some €11.44 since Veolia’s offer. Veolia’s stock is down 9% since then, to €18.59, as befits a company about to spend roughly €3.4 billion on a minority stake in its main rival.

But Suez stock remains way below the €18 a share Veolia says it is now ready to pay after Veolia Chief Executive Officer Antoine Frerot , as expected, increased the offer in the final hours before its Sept 30 self-imposed deadline. It’s as if investors believe the deal won’t ultimately go through—or maybe think it’s too good to be true.

In what might have been a bluff, Frerot had presented his offer as a nice-to-have rather than a must-have. He fixed the Sept. 30 deadline for Engie to accept the deal, and promised to then launch an offer for Suez’s remaining shares if the deal was agreed upon.

The bid then ran into two obstacles. First was the outright opposition of Suez management: Chairman Philippe Varin (the former Peugeot boss) and CEO Bertrand Camus denounced the bid as hostile, and soon devised a kind of poison pill to prevent Veolia from buying the group’s French water business: It put the unit under a Netherlands foundation, which makes it difficult for any future acquirer to control it.

Second was the attitude of the French government, which still holds a 24% stake in Engie, a souvenir of the group’s 2006 merger with Suez, then a state-owned gas monopoly.

French finance minister Bruno Le Maire insisted on a “friendly” operation, eyeing favorably a deal that would, after all, create one of those “national champions” France is fond of.

The new offer amounts to a 70% premium over the stock’s mid-July price. Veolia also agreed to an extended deadline of Oct. 5, while promising job security for Suez employees in France. It will now become hard for the Suez executives to turn down, if they have the interest of their investors at heart.

For its part, Engie accepted the deal on the condition that Veolia make it even friendlier. Veolia CEO Frerot agreed to a six month period of negotiation between the parties, followed by a tender offer directly to shareholders for the rest of the shares if talks fail.

Meanwhile, Veolia’s plans for a future combined group will have to wait.