News Roundups

Airline job cuts, Exxon dropped from Dow, and more

Daily stimulus and recovery news headlines from August 26, 2020.

Daily stimulus and recovery news headlines from August 26, 2020.

Airline Job Cuts Could Pressure Congress and Trump on Stimulus

American Airlines warned employees on Tuesday that it would cut up to 19,000 workers on Oct. 1, saying that there was little sign that the pandemic-induced reluctance to travel was diminishing.

The airline is looking to cut thousands of flight attendants, pilots, technicians, gate agents and other staff, it said. Including buyouts, retirements and leaves of absence, the company expects to have about 40,000 fewer employees on Oct. 1 than it did before the pandemic, a 30 percent decline in its work force.

Read more

Bailout: Billions of Dollars of Federal COVID-19 Relief Money Flow to the Oil Industry

Patricia Nelson’s Greeley, Colorado, neighborhood is overrun with fracking operations. Greeley is the county seat of Weld County, home to nearly 90 percent of all oil produced in the state. Nelson is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, and four generations of her family have helped establish a thriving Latinx community here along Colorado’s Front Range. Nelson is one of the most well-known and outspoken opponents of fracking in Colorado. Now, she and her neighbors face another struggle for survival—against COVID-19.

The coronavirus has ravaged this disproportionately low-income community of color. Two of Nelson’s sisters and two of her aunts—one of whom is currently in the ICU—and her aunt’s husband have all contracted the disease. They have survived, but several friends have not. Due to the pandemic, Nelson’s husband, Nick, lost his job. Nelson left her job for health reasons before the virus struck and as a result, did not qualify for federal unemployment assistance. To support her seven-year-old son, Diego, she has been forced to spend virtually her entire 401K retirement account.

Read more

Exxon's exit means there's just one oil company left in the Dow

A shake-up in the Dow Jones Industrial Average shows just how far once mighty oil companies have fallen in the corporate pecking order.

What's happening: S&P Dow Jones Indices, which manages the benchmark index of 30 stocks, is adding Salesforce (CRM), Amgen (AMGN) and Honeywell to the Dow while giving ExxonMobil (XOM), Pfizer (PFE) and Raytheon Technologies (RTN) the boot. The decision was made to balance out the disruption from Apple's 4-to-1 stock split, which takes effect next Monday.

Read more

Exxon’s Departure From Dow Highlights Market’s Retreat From Energy Bets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s coming farewell to Exxon Mobil is the latest sign of the waning influence of America’s struggling energy sector.

When trading begins next week, the blue-chip benchmark will include only one energy stock: Chevron Corp., which will represent just 2.1% of the price-weighted index, according to an S&P Dow Jones Indices analysis.

Read more

The Pandemic’s Economic Crisis Calls for a Green Recovery

Remember Greta Thunberg? News cycles were devoted to her passage across the Atlantic. World leaders praised or ridiculed her on Twitter, depending on their politics. She represented a movement that caught the world’s attention.

In fact, before the pandemic, climate change was one of the biggest drivers of political economy in much of the developed world, even as the United States abandoned its path to carbon neutrality under the Trump administration.

Read more