Greensboro and Winston Salem first Responders help with Gelene relief efforts
A number of first responders are bound for western North Carolina to help with Helene relief efforts. The City of Greensboro has already deployed 17 firefighters. The Greensboro Police Department is also deploying 36 officers to assist the Asheville Police Department. They will also provide four officers with the All Terrain Vehicle team. Guilford Metro 911 is also handling emergency calls for six counties in the North Carolina mountains. The City of Winston-Salem has also sent some firefighters to help with the relief effort.
Port strikes end with deal on wages, averting economic disaster
A strike by tens of thousands of dockworkers on the East and Gulf coasts, that could have seriously hurt the U.S. economy had it continued, has been called off. All workers were called back to work Thursday, after a three-day strike, following a tentative agreement on wages between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, representing ocean carriers and port operators. The two sides have agreed to a 62% wage increase over six years, according to sources who were familiar with the deal but not authorized to speak publicly about it. The union had been seeking a 77% increase over six years. A day before the strike began, the companies had offered nearly 50% in raises. About 12 hours after the strike began on Tuesday, Biden issued a statement urging the U.S. Maritime Alliance to present what he called a fair offer, citing the 800 percent growth in profits some ocean carriers saw in the pandemic. “It’s only fair that workers, who put themselves at risk during the pandemic to keep ports open, see a meaningful increase in their wages as well,” he wrote. Biden’s message to the companies also tied in hurricane relief efforts. Noting that dockworkers play an essential role in getting essential supplies to communities affected by Hurricane Helene, he said now is not the time for ocean carriers to refuse to negotiate a fair wage.
Fed seen slowing rate cut pace after strong US jobs data
A surge in U.S. job growth has financial markets betting the Federal Reserve will follow last month’s half-point interest rate reduction with smaller moves, and ignited a debate over whether the policy rate ends up at a higher level than previously expected. A Labor Department report on Friday showed employers added 254,000 jobs in September, far more than expected, and the unemployment rate declined to 4.1%. They are also pricing in an end point to the rate-cutting at somewhere between 3.25% and 3.75% by the middle of next year, above the 3.00% to 3.25% end-point range that traders had previously seen. The current range is 4.75% to 5.00%. The Fed’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee has said it wants to recalibrate the policy rate as inflation drops closer to its 2% goal and the labor market cools. Recent data showing job market cooling “had threatened to turn into something more worrisome, but after today’s report the soft landing looks back on track,” JP Morgan economist Michael Feroli wrote. “We think it would take a rather large October (or early November) surprise to move the Committee off this path of gradual rate normalization.”
