Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.

Key Fed inflation measure rises at slowest pace since 2021

Summary: New inflation data released yesterday indicate that consumer prices in the US rose at a slower-than-expected pace in October, and that led to a surge in stock market activity around the country and in connected global markets.

Context: This is broadly being seen as good news, for the US Federal Reserve, which is tasked with pulling inflation down to something close to 2%, and for US residents who have struggled with high inflation rates for several years; overall prices rose 3.2% in October compared to the previous year, which is down from September’s rate of increase, and core prices, which exclude more variable and volatile food and energy numbers, rose 4% on an annual basis, which is the smallest increase since September of 2021; this is a more favorable bundle of data than most analysts were predicting, even at their most optimistic, and it’s generally assumed that this means the Fed will keep interest rates steady at their next meeting in December.

—Bloomberg

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Exxon to begin producing lithium to feed surging battery demand

Summary: In what’s being seen as a substantial strategic pivot, ExxonMobil has announced that it will begin producing lithium for the burgeoning electric vehicle market from underground sources in Arkansas beginning in 2027.

Context: Many oil majors have gestured at getting involved in renewable energy infrastructure over the past handful of years, but this effort—unlike investments in carbon capture technologies and hydrogen—is not dual-use with their existing fossil fuel business, which suggests Exxon may be starting to map out, in earnest, a segue toward renewables, hoping to scoop up valuable assets before other energy companies can do so; that said, this follows another massive investment by Exxon in Pioneer Natural Resources, which is a huge, Texas-based oil producer, so while this is a foot in the EV-market door for the company, it’s far from a wholesale shift in focus.

—Financial Times

Chrysler parent Stellantis prepares to offer buyouts to US salaried workers

Summary: The parent company of automotive brands like Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, and Dodge is reportedly offering buyouts to about half of its US-based white-collar employees as part of an effort to cut its expenses as its recalibrates toward an EV-focused future.

Context: This marks the second round of buyouts the company has offered this year, and it’s expected to encompass around 6,400 nonunion workers with at least five years of experience; other US car companies like GM and Ford have also cut their ranks of salaried employees over the past year, and these cost-cutting efforts are being seen as a response to higher costs associated with EV R&D and battery manufacturing, alongside concerns about higher factory worker costs and the potential for an economic downswing that could truncate sales.

—The Wall Street Journal

More than 40,000 US military personnel are based throughout the Middle East, and that number is expected to increase as the potential for a wider conflict (originating with the conflict between Israel and Hamas) increases.

—Axios

100 million

Number of trees the Kenyan government is hoping its citizens will plant during a new state holiday.

The government is freely distributing about 150 million seedlings via public nurseries to encourage said planting on public lands, and it has said it hopes citizens will also buy at least two seedlings apiece to plant on their own property.

This is part of a larger effort by the Kenyan government to plant 15 billion trees over the next decade in order to ameliorate the impacts of climate change, and reforest deforested parts of the country.

—BBC News

Trust Click

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