Uber drivers set to protest around the world ahead of the company's $90 billion IPO - CNBC

Uber and Lyft drivers are logging off ride-hailing apps and taking to the streets in cities around the world Wednesday to protest against working conditions and wages.

The protests come ahead of Uber's anticipated IPO (initial public offering) on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday which could put the ride-hailing firm's valuation as high as $91.5 billion.

In the U.K., drivers planned a nine-hour boycott of the Uber app from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. local time in London, Birmingham, Nottingham and Glasgow. Hundreds of drivers are also expected to protest outside Uber's London headquarters on Wednesday afternoon.

Fares in London were surging at 1.8x normal rates as of 9:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, but it's unclear if the surge pricing was related to driver availability or rainy weather conditions.

Drivers are also expected to stage protests against Uber and Lyft in at least eight cities around the U.S., including New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Overnight, the strikes kicked off in Australia with Uber drivers in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne staging brief protests, according to Australia's Transport Union.

The London protests were organized by the United Private Hire Drivers Branch (UPHD) of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), who say Uber's executives will benefit from the massive IPO while drivers remain underpaid.

The U.K. drivers are demanding fares to increase to £2 ($2.60) per mile, up from the current rate of £1.25 per mile in London. The unions also want to lower the commission they pay Uber per ride from 25% to 15%.

"Uber's business model is unsustainable in its dependence upon large scale worker exploitation, tax avoidance and regulatory arbitrage," IWGB said in a statement.

Uber and Lyft drivers are classified as contractors instead of employees, which has exempted them from certain benefits like minimum wage and social security. Both companies acknowledged in their S-1 filings that identifying their workers as contractors is key to their business models.

A 2016 court decision in London ruled in favor of classifying drivers as "workers" who should be entitled to benefits like minimum wage and holiday pay when the app is switched on and they are prepared to take trips. Uber lost an appeal on the case in December and has said it plans to appeal again to the country's Supreme Court.

In a statement Tuesday, an Uber spokesperson said: "Drivers are at the heart of our service — we can't succeed without them — and thousands of people come into work at Uber every day focused on how to make their experience better, on and off the road. Whether it's more consistent earnings, stronger insurance protections or fully-funded four-year degrees for drivers or their families, we'll continue working to improve the experience for and with drivers. "

Meanwhile, a Lyft spokesperson said Tuesday: "Lyft drivers' hourly earnings have increased over the last two years, and they have earned more than $10 billion on the Lyft platform. Over 75% drive less than 10 hours a week to supplement their existing jobs. On average, Lyft drivers earn over $20 per hour. We know that access to flexible, extra income makes a big difference for millions of people, and we're constantly working to improve how we can best serve our driver community."

— CNBC's Lauren Feiner contributed reporting.

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2019-05-08 09:10:32Z
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Liam Dann: Reserve Bank leaps into new era with a bold OCR cut - did they get it right? - New Zealand Herald

COMMENT:

The Reserve Bank has kicked off a new era of committee-based monetary policy with a bold move, cutting the official cash rate to a record low.

The RBNZ yesterday lowered the rate by 0.25 per cent - to 1.5 per cent - despite economic conditions being far from bleak.

It was the first cut since November 2016.

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The move signals that, under Governor Adrian Orr's watch, and a new policy regime that considers employment as well as inflation data, the bank is prepared to get on the front foot to tackle slowing growth early.

It does leave room for critics who would prefer the bank had kept more rate-cut firepower in reserve for a serious financial crisis or recession.

A slowdown from an annual GDP growth rate - from three per cent to around two per cent - might not have been a high enough bar to cut in previous economic cycles.

However, with inflation largely missing in action, and central banks like the US Federal Reserve pulling the brakes on rate-hike plans, the new monetary policy committee agreed unanimously that the cut was needed.

The decision was also largely well received by economists.

In its monetary policy statement the RBNZ cited slowing global growth and highlighted local concerns - including the slowing housing market, gloomy business sentiment and tighter profit margins.

It noted that while employment was near "its maximum sustainable level" but that the outlook for employment growth was subdued and "capacity pressure was expected to ease slightly in 2019".

Inflation - which has been on the low side of the RBNZ's 1-3 per cent target band - was expected to rise only slowly.

The market had put odds of a cut at about 50 per cent - although the move was expected in August if not today.

The New Zealand dollar fell sharply, dropping from just above US66c to US65.47c immediately after the announcement at 2pm.

But it recovered during the afternoon - to US65.89c at 5pm - as markets digested the tone of the statement which did not point specifically to further cuts being required.

Orr said the lower OCR provided "a more balanced outlook for interest rates."

Many economists still see a second cut as likely this year but Orr indicated the Bank was prepared to wait and see how the data unfolded.

"We don't think they will stop there," said KiwiBank chief economist Jarrod Kerr. "The RBNZ's OCR trajectory shows a move to 1.4 per cent. That's the banks way of saying there's roughly 40 per cent chance of another move to 1.25 per cent."

The RBNZ would monitor how much of the 25-basis-point cut is passed on to borrowers and savers, Kerr said.

RBNZ cited a slowing housing market as one reason for the OCR cut. Photo / File

"If not all 25bps are passed on, the chance of a rate cut increases."

Banks did move quickly to cut floating rates, although not by 25 basis points.

ANZ, the country's largest bank, also said it would cut between six and 14 basis points off its fixed-term rates.

Others are expected to follow, although ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said much of the move had already been priced in, with rates coming down in the past two months since cuts were first signalled in March.

While lower interest rates will offer some relief to mortgage holders and heavily leveraged businesses, there were also warnings that they may also reignite the housing market.

The Auckland market in particular was a cause of considerable concern for when prices soared from 2011 through to 2017.

A series of regulatory moves by both the central bank and Government have seen it cool and drift backwards in the last two years.

"Mortgage rates have plunged over the past two months, and today's OCR cut will cause them to fall further," said Westpac chief economist Dominick Stephens.

"We think the consequence will be an upturn in the housing market, starting in the second half of 2019."

Orr downplayed the risk.

"I wouldn't say worried," he said. "We have anticipated with lower interest rates it does free up cash and if [borrowers] want to in the housing market that will be their choice."

The sharemarket also bounded back sharply after the rate cut news, shaking off a big trade-war-related slump, to end the day in positive territory.

Trade wars aside stock markets globally have been buoyed by central bank policy shifts which suggest rates will stay at historic lows for some time yet.

Analysis of the official cash rate cut.

Today's decision was the first to be made by a committee including external - non Bank members.

As well as Governor Orr it included deputy Governor Geoff Bascand, two RBNZ economists and three external economists.

Did they get it right?

Yes.

If you accept that a cut was needed at all then it makes sense to go sooner, to stay ahead of the market and deliver an economic boost before the economy loses too much momentum.

Questions will remain about whether central banks should be pushing harder to get rates back to more traditional levels before we face our next financial crisis.

But, in the face of a global central bank policy U-turn in the past few months - the new-look RBNZ has opted for action.

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2019-05-08 07:09:08Z
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Wall Street plunges on heightening U.S.-China trade worries - Yahoo Finance

A Wall St. street sign is seen near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

By Amy Caren Daniel

(Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes tumbled more than 1 percent on Tuesday, as renewed worries over trade negotiations with China stoked global growth worries and kept investors away from risky assets.

Beijing said on Tuesday that Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will visit the United States this week for trade talks, playing down U.S. President Donald Trump's unexpected threat on Sunday that he would raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent from 10 percent.

Trade tensions also pushed U.S. treasury yields lower as investors turned to low-risk government bonds, pressuring interest rate sensitive banking stocks, which fell 1.69%.

"Many had been looking at this week as providing a potential breakthrough in talks between the world's two largest economies, yet we instead have seen the U.S. threaten a raft of new tariffs," Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at IG, wrote in a note.

"Much of the gains of the eventual deal have been factored into market valuations and thus there is a substantial risk that markets could jolt lower if the direction of talks shift towards more, rather than less barriers to trade."

Boeing Co, the single largest U.S. exporter to China, slipped 2.7% and Caterpillar Inc declined 1.9%.

All the major S&P sectors were trading in the red, with technology companies posting the steepest decline of 2%.

The CBOE Volatility Index, a gauge of investor anxiety, spiked to its higher level in over three months.

At 10:55 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 355.41 points, or 1.34%, at 26,083.07. The S&P 500 was down 42.23 points, or 1.44%, at 2,890.24 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 138.67 points, or 1.71%, at 7,984.62.

Marquee names including Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Facebook Inc fell more than 1.7% and weighed on markets.

The earnings season has now reached its homestretch. Of the 414 S&P companies that have reported earnings so far, about 75% have surpassed analysts' estimates, according to Refinitiv data.

The upbeat reports have turned around earnings estimates for the first quarter to an almost 1.2% rise, a sharp improvement from the 2.3% decline expected at the start of the earnings season.

American International Group Inc jumped 6.7%, the most among S&P companies, after the insurer reported a quarterly profit that blew past expectations.

Among decliners, Mylan NV tumbled 17% after the drugmaker missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue, hurt partly by manufacturing problems at its Morgantown plant in West Virginia.

Shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc fell 5% after the drugmaker missed quarterly profit estimates.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 4.26-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 2.95-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded four new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 37 new highs and 22 new lows.

(Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Arun Koyyur)

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2019-05-07 15:50:00Z
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GM Cruise autonomous car company gets $1.15 billion investment ahead of 2019 launch - Fox News

General Motors’ autonomous car operation is blowing up … in a good way.

The automaker announced on Tuesday the completion of a $1.15 billion investment round in its self-driving car subsidiary, GM Cruise LLC, that valued the company at $19 billion, or more than one-third the market capitalization of GM itself.

GM reportedly paid $1 billion or less in 2016 to take over the then-startup tech firm, which got a $2.75 billion investment from Honda in October and a total of $7.25 billion from various sources over the past year.

Honda has proposed a more futuristic version of the self-driving car. (Honda)

The company is currently focused on developing a self-driving version of the Chevrolet Bolt electric car, which will initially be deployed in a ride-hailing scheme.

"Developing and deploying self-driving vehicles at massive scale is the engineering challenge of our generation," Cruise CEO Dan Ammann said in a release announcing the news.

"Having deep resources to draw on as we pursue our mission is a critical competitive advantage."

Cruise is currently testing vehicles on the road in California that it plans to put into commercial use by the end of 2019 as it looks to compete with similar efforts from Waymo, Uber and Tesla. The company has petitioned the federal government to allow it to deploy cars without steering wheels or brakes, but has not yet received approval to do so.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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2019-05-07 15:16:52Z
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Job openings in U.S. jump to 7.49 million — more proof of ultra-strong labor market - MarketWatch

Bloomberg News/Landov

Job openings in the United States rebounded in March to 7.49 million after falling to a 9-month low in February.

The numbers: The number of U.S. job openings rebounded to a near-record 7.49 million in March, showing that companies are still ready and willing to hire even though the economy is not growing as rapidly as it was a year earlier.

Job openings had fallen to nine-month low of 7.14 million in February, when hiring was crimped by poor weather and the lingering effects of a partial government shutdown. Openings hit an all-time high of 7.63 million last November.

Read: U.S. creates 263,000 jobs in April as unemployment falls to 49-year low

What happened: Transportation and warehousing companies — the firms that deliver internet packages — increased help-wanted ads by 87,000. Job listings for construction rose 73,000. And real estate-related job openings climbed by 57,000.

Job openings for the federal government fell by 15,000, the Labor Department said Tuesday.

The share of people who left jobs on their own, known as the quits rate, was flat at 2.5% among private-sector employees. The rate was unchanged at 2.3% for all workers including those in government.

More workers tend to quit when they feel secure enough to leave one job for another — a sign of a healthy economy. The quits rate has risen steadily in the past decade from a post-recession low of 1.4%, though it appears to have peaked.

Big picture: A strong labor market is acting as guardrails for the U.S. economy, keeping it on track to break the record for longest expansion ever in a few months. The rate of unemployment fell last month to a nearly 50-year low of 3.6% and layoffs are also at a half-century low.

Read: Stars are aligned for economy as it closes in on record for longest expansion

The pace of hiring has slowed since last fall and job openings have come off their record highs, but there are still more jobs available than there are unemployed Americans. Some 5.8 million people were classified as unemployed in April, meaning they want to work and are actively seeking a job.

“Job openings have now exceeded the number of unemployed Americans for 13 straight months,” noted Julia Pollak, a labor economist at employment marketplace ZipRecruiter.

What they are saying? “This report is a calming return to the trend we’ve seen for years now: high labor demand translating into a slow but steady increase in worker confidence,’said Nick Bunker, an economist at Indeed Hiring Lab. “This uptick is a positive sign, though year-over-year growth in job postings is still on the decline.”

Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.53% and S&P 500 SPX, -1.50% fell sharply again in Tuesday trades, setting up a second straight loss amid a flareup in trade tensions between the Trump White House and China.

Read: Market calm shattered: Trump tariff threat ‘raises odds of further tariff escalation’

The 10-year Treasury yield TMUBMUSD10Y, -0.87% fell slightly to 2.47%. Many loans including mortgages are tied to the 10-year note, whose yield has tumbled from a seven-year high of 3.23% in October.

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2019-05-07 14:23:00Z
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Wall Street declines on U.S.-China trade tensions - Investing.com

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor at the NYSE in New York

By Amy Caren Daniel

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks posted broad-based declines on Tuesday, led by tariff-sensitive industrial companies, as renewed worries over trade negotiations with China stoked global growth worries and kept investors away from risky assets.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will visit the United States this week for trade talks, Beijing said on Tuesday, playing down a sharp increase in tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to impose new tariffs.

Trump in a surprise move on Sunday said the higher levies would go into effect on Friday if a deal with China was not sealed, triggering a global selloff in equities and inflamed fears of a slowdown in global growth.

"There is some uncertainty on what the ultimate result of the trade negotiations will be. If there is no deal that will be interpreted quite negatively by markets," said Matt Forester, chief investment officer of BNY Mellon's Lockwood Advisors in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

All the major S&P sectors were trading lower, with the industrial sector, posting the steepest decline of 1.6%.

Boeing (NYSE:) Co, the single largest U.S. exporter to China, slipped 1.8% and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:) declined 1.3%. Boeing's stock was also weighed by report of a Barclays (LON:) downgrade to "equal weight".

Trade tensions also pressured oil prices, pushed U.S. Treasury yields lower and halted a recent rally that propelled the and the Nasdaq to record highs.

Interest rate sensitive banking stocks dropped 1.49% and the broader financial sector fell 1.18%.

Adding to growth worries, the European Commission revised down euro area growth forecasts and cut its already gloomy outlook on Italy.

At 9:53 a.m. ET the was down 284.00 points, or 1.07%, at 26,154.48. The S&P 500 was down 32.81 points, or 1.12%, at 2,899.66 and the was down 94.62 points, or 1.16%, at 8,028.67.

High growth companies including Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:), Apple Inc (NASDAQ:), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:) and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:) fell more than 1% and weighed on markets.

The earnings season has now reached its homestretch. Of the 392 S&P companies that have reported earnings so far, about 75% have surpassed analysts' estimates, according to Refinitiv data.

The upbeat reports have turned around earnings estimates for the first quarter to an almost 1% rise, a huge improvement from the 2.3% decline expected at the start of the earnings season.

American International Group Inc (NYSE:) jumped 7.7%, the most among S&P companies, after the insurer reported a quarterly profit that blew past expectations.

Among decliners, Mylan (NASDAQ:) NV tumbled 10.8% after the drugmaker missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue, hurt partly by manufacturing problems at its Morgantown plant in West Virginia.

Shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:) fell 6% after the drugmaker missed quarterly profit estimates.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 4.31-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 2.85-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded four new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 29 new highs and 15 new lows.

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2019-05-07 13:39:00Z
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Amazon's New York Go store is the first to accept cash - Engadget

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Amazon's app-powered supermarket chain, Amazon Go, opens its twelfth branch today. Located on Vesey Street in New York, the store is the city's first branch of Amazon Go, which started out in Amazon's home territory of Seattle.

Interestingly, the new branch will accept cash, a major diversion from its original purpose of super-streamlining the shopping process. Up to now, customers needed to download the Amazon Go app (separate from Amazon's other apps) before entering the store, then check themselves in through turnstiles with the QR code in their app, pick up anything they want in the shop, then leave. The store's sophisticated item tracking system knows what a customer has selected -- even if they put it straight into their pocket -- and bills them automatically via the app.

However, there's been some backlash against Amazon Go and cashless systems in general, which are seen as discriminating against people who don't have the means to switch away from cash. Philadelphia has already banned cashless stores, and similar legislation is under consideration in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, DC -- and New York.

The concession requires a significant deviation from the usual Amazon Go process: according to WTHR, customers wanting to pay cash will have to be swiped in by an employee rather than entering autonomously, then have their chosen products scanned by a staffer, who conducts the checkout process for them. There won't be cash registers, but Amazon will presumably need cash floats on hand to provide change.

An Amazon spokesperson told the same publication that the cash process may change: "This is how we're starting," says Cameron Janes, who looks after Amazon stores, "We're going to learn from customers on what works and what doesn't work and then iterate and improve it over time."

The New York store has 1,300 square feet of retail space and sells products by local vendors including Magnolia Bakery, Epicured and Hale & Hearty. It will also offer ready-to-eat meals and snacks made by Amazon's kitchen team.

Via: WTHR

In this article: amazon, amazon go, business, new york, retail, services, tomorrow

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2019-05-07 10:29:01Z
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