Month: November 2023

The United Auto Workers union’s weekslong strike against Ford Motor Company cost the automaker $1.7 billion, and the added costs from the new contract reached to end the work stoppages will cost more than five times that amount, according to the automaker.

Ford, which pulled its full year 2023 outlook in October as the UAW’s strike held some major production facilities at a standstill, unveiled a new trimmed-down forecast on Thursday.

The automaker now expects adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $10 billion to $10.5 billion for 2023, down from its prior forecast of $11 billion to $12 billion offered in July.

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The company said $1.6 billion of the total strike-related lost profits were incurred during the fourth quarter, and the shutdowns resulted in a reduction of roughly 100,000 fewer wholesale vehicles being sold than originally planned.

The new labor agreement, which includes a 30% wage increase for union autoworkers over the four-and-a-half-year contract, will cost Ford $8.8 billion over the life of the contract.

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CFO John Lawler confirmed a previous estimate that the added labor expenses will add about $900 in costs per vehicle by 2028, and says the company will work to offset those costs by boosting productivity and lowering expenses elsewhere.

Ford’s outlook comes a day after General Motors said its new labor deals with the UAW and Canadian union Unifor will cost it $9.3 billion through 2028. GM also announced $10 billion in share buybacks and a 33% dividend increase to boost its sagging share price.

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Ford was the first of Detroit’s Big Three automakers to reach a tentative deal with the UAW after nearly six weeks of targeted strikes that saw thousands of workers stage a walkout and join picket lines across the country, demanding better wages and benefits.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Saudi Arabia and Russia on Thursday deepened their oil supply cuts, announcing an agreement to continue scaling back production at the beginning of 2024.

The voluntary move by Moscow, Riyadh and other members of OPEC+ will reduce crude output by about 2 million barrels a day for the first quarter of 2024. Saudi Arabia first began scaling back output in July and has extended the production cut three times so far.

OPEC+, which is the group of oil-producing nations responsible for about 40% of global output, announced the news Thursday after its virtual meeting to discuss 2024 output amid concerns of a potential surplus.

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Other members, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman, pledged additional cuts in the three-month period from January to March.

Oil prices initially rose on Thursday but fell later in the session despite the fresh supply curb. Investors were bracing for deeper production cuts.

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“The market reaction implies disbelief in the full efficacy of the cuts,” JPMorgan Chase analyst Christyan Malek said, according to Reuters.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, fell to about $76 a barrel during late afternoon trading, down from a recent peak of $93. Brent crude – the international benchmark – was hovering around $80 a barrel, down about 2.5% from the previous day.

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Americans have enjoyed the benefits of lower gas prices recently, despite the extensive oil cuts by OPEC+.

The average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline was about $3.24 on Thursday, according to AAA. That is well below the record high of $5.01 notched in June 2022 and a marked drop from just one month ago, when prices hovered around $3.49.

The latest export cuts come in addition to existing supply reductions by OPEC+.

The group already had in place oil output cuts of about 3.66 million barrels per day when Saudi Arabia and Russia introduced the additional supply cut on Thursday.

The White House has previously criticized the action, with President Biden vowing there “will be consequences” for Saudi Arabia.

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I’d like to begin with a little discussion about how Donald Trump’s bankers completely blew up the Letitia James, Arthur Engoron case against the former President. Blew it up. That’s right. A couple of Deutsche Bank folks, who had been lending hundreds of millions of dollars to Trump and the Trump organization down through the years absolutely destroyed this stupid, left-wing, New York socialist attack on Mr. Trump.

Now, the brilliant Jonathan Turley will be here toward the backend of the show to give his erudite analysis from a legal standpoint, but, in none legal terms, a number of Deutsche Bank employees told the New York judge that they made millions of dollars from Mr. Trump’s businesses and saw no fraud in the loans they approved. They told the judge that Trump repaid his loans with interest. There was never any concern that Trump defrauded the bank and they unveiled a parade of emails going back years where the bankers heaped compliments and praise for the Trumps and their businesses.

The bankers’ story goes all the way back to 2011 – that’s 12 years ago – regarding the renovation of the Doral golf resort near Miami, Florida. That turned out to be a tremendous success story. The bankers also testified that Mr. Trump paid off his loans, frequently paid off his loans, ahead of schedule. Indeed, the Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank testified that bank in 2013, in a meeting at Trump Tower he suggested the bank could lend Mr. Trump even more money because Mr. Trump’s credit worthiness was so strong.

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Now this goofy Justice Engoron with all his ties to the New York Democratic machine, barely listened to the crucial testimony of Mr. Trump’s bank lenders and that is too bad, but of course in New York, as elsewhere during the Biden years, Republicans and conservatives are subjected to a two-tiered Justice System. The charges against Mr. Trump concerning the allegation of inflated assets, alleged falsifying financial statements, insurance fraud, is a fabrication based on left-wing imaginations. This is just like the other charges against Trump in Washington, Florida, and Georgia, which would seek to deny the former president his first amendment right to free speech, his right to express his own opinions.

In this country that right is not a crime. Also, in this country, if your banker testifies that you paid up every loan on time, or even before the loan came due, and that includes the interest payment, and that there was no fraud, and the asset values are matter of an opinion, not science, the key point is paying back the loan with interest. 

If the bankers are saying this, then what are these prosecutors trying to do? Well, prosecutors, that is the Democratic prosecutors, are trying to confiscate Mr. Trump’s businesses and throw him in jail for 700 years. Anything to impoverish him and keep him out of the White House next November.

That’s what all this is about, including the ludicrous $18 million asset valuation that the goofy New York judge believes Mar-a-Lago is worth. That judge has become the laughingstock of real estate brokers in South Florida and around the country. That property is probably worth a billion dollars, not $18M.

Coming back to this silly New York case, there is no victim, there is no fraud, there is no squealing banker, there is no statute violation, there is no intent, there is no materiality, and there are no ill-gotten gains. In other words, as with all these Trumped up charges by the Democratic regime, there’s no nothing!

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the November 30, 2023, edition of “Kudlow.”

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The latest botched Disney World ride left guests chuckling after a viral video captured Snow White’s animatronic arm appearing to be stolen by none other but Dopey the dwarf.

Kira Haas was racing through the diamond mind on the popular Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom park in Florida on Tuesday afternoon, when she decided to capture the special moment with a selfie with a friend.

“Immediately, we noticed that something was not quite right and Snow White’s arm was not attached to her body and, um, having my phone out at the right opportune moment, I was like, ‘Yes!’” she told FOX 35. 

The video, which has amassed over 700,000 likes on TikTok, captured the idealistic scene of Snow White dancing with the seven dwarfs from the popular 1937 motion picture.

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However, rather than being attached to her dance partner, Snow White’s right arm is seen dangling from Dopey’s right hand as they dance around to “The Silly Song.” 

The catchy song served as the backdrop for the off-putting scene that unfolded at the end of the ride as guests neared the end of the ride.

“The music is killing me,” one user commented on the viral social media post.

Haas, who was visiting the theme park for her 28th birthday, defended the ride malfunction, saying that the animatronics were old and from the original ride.

“In Disney’s defense, these animatronics are very old and from the original ride,” she commented on her TikTok video.

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Haas told FOX 35 that she loved that others were having the same reaction as she was to the ride mishap.

“It’s been really fun to see that people are having the same reaction that I had, which was, ‘This is hysterical,’” Haas said.

Haas said she notified cast members of the mishap and the ride was closed for repair shortly after. 

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Walt Disney World did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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