US ECONOMY & POLITICS

U.S. Job Openings Rise to Record, Underscore Hiring Difficulties – Bloomberg, 7/7/2021

• U.S. job openings rose to a fresh record high in May, underscoring persistent hiring difficulties and reflecting more vacancies in the health care, education and hospitality industries.
• The number of available positions climbed to 9.21 million during the month from a downwardly revised 9.19 million in April, the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed Wednesday.
• The number of people who voluntarily left their jobs decreased to a still-lofty 3.6 million in May, as the quits rate dropped to 2.5%. Quits fell in nearly all industries, though they picked up slightly for restaurants and hotels.
• Total hires decreased to 5.93 million in May from 6.01 million, while the hires rate eased to 4.1%.
• The decline was concentrated in construction, government and professional services.
• The total number of vacancies exceeded hires by 3.28 million in May, the highest in records to 2000.

Democrats Split Over Measures to Cut Drug Prices – Wall Street Journal, 7/7/2021

• Democrats are debating whether to fold an effort to cut drug prices—by allowing Medicare to negotiate—into a budget package or try to pass the measure on its own.
• Both parties have prioritized lowering prescription-drug prices for years, but haven’t been able to pass a bipartisan agreement.
• Many Democrats now see a budget package, which could clear the evenly divided Senate with just a simple majority, as their best shot at overhauling the system.
• But intraparty divisions over policy issues could complicate that path, and some lawmakers are advocating for making more modest changes with GOP support.
• Democrats can lose no more than four votes in the House and none in the Senate on legislation opposed by all Republicans.

Hospitals Often Charge Uninsured People the Highest Prices, New Data Show – Wall Street Journal, 7/7/2021

• A Journal study of thousands of prices at hundreds of hospitals revealed that many charge top prices to patients like Mr. Macias, who must pay cash out of pocket, compared with the prices the hospitals have negotiated with insurance companies.
• The newly public prices allow for the first time a comparison of what deep-pocketed insurers pay hospitals versus rates that hospitals set for patients who pay cash.
• The Journal analysis looked at the 1,550 hospitals in the Turquoise data that released both insurance and cash-payment rates.
• About 21%, or 319, of the hospitals did so for the majority of the services included in the analysis. At 171 of those hospitals, the cash rate was higher than all of the rates billed to insurers, or tied for the highest rate, for every service in the analysis.
• On average, across the 1,166 hospitals that included rates for Medicare Advantage plans in their disclosures, the fees for uninsured patients were 3.6 times the average rates paid by the Medicare Advantage plans.

U.S.-China Rivalry Has Biden Giving Government Wider Role to Review Deals – Wall Street Journal, 7/7/2021

• A low-profile government committee that reviews business deals for national security concerns is receiving expanded emphasis as part of the Biden administration’s plan to compete with China.
• The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or Cfius, is looking to share information with similar review bodies set up by allies and is paying closer attention to Biden priorities, including securing supply chains.
• In June, Cfius ordered a hold on a Chinese investor’s planned acquisition of South Korean-based semiconductor maker Magnachip Semiconductor to review the deal.
• Cfius’s wider purview expands on the strengthened authority and sharper China-focus it was given during the Trump administration, which used the panel to examine data privacy issues for TikTok app users and squelch Chinese investment in U.S. technology.

U.S. releases confidential Trump report on foreign auto threat – Reuters, 7/7/2021

• The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday released a confidential Trump administration report that was the basis for the former president’s threats in 2019 to impose tariffs on imported automobiles on grounds of national security.
• Republican Senator Pat Toomey, who drafted legislation to require the report’s release, said in a statement that “a quick glance confirms what we expected: The justification for these tariffs was so entirely unfounded that even the authors were too embarrassed to let it see the light of day.”
• The redacted 116-page report said research and spending by the largest foreign-owned automobile producers reflected de facto subsidies in their home markets, citing Volkswagen and Toyota.
• “Significant import penetration over the course of the past three decades has severely weakened the U.S. automotive industry,” the report said.
• This “jeopardizes U.S. military leadership and its ability to fulfill America’s defense requirements,” it said.

U.S. Considers Whether to Take Step Toward Tariffs on Vietnam – Bloomberg, 7/7/2021

• The U.S. is discussing whether to move toward imposing tariffs on Vietnam over currency actions that during the Trump era were labeled as unreasonable and restrictive to American businesses.
• President Joe Biden’s administration plans a meeting on the topic as soon as Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
• Participants will include officials from the Treasury Department, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, Commerce Department and National Security Council, they said.
• The planning comes ahead of an October deadline, one year following the start of a government probe, for the U.S. to impose tariffs under section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act.

Eric Adams Wins NYC Mayoral Primary, Capping 2 Weeks of Waiting – Bloomberg, 7/7/2021

• Eric Adams won New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, holding off a crowded field of challengers with a campaign focused on reducing crime and restoring the quality of life in a city that was pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic.
• The Associated Press called the race on Tuesday for Adams, the Brooklyn borough president.
• He won 50.5% of the vote, edging out former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia, who received 49.5% after eight rounds of voting.
• It was a difference of 8,426 votes.
• The June 22 primary marked the first citywide use of the ranked-choice voting system, allowing voters to select as many as five candidates in order of preference.
• But the process did not go smoothly, as an error by the city’s Board of Elections partway through the tally threw ballot counting into disarray and led to preemptive lawsuits by many of the candidates.

EUROPE & WORLD

Euro-Area Outlook Raised by EU With Warning on Inflation – Bloomberg, 7/7/2021

• European Union officials markedly raised their outlook for the euro-area economy and said there’s a higher risk of inflation taking hold as loosening virus restrictions allow demand to snap back.
• The European Commission increased its growth forecast for the currency bloc to 4.8% from 4.3% previously, while predicting better performance in 2022 too.
• The Commission raised its outlook for inflation and now expects a rate of 1.9% in 2021, compared to 1.7% previously.
• Rising energy and commodity prices and supply-chain bottlenecks are contributing to price pressures this year, though inflation should slow down again in 2022.
• The recovery is already seen as “highly uneven” within the EU, with Germany and the Netherlands expected to reach pre-crisis levels of output in the third quarter, a full year ahead of Italy and Spain, the Commission said.

Samsung Electronics Expects 53% Increase in Operating Profit – Wall Street Journal, 7/7/2021

• Samsung Electronics expects a 53% rise in operating profit for the second quarter, lifted by strong demand for memory chips that offset weaker device sales hurt by component shortages.
• The world’s largest smartphone and memory-chip maker forecasts operating profit of 12.5 trillion South Korean won, equivalent to about $11 billion, for the quarter ended June 30. Samsung projects revenue of 63 trillion won, up 19% from the prior year.
• The South Korean firm’s outlook handily topped market expectations and indicated ongoing strength for tech giants—and especially chip makers, which have seen greater pricing power during a historic supply crunch.

Haiti President Jovenel Moïse Assassinated at Home, Official Says – Wall Street Journal, 7/7/2021

• Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in an attack on his residence, the country’s interim prime minister said on Wednesday, plunging the unstable Caribbean nation into fresh political turmoil.
• A group of assailants entered the residence toward 1 a.m. local time on Wednesday, shooting the president and wounding the first lady, who has been hospitalized, interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph told Radio Television Caraibes.
• The country, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, has been roiled by violent protests, economic contraction brought by the pandemic and security concerns since Mr. Moïse, who was narrowly elected in 2016, refused to leave office in February, arguing that his term lasted another year. Opposition leaders accused Mr. Moïse of turning into an autocrat.

Factmonster – TODAY in HISTORY

• William Blount of Tennessee became the first U.S. senator to be impeached. (1797)
• The United States annexed Hawaii. (1898)
• President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor for the Supreme Court. (1981)