COP27 Finance Day: Building resilience for countries hit by natural disasters

COP27 Finance Day: Building resilience for countries hit by natural disasters
  • British isles Export Finance will be the world’s first export credit agency to pause personal debt company payments for low-income nations around the world and little island building states when they are strike by climate catastrophes, this sort of as hurricanes and floods

  • The Minister will also welcome the future phase towards providers demonstrating how they will align their enterprise with internet zero, as UK’s Changeover Prepare Taskforce’s Disclosure Framework is posted

Susceptible countries strike by hurricanes and other local weather catastrophes are set to be equipped to defer financial debt repayments, liberating up assets to fund catastrophe aid, as portion of new United kingdom-led initiatives unveiled at COP27 and in reaction to rising needs from building international locations for such improvements.

And now, Uk Export Finance has turn out to be the initial export credit rating company in the world to present this in its have immediate lending to small-profits nations and smaller island establishing states.

In a speech in Egypt at COP27 Finance Day, Treasury Minister James Cartlidge announced publication of important layout concepts which will underpin Local climate Resilient Debt Clauses (CRDCs) for use in non-public sector lending, and termed for all collectors – which includes non-public banking companies, other bilateral loan companies and the worldwide economic establishments – to examine adopting these clauses.

This follows function spearheaded by the United kingdom in modern months in collaboration with non-public sector institutions. A ‘model time period sheet’ for private lending together with CRDCs has been formulated and is published nowadays on the Intercontinental Capital Marketplaces Affiliation web-site.

This is aspect of the UK’s wider determination at COP26 to help acquiring nations adapt to the impacts of weather improve and for the United kingdom to be the world’s 1st internet zero-aligned financial centre.

The United kingdom carries on supply on our crucial funding commitments, investing £11.6 billion on worldwide local weather finance. At COP27, the Prime Minister introduced that the Authorities will commit to triple funding for climate adaptation as aspect of that funds, from £500 million in 2019 to £1.5 billion in 2025.

This builds on the success of COP26 in Glasgow, which brought with each other practically 200 nations around the world and about 120 globe leaders and saw nations adopt the Glasgow Local weather Pact – the blueprint for accelerating local climate action all through this important ten years.

Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, James Cartlidge, reported:

Local climate shocks are increasing in frequency and severity which is why we are supporting nations strike hardest. In the wake of a disaster, they experience unpleasant trade-offs in between rebuilding their communities and building credit card debt repayments.

Nowadays is a major milestone in our operate to come across modern alternatives to these world problems, and I am proud that British isles Export Finance is the first export credit rating company in the world to give loans which suspend credit card debt assistance payments for countries strike by climate catastrophes and pure disasters.

Developing on our COP26 legacy, we are dedicated to climate-resilient enhancement, as the United kingdom carries on to participate in a major function in minimizing carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.

Talking at COP27 Finance Day, Tim Reid, Uk Export Finance’s Director of Business enterprise Group will say:

Some international locations are now dealing with tricky alternatives involving guarding their citizens as they answer to local climate shocks or spending down their debts. UKEF can enjoy an essential function in supporting governments navigate these conclusions. By suspending the debt assistance payments, UKEF will enable borrowing international locations to aim on responding to and recovering from a crisis.

We really encourage other formal lenders to take into account together with equivalent provisions in their own lending to nations most vulnerable to climate alter.

Avinash Persaud, Unique Envoy to Barbados Prime Minister Mottley on Local weather Finance, claimed:

Adopting Natural Catastrophe and Pandemic clauses in financial debt instruments is the one most impactful way of producing the intercontinental fiscal program fitter for the new planet of shocks and for global growth. And they really do not charge debtors or collectors a penny. We have them in our bonds. They can free up fiscal room for debtors just when they want it most with no hurting lenders on a internet present benefit basis. I can’t welcome and commend this initiative by the Uk Governing administration enough.

On top of this, Multilateral Improvement Banks (MDBs) have agreed to collaborate by way of an casual performing group to more examine CRDCs and other strategies, constructing on the Inter-American Growth Bank’s leadership in this location. The British isles is contacting on all other creditors to take a look at adopting these flexibilities in bank loan contracts.

Before in the working day, the Treasury Minister also welcomed the following move in direction of companies demonstrating how they will align their business enterprise with net zero. The publication of the United kingdom Changeover Strategy Taskforce’s Disclosure Framework and Implementation Steering for consultation sets out how companies can demonstrate customers, traders and the general public what methods they are taking to align their small business with internet zero. These files established out very clear suggestions for how companies can get ready and disclose their plans in the brief-medium term.

The Governing administration launched the Transition Program Taskforce (TPT) in May perhaps to generate the gold common for transition designs. This arrives right after the Government dedicated at COP26 to go towards mandatory changeover system disclosures, with the FCA previously introducing original disclosure guidelines for transition designs from January.

The Federal government has taken earth-leading action to eco-friendly the worldwide monetary procedure, with London acquiring ranked first in the globe for a 3rd consecutive 12 months as a top hub globally for sustainable finance, according to the World wide Environmentally friendly Finance Index 10.

On best of this, the Uk has raised around £20 billion from green gilts and NS&I’s Eco-friendly Cost savings Bonds due to the fact September 2021 to finance initiatives in the United kingdom and throughout the world to deal with local weather transform and other environmental challenges. Transactions in May well and September contributed about £4 billion in direction of this.

‘India to become third largest economy, stock market by 2030’

‘India to become third largest economy, stock market by 2030’

US banking team Morgan Stanley has reported India is established to turn into the world’s 3rd-most significant economic system and inventory marketplace by the finish of this ten years with the GDP most likely to cross US$ 7.5 trillion by 2031, much more than double the existing degree.

“India is attaining electricity in the earth economic system, and in our feeling these idiosyncratic alterations imply a at the time-in-a-era shift and an chance for traders and businesses,” Morgan Stanley mentioned in a report.

In accordance to Morgan Stanley, the variety of households earning in excessive of $35,000 a year is possible to increase fivefold in the coming decade, to in excess of 25 million. “The implications are that GDP is likely to cross $7.5 trillion by 2031, more than double the present-day amount, a discretionary usage increase and 11{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} annual compounding of current market capitalization to US$ 10 trillion in the coming decade,” it claimed.

“Implications include things like a rise in credit score to GDP from 57{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 100{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}, superior health care solutions, increased insurance plan penetration, a quintupling of stock marketplace investors from 62 million (up from 20 mn three a long time in the past) to all around 300 million, potentially leading to a continuation of the persistent bid on shares and a content increase in shopper discretionary commit,” it explained. The breadth of India’s cash flow pyramid lends further more momentum to customer investing, which is likely to benefit as India crosses the vital $2,000 per-capita GDP level.

The selection of homes earning in excessive of $35,000 a year is likely to increase fivefold in the coming ten years, to more than 25 million. “We estimate that manufacturing’s share of GDP will rise from 15.6{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} at the moment to 21{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} by 2031, which indicates nominal output leaping from $447 billion to about $1.49 trillion,” Morgan Stanley explained.

Just as China’s developmental path is usually as opposed to the US, India will be as opposed to China. The comparison arises primarily mainly because both economies have populations of above 1 billion, and yet China’s financial system is about 5 moments the dimensions of India’s (in nominal USD terms), it said. “We project that India’s non-public usage will much more than double from $ 2 trillion in 2022 to $ 4.5 trillion by the close of the decade, a size that would be approximately comparable to China in 2015,” it mentioned.

At the setting up place, the use share in GDP has been increased in India as as opposed to China.

“We assume this ratio to keep on being reasonably high in India. India’s personal consumption will more than double to $4.5 trn by the end of this 10 years, very similar in sizing to China in 2015,” Morgan Stanley said.

5 Steps to a Stronger Financial Plan

5 Steps to a Stronger Financial Plan

Most persons do not know how to precisely assess possibilities and appraise risk in their money setting up. As a end result, their fiscal system is probably to slide apart the moment a thing goes completely wrong. Which implies it practically normally falls apart, simply because there are a million factors that transpire in life that we can’t predict, didn’t account for or simply forgot to take into consideration.

It is not that preparing is pointless. It is that we need to have to address arranging as a process, somewhat than a one-time celebration that we established and ignore. We also have to have strategies for making much better fiscal strategies that can really withstand the inescapable bad luck, terrible selections or poor assumptions that come about together the way.

Is Finance a Good Career Path? Everything To Know

Is Finance a Good Career Path? Everything To Know

A economic vocation can be really gratifying. If you have a head for numbers and a enthusiasm for fiscal setting up, the monetary sector might be the fantastic healthy. Having said that, there are some points you need to know about a job in finance just before deciding to pursue it. In this article, we’ll focus on the benefits and negatives of a occupation in finance, the most popular and beneficial careers, and additional.

What Are the Added benefits of a Vocation in Finance?

Initially and foremost, a job in finance can pay really perfectly. In accordance to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Stats, the normal income for economic professionals is $131,710. And that is just the median wage many administrators get paid a lot a lot more than that. It really is vital to observe that the base wage can be deceptive. Finance professions offer bonuses, and they can array upwards of hundreds of 1000’s to millions.

Careers in finance also supply a superior diploma of work stability. It is vital to notice that large establishments get rid of the base 3rd performers (give or acquire) year to calendar year. There is a good deal of volatility and uncertainty in several of these positions.

Finance is an critical industry, and there will constantly be a need to have for skilled economical experts. Even throughout financial downturns, businesses nevertheless need to have fiscal supervisors to assistance them navigate tough waters.

Ultimately, a finance job can offer a wonderful offer of upward mobility. If you get started out as a economic analyst and do your career perfectly, you will find no motive you could not finally develop into a vice president or even the chief monetary officer (CFO) of your business. And if you happen to be self-used and the proprietor of the company, the sky’s the restrict about how much dollars you can earn.

Linked: How To Realize Significant Occupation Improvement

What Are the Negatives of a Vocation in Finance?

Of system, no career is great, and there are some negatives to performing in finance. First of all, monetary jobs can be very tense. If you might be performing as a financial analyst or supervisor, you’re responsible for earning essential conclusions that could have a main influence on your company’s bottom line. That form of strain can be challenging to handle working day in and working day out.

A further draw back is that finance can be quite time-consuming. You might have very little time still left around for your particular lifestyle when you are operating very long hours crunching numbers and planning studies. It’s essential to manage a healthful perform-existence stability if you select that sort of career path.

It is worthy of noting that the world of finance is always transforming. You have to normally hold up with the latest adjustments in tax codes and polices so you can advise your purchasers appropriately. You also have to continue to be ready for sudden financial downturns they materialize from time to time, and they can have major implications for corporations and people today alike.

8 Crucial Skills for a Profession in Finance

If you’re thinking of a career in finance, fully grasp that you’ll need different techniques and skills to be successful. Key techniques include things like potent math qualities, notice to depth, and cash administration. You are going to also have to have excellent difficulty-resolving and communication expertise. Right here are eight of the most essential expertise for flourishing in the financial sector.

1. Mathematical Skill

A effective career in finance requires strong math capabilities. You are going to need to have to be ready to recognize and get the job done with sophisticated monetary facts, including statistics, financial stories, and budgets. This usually means being at ease with mathematical ideas this kind of as chance, calculus, and algebra. If you might be not confident in your math expertise, think about using some refresher classes just before embarking on a finance vocation.

2. Analytical Considering

Analytical considering is another significant skill for finance specialists. You need to be able to evaluate details and detect tendencies to make audio choices, and you need to normally be prepared to imagine critically and fix complications. All those who aren’t normally analytical can increase their capabilities by using programs, working with mentors, and working towards on their very own time.

3. Notice to Detail

Focus to detail is critical in finance due to the fact a insignificant oversight can have a big monetary effect. For case in point, mistakenly entering the improper amount into a spreadsheet could lead to an incorrect fiscal statement.

This could lead to particular monetary traders or collectors remaining misled about the firm’s money wellness, which could likely trigger them to lose revenue. Becoming exact and accurate when working with numbers is non-negotiable for this career path.

4. Small business Acumen

Owning robust company acumen implies knowing the inner workings of a firm as well as how financial decisions can impact the all round achievements or failure of a business enterprise. Those people with strong enterprise acumen can make clever financial conclusions that assistance a firm improve and triumph more than time.

A several approaches to produce your enterprise acumen include things like:

  • Getting business enterprise classes
  • Working with a mentor in the finance marketplace
  • Attaining knowledge by internships or jobs in finance

5. Money Awareness

Doing work in finance is a beneficial job path, but it calls for you to be conscious of the economic marketplace and how it is effective. It’s also vital to continue to be very well-educated about present gatherings and tendencies in the financial world so you will not drop powering.

Finance is a complicated industry, and there is a ton at stake for those who do the job in it. It is really way too quick to make pricey mistakes that effect your profession when you don’t comprehend the principles.

6. Economical Modeling

Fiscal modeling is the process of creating a mathematical product of a fiscal condition. This could be anything at all from the projected general performance of a company more than a period of time, to the possible final result of a proposed expense. Fiscal designs are used by investors, bankers, and other finance pros to enable them make informed selections about where to allocate their money.

If you want to function in finance, it can be essential that you know how to construct these products. Software program courses can simplify the course of action, but you want a very good knowing of primary accounting and economical principles. That way, you can create accurate types that assist you and your peers make big decisions.

7. Income and Loss Examination

It’s complicated to overstate the worth of figuring out how to perform a profit and decline evaluation in the planet of finance. A gain and loss (P&L) statement displays you whether a corporation is producing a revenue or a reduction, and how significantly dollars it’s earning or dropping.

This information is very important for building informed selections about things like whether or not to devote in a business or not. Analyzing P&L statements can also assistance you determine locations in which a firm could preserve money if it needs to make cuts.

8. Conversation

Considering the fact that finance is a constantly evolving area, you will have to be ready to connect correctly to retain up with the variations and keep in advance of the level of competition. Superior interaction techniques will help you grasp complex concepts, make clear financial assessment to shoppers, and negotiate bargains. They are also vital for networking and creating associations with colleagues and customers.

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What Are the Most Well known and Rewarding Careers in Finance?

Finance is a extensive area with numerous distinctive position alternatives. Some positions are much more well known or profitable than others, but you will find a work in finance for anybody with a knack for quantities. Below are some of the most common:

  • Expenditure Bankers generally assistance businesses and governments raise dollars by issuing and marketing securities.
  • Economical Analysts supply assistance to enterprises and folks making expense decisions they often evaluate the functionality of stock current market investments, serious estate, bonds, and other investments.
  • Main Economical Officers (CFOs) head their finance departments and are dependable for the total fiscal well being of their businesses. Normal obligations consist of making monetary reviews, acquiring tactics to enhance cash flow, and ensuring compliance with financial regulations.
  • Qualified Economical Planners (CFPs) aid persons and households help save for retirement, education and learning, and other extended-phrase plans, as properly as deliver assistance on investment approaches, insurance policy, and tax setting up.
  • Individual Finance Advisors do precisely what it seems like — supply guidance on how to regulate individual funds. Individual money advisors assistance men and women with budgeting, preserving, investing, and other economical ambitions.
  • Business Bankers work for business banking companies and provide economical expert services (e.g, loans, strains of credit, and so on.) to businesses.
  • Expenditure Supervisors are portfolio managers for individuals, households, and monetary institutions they make selections on where by to invest funds and put into practice economical hazard administration approaches.
  • Licensed Community Accountants (CPAs) put together tax returns and suggest men and women and firms on tax planning, ensuring compliance with tax guidelines and laws.

These positions only scratch the surface of the finance sector. There are several other possibilities for all those who really like doing work with figures and want to go after a rewarding occupation.

How Do You Get Started off in Finance?

To get commenced in finance, you ought to first determine which place of finance is the best healthy for you. The 3 key parts of finance are corporate finance, expenditure banking, and financial preparing. Each individual of these locations normally requires a enterprise administration or finance diploma for entry. Earning a bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, or a similar industry can assistance you lay a organization basis for your upcoming get the job done encounters.

As soon as you’ve attained a degree, you can get started constructing your skillset by doing the job internships or entry-stage work in the area. A bachelor’s degree can open up the doorway to numerous entry-degree positions. But some work, these kinds of as investment banking, might have to have a master’s diploma or skilled certification.

Wrapping It Up

So, is a vocation in finance correct for you? Only you can answer that issue. But if you are intrigued in pursuing a career in this promising field, keep in mind to weigh the pros and downsides carefully just before building any conclusions, commence honing your competencies, and do your study when it truly is time to come across your to start with task in finance.

COP 27 kicks off with a focus on finance, cooperation

COP 27 kicks off with a focus on finance, cooperation

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — The sun beat down on desert sands Monday as dozens of world leaders gathered for the 27th spherical of once-a-year U.N. climate talks in this Red Sea vacation resort town on the Sinai.

The summit started with a breakthrough just after nations agreed for the initially time in the historical past of these talks to focus on compensation arrangements for irreparable climate damages — what’s recognised in U.N. parlance as decline and hurt.

That final decision adopted 48 hrs of intense negotiations, highlighting the ongoing issues countries will deal with striking an agreement on how the world’s premier historical emitters really should compensate poorer countries for the harms people emissions result in.

A signal of development arrived Monday when French President Emmanuel Macron introduced assistance for an initiative — spearheaded by Barbados Primary Minister Mia Mottley — to change the world-wide fiscal program to offer extra liquidity to weather-susceptible nations.

“The injustices in today’s earth are unsustainable,” and crises are exacerbating them, he explained, contacting for a “huge money shock” to give far more reduced-curiosity, very long-term funding to support developing nations offer with weather damages.

More than the future 13 days of talks, leaders and country negotiators will obtain here in an exertion to make fantastic on previous pledges to slash world-warming emissions, aid nations in will need of far better climate protections and compensate them when those people impacts are unable to be avoided.

It’s a lofty goal, and it arrives at a especially fraught time for cooperation.

More than 100 heads of point out program to attend, including President Joe Biden, who is scheduled to arrive Friday. But the leaders of China, India, Russia, Japan and other important emitters are not, sparking concern that local weather motion is staying deprioritized in the deal with of other world political and financial crises.

In his opening remarks, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi explained to leaders in the home Monday that their existence was “the most effective possible proof” of the significance they place on weather improve.

Simon Stiell, head of the U.N. weather change software, reported even though he wished every entire world chief was represented at the summit, he was self-assured the participation “is ample right now to have a quite successful outcome.”

In addition to specific speeches at the commence, leaders will maintain roundtables to examine concerns this kind of as local climate finance, just vitality transitions and meals protection.

Finance will be a priority, significantly as the charges of a lot more extreme storms, floods, droughts and warmth waves mount. A new U.N. report observed that as significantly as 10 instances more funds is necessary by 2030 to assist international locations shore up their defenses to the expanding impacts of a warming planet.

“Today’s urgent crises can not be an justification for backsliding or greenwashing. If everything, they are a purpose for higher urgency, much better action and helpful accountability,” stated U.N. Secretary-Common António Guterres.

He also referred to as for “climate solidarity” concerning designed and emerging economies. But people nations might have a harder time placing aside their national interests in a year where electricity security has turn out to be a paramount concern and a developing hole concerning produced and building economies has led to expanding phone calls for some variety of local climate reparations.

Mottley has brought the debt disaster dealing with tiny island nations like her own into the spotlight as a way of showcasing the inequity in how local weather finance flows.

A prepare she released back in September that hinges on debt aid, elevated finance and new mechanisms for submit-disaster recovery, is envisioned to be a spotlight of discussions all-around new, innovative techniques to harness dollars for working with weather-linked problems (Climatewire, Sept. 29).

Island nations have extensive termed for some kind of payment for the threats they confront from a warming planet. But as local weather impacts increase extra excessive and distribute to countries wealthy and weak, a lot of leaders have realized they can no for a longer period stay away from dealing with the issue, even however payment and legal responsibility stay purple strains, say observers.

“Industrialized nations and multinationals should fork out larger awareness to the decline and harm agenda,” Wavel Ramkalawan, president of the Seychelles, reported in his opening speech. His island country off the coastline of East Africa and other folks like it that are at hazard of likely beneath mounting waves “have to be assisted in repairing the injury you brought on to us,” he noted.

What the wave of tech layoffs tell us about the economy

What the wave of tech layoffs tell us about the economy

A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business’ Before the Bell newsletter. Not a subscriber? You can sign up right here. You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link.


New York
CNN Business
 — 

Friday’s jobs report came in strong: the US economy added 261,000 new jobs in October, blowing away analyst expectations of 200,000, even as unemployment ticked up to 3.7{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}.

But don’t let the jobs boom lull you into a false sense of employment security. Job cuts and pauses on hiring are beginning to flow across the tech sector, which boasts some of the most valuable companies in the world. That’s bad news for the economy as a whole.

What’s happening: Tech companies are announcing an alarming number of layoffs and hiring freezes.

▸ Amazon

(AMZN)
announced on Thursday that it is pressing pause on corporate hiring. “We anticipate keeping this pause in place for the next few months, and will continue to monitor what we’re seeing in the economy and the business to adjust as we think makes sense,” wrote Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon

(AMZN)
in a note to employees.

Late last month, Amazon forecast its revenue for the holiday quarter would be lighter than analysts had expected, causing its stock to fall sharply. Shares of Amazon are down more than 47{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} this year.

▸ Apple

(AAPL)
has reportedly instituted a hiring freeze of its own in all areas except research and development. In a statement, Apple

(AAPL)
said that it will continue to hire and is confident in its future, “but given the current economic environment we’re taking a very deliberate approach in some parts of the business.”

Like other tech companies, Apple is worried about slower growth during the holiday season, higher interest rates and waning consumer spending. Covid lockdowns in China are also hurting production of the iPhone 14. Apple stock is down about 25{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} so far this year.

▸ Meta is planning to begin large-scale layoffs this week, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. The parent company of Facebook

(FB)
, Instagram and WhatsApp could cut thousands of jobs from its workforce of 87,000, and an announcement could come as soon as Wednesday, according to the report.

▸ Lyft

(LYFT)
said last Thursday that it will lay off 13{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of its employees, or nearly 700 people, as it rethinks staffing amid rising inflation and fears of a looming recession. “We know today will be hard,” Lyft

(LYFT)
founders Logan Green and John Zimmer wrote in an employee memo obtained by CNN. “We’re facing a probable recession sometime in the next year and rideshare insurance costs are going up.”

In a filing announcing the layoffs, Lyft said it would likely incur $27 to $32 million in restructuring charges. “We are not immune to the realities of inflation and a slowing economy,” Lyft’s founders wrote in the memo to staffers. Shares of the car-share company are down nearly 70{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} so far this year.

▸ Online payments giant Stripe will lay off about 14{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of its staff, CEO Patrick Collison wrote in a memo to staff Thursday. “We were much too optimistic about the internet economy’s near-term growth in 2022 and 2023 and underestimated both the likelihood and impact of a broader slowdown,” Collison wrote in the note. Just last year, Stripe became the most valuable US startup, with a valuation of $95 billion.

Chime, a private fintech firm, also announced it will lay off 12{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of its 1,300-person workforce.

▸ Twitter on Friday announced extreme layoffs, noting that offices would be locked and badge access suspended as new CEO Elon Musk cuts about half of its 7,500-person workforce.

The bottom line: Headline jobs numbers and third-quarter corporate earnings still reflect a strong economy overall. But other companies won’t be immune to the softening demand from consumers and businesses that tech companies have noted.

More bad news for Twitter

(TWTR)
: Elon Musk said on Friday that the company has seen a “massive drop in revenue,” as a growing number of advertisers pause their spending on the platform following his controversial $44 billion acquisition of the company.

He attributed the decline to “activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.”

General Mills

(GIS)
and Volkswagen Group, which owns Audi, Porsche and Bentley, have confirmed to CNN that they’ve paused their paid activities on the platform in the wake of Musk’s takeover. Mondelez International

(MDLZ)
and Pfizer

(PFE)
have also reportedly joined that list.

On Friday, a group of watchdog organizations including the Anti-Defamation League, Free Press and GLAAD, increased their pressure on brands to rethink advertising on Twitter. The groups pointed to Friday’s mass layoffs of Twitter staff as a key factor, citing fears that Musk’s cuts will make it difficult to enforce Twitter’s election integrity policies along with other anti-hate speech policy.

The takeaway: This is a key moment for Musk, who spent much of his week in New York trying to keep advertisers on board with Twitter. It doesn’t help that the uncertainty around the platform comes at a bad time for ad revenue-dependent tech companies. Google and Meta both cited lower ad payouts as a massive challenge in their most recent earnings reports.

The threat of a US rail strike that could disrupt supply chains is still very real.

Two rail unions reached tentative deals with the railroads in September, ahead of a strike deadline, only to have their membership vote against ratifying them. Now, US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh says that without a deal he expects Congress will step in and impose contracts on the unhappy rank-and-file union members.

“My goal is to get those two unions back at the table with companies and get this thing done,” Walsh told CNN Friday. He said a negotiated agreement would be “the best thing we can do is avoid any type of rail strike or slowdown.”

If any rail unions were to go on strike, all the rail unions — which together represent about 110,000 members — would honor their picket lines and refuse to work.

That would spell bad news for supply chains. About 30{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of US freight moves by rail. Prices of goods from gasoline to food and cars could soar if trains halt. In addition, factories could be forced to shut temporarily due to parts shortages. Goods that consumers want to buy during the holiday season could be missing from store shelves.

Walsh was involved in a 20-hour bargaining session that reached tentative labor deals just hours before a Sept. 16 strike deadline. He said barring new negotiated agreements, Congress would have to impose a contract on the unions, as a way to keep union members on the job.

If “for some reason [one of the unions] doesn’t get to an agreement with the companies then … Congress will have to take action to avert a strike in our country,” he said.