As deadline looms, railroads say strike would cost $2B a day
The major freight railroads say in a new report designed to put pressure on unions and Congress that a strike would cost the economy more than $2 billion a day and disrupt deliveries of all kinds of goods and passenger traffic nationwide if it happens after a key deadline passes next Friday without a contract agreement.
CSX profit slips in 4Q but railroad hauls 4% more freight
FILE - A CSX freight train pulls through McKeesport, Pa., on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. CSX railroad reported relatively flat fourth-quarter earnings even though it hauled 4% more freight as the economy continued to rebound from last years widespread virus-related shutdowns. โ CSX railroad reported relatively flat fourth-quarter earnings even though it hauled 4% more freight as the economy continued to rebound from last yearโs widespread virus-related shutdowns. The freight railroad posted revenue of $2.83 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. In last year's second quarter, volume fell 20% when many businesses were shut down as officials sought to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Union Pacific delivered 3% more freight as economy recovered
FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2019, file photo the logo for Union Pacific appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Without that charge, Union Pacific said it would have reported $1.6 billion net income, or $2.36 per share. Union Pacific said volume grew 3% as the economy continued to recover from the worst of the pandemic. During the quarter, Union Pacific limited its expense growth to to 1% even as it handled more shipments and recorded the one-time charge. Union Pacific is one of the nationโs largest railroads, and it operates 32,400 miles (52,000 kilometers) of track in 23 Western states.
Hawley, facing fallout, blames media, D.C. 'establishment'
FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2021 file image from video, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. At least four additional companies that have donated to Hawley have announced they are suspending campaign contributions. And the allegation itself is corrosive and dangerous.โOther than Trump himself, no politician has suffered the fallout as has Hawley. Hallmark Cards, based in Kansas City, earlier this week asked Hawley and Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas to return employee campaign donations. Hawley, in his 739-word essay, said those involved in the Capitol attack must be punished, saying, โMob violence is always wrong.โโBut democratic debate is not mob violence,โ Hawley wrote.
Bank profits remain resilient despite lingering pandemic
They set aside, yet again, tens of billions of dollars to cover additional potentially bad loans. Collectively the five biggest banks put aside $34.62 billion to cover bad loans just in the second quarter. JPMorgan set aside $611 million to cover potentially bad loans in the third quarter, a fraction of the $10.47 billion the bank set aside to cover bad loans in the second quarter. On Wednesday, Bank of America said it set aside $1.4 billion to cover potentially bad loans, far less than the $5.1 billion it set aside three months earlier. Most of the worry seems to reflect investors' uncertainty about whether banks will have to set aside additional billions in the future.