OPEC and its allies came one step closer to agreeing to extend their oil supply deal after a ministerial committee recommended another nine months of cuts. The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee — composed of six OPEC and non-OPEC nations — agreed in Vienna on Wednesday to support an…
OPEC and its allies came one step closer to agreeing to extend their oil supply deal after a ministerial committee recommended another nine months of cuts.
The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee — composed of six OPEC and non-OPEC nations — agreed in Vienna on Wednesday to support an extension through March, according to a statement on the producer group’s website. That added to the backing for another nine months of production cuts from the most influential participants in the deal, including Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and 11 non-members agreed last year to cut output by as much as 1.8 million barrels a day. The supply reductions were initially intended to last six months from January, but the slower-than-expected decline in surplus fuel inventories prompted the group to consider an extension. U. S. crude futures have rebounded by about 13 percent from a five-month low since Saudi Arabia proposed maintaining the curbs into 2018.
A Latin American competitor to Uber — called 99 — has raised $100 million from SoftBank of Japan to fuel growth, the Brazilian startup’s CEO said.
SoftBank will become a minority shareholder in the privately held 99, as ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing of China did when it backed the startup in January. SoftBank is also a major investor in Didi Chuxing.
The transaction, which was completed last week when Peter Fernandez, 99’s CEO, traveled to Tokyo and met with SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son, puts another obstacle in Uber’s path to success in emerging markets.
Federal Reserve officials signaled in discussions early this month that they will probably start reducing the Fed’s huge portfolio of bond holdings this year, which could cause borrowing rates to rise.
At the same time, the Fed appears to be on track to resume raising its key short-term interest rate when it next meets in mid-June.
The minutes of the Fed’s May 2-3 meeting, released Wednesday, show that officials not only discussed beginning a reduction of bond holdings this year but also expressed approval for a plan on how the bond sales should proceed.
The Fed would set a limit on the size of maturing bonds to be sold each month and a schedule for gradually raising the cap. The goal would be to minimize the effect of the bond sales on loan rates paid by consumers and businesses. Typically, a sell-off of the Fed’s bonds would gradually ripple through the economy and force up many borrowing rates.
The first signal from the Fed in April that it was considering a move to start reducing its $4.5 trillion portfolio this year had initially jolted investors.
Johnson & Johnson has reached a $33 million settlement with 42 states including California, resolving allegations that the health care giant sold nonprescription medicines that didn’ t meet federal quality standards.
The settlement was announced Wednesday by attorneys general from the states. The case dates to 2009, when Johnson & Johnson began dozens of voluntary recalls of popular over-the-counter medicines for children and adults, including Tylenol, Motrin and Benadryl.
Those and several other products made at J&J factories in Puerto Rico and suburban Philadelphia were recalled because of problems including unpleasant smells that nauseated some people, tiny metal shards in liquid medicines and wrong ingredient levels. Many products weren’ t available in stores for years, and Johnson & Johnson had to raze and rebuild a factory in Fort Washington, Pa.
The company said it is pleased to finalize the settlement and noted that the recalls had been precautionary.
The settlement requires Johnson & Johnson to pay a total of $33 million, which is being divided among the District of Columbia and the 42 states that joined in the case. The states not participating are: Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.
According to court documents, attorneys general sued Johnson & Johnson because they considered its marketing of substandard nonprescription medicines to be fraudulent or otherwise illegal. The products, which also included St. Joseph aspirin, Sudafed, Pepcid, Mylanta, Rolaids, Zyrtec and Zyrtec Eye Drops, did not meet U. S. quality requirements for drug manufacturing.
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