US terminates financial aid for big Midwest power transmission project
American farmers previously eschewed the $4.9 billion loan that was initiated by the Biden administration.
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Reuters
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- Reuters
Breakingviews - Trump's degraded data is worse than book-cooking
WASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Donald Trump's stance on Covid-19 turned out to be a prelude for his second term. The U.S. president, who in 2020 argued that 'If we stopped testing right now, we'd have very few cases' of the coronavirus, is applying this logic to environmental, health, and - with the firing of the top Labor Department statistician — economic data. With presumably committed professional staff still in place and alternative data sources available, the main risk of isn't fake, rosy data — it's that firms, investors and policymakers will see pillars of the market crumble. The Bureau of Labor Statistics each month estimates jobs created in the prior period and updates its two previous estimates. Glum numbers on Friday prompted Trump to shoot the messenger. Following a report that 73,000 jobs were added in July, combined with a reduction of 258,000 for May and June's numbers, the president fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer. His argument that the employment survey is biased, and that revisions were tilted in favor of former President Joe Biden, does not survive under scrutiny. The agency revised, opens new tab down job growth by 818,000 during 2024's presidential election—hardly positive news for an incumbent administration. While this revision was large, volatility is unsurprising amid a trade war and immigration restrictionism. This president is already dismantling other research bodies, whether at the Environmental Protection Agency, or the carbon-tracking Mauna Loa observatory, or advisory boards at the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control. Companies and whole sectors, like insurance and pharmaceuticals, rely on government data for myriad uses: carbon markets, flood insurance calculations, automaker emissions compliance, solar energy output projections, disaster planning and resilience, creditworthiness for infrastructure projects, and more. There is no explicit promise to outright cook the books. Nonetheless, any threat to the integrity of this data degrades a vast infrastructure supporting modern markets, built up over more than a century. A ham-fisted push to skew the numbers would probably be self-destructive, drawing skepticism from outside professionals. Signals like resignations of remaining career staff will be clear. And, simply put, people know whether they have a job or not. Studies from countries that have manipulated official data, like Argentina, opens new tab, show that consumers don't trust fake figures, creating black markets to exploit any spread between fantasy and reality. Even without active sabotage, outdated practices may have slid in this direction by accident: officials warned, opens new tab that the BLS needs a refresh, including by jettisoning ever-less-reliable phone surveys and favoring real-time digital sources like job postings or credit card data. Those worries now get an extra political dimension, no matter what happens. Follow Gabriel Rubin on Bluesky, opens new tab and LinkedIn, opens new tab.
Reuters
12 minutes ago
- Reuters
Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio urges Trump to reveal why he fired top labor official
Aug 4 (Reuters) - Investor Ray Dalio said on Monday he, too, would likely have fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he "believes the data is not good", but urged U.S. President Donald Trump to disclose the reasoning behind her removal. In a post on social media platform X, Dalio - founder of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates - said leaders "manipulating numbers" to suit their political objectives could be a big problem, echoing growing concern around the quality of economic data. Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer last week, accusing her of rigging the jobs figures, but did not provide evidence of the alleged manipulation. "It would be good if President Trump made his thinking clear," Dalio said. Critics have warned Trump's move could erode trust in official U.S. economic data, with chief U.S. economist Michael Feroli saying the risks of politicizing the data collection process should not be overlooked. Trump said on Sunday he would announce a new BLS commissioner within three or four days. Dalio said the method of calculating estimates for employment numbers was "obsolete and error-prone" and called for big changes to the way government assesses what is going on with the economy. "The huge revisions in Friday's employment numbers are symptomatic of this, especially because the revisions brought the numbers toward private estimates that were in fact much better," he said in his post. Dalio handed over control of Bridgewater to a new generation of investors in 2022 and has sold his remaining stake in the firm.
Reuters
12 minutes ago
- Reuters
Commonwealth LNG selects Technip Energies for US LNG project
Aug 4 (Reuters) - U.S.-based Commonwealth LNG on Monday said it has chosen France-based Technip Energies ( opens new tab to provide engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services for its 9.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) LNG facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The United States is the world's largest exporter of LNG. Based on projects under construction and those expected to receive financial approval this year, the country could triple its export capacity by 2030. The Cameron Parish project is expected to reach a final investment decision in the second half of 2025, with LNG production slated to begin in 2029. Commonwealth LNG is working to build what it says will be the United States' first integrated LNG export facility, enabling its majority shareholder, Kimmeridge, to sell gas from its Eagle Ford shale operations directly to the plant. Last month, Reuters had reported that oil giant Saudi Aramco ( opens new tab is in talks, opens new tab with Commonwealth LNG to buy liquefied natural gas from the the proposed facility, as the energy giant seeks to strengthen its position in the global market for the supercooled fuel.
