Hundreds rally on Beacon Hill in renewed push for rent caps

Boston Globe

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TRADE
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Citing tariff turmoil, UPS declines to issue sales forecast
United Parcel Service Inc. on Tuesday said economic volatility continues to roil its operations, underscoring the challenges for the courier's effort to reconfigure its network and revitalize its business. The company declined to provide a revenue or operating profit forecast for the full year as it reported earnings for the most recent quarter, citing broader macroeconomic uncertainty. Among the challenges UPS called out were US trade policies slashing shipping volumes from China — its most profitable trade route — and sluggish progress in reducing the size of its workforce. It's the second quarter this year in which UPS declined to provide investors an updated sales and profit forecast. Although many companies suspended guidance early this year due to volatility stemming from President Trump's trade policies, a number of those have since restored more recently. 'Sentiment was decidedly negative' prior to Tuesday's earnings report, wrote JPMorgan analyst Brian Ossenbeck. 'The results and lack of guidance will do little to change that at this point.' The Atlanta-based courier is struggling to recapture the volume it saw during the early years of the pandemic, when consumers turned to online shopping while stuck at home. The comedown, exacerbated for UPS by the threat of a union strike that sent some customers to rival firms, has proven stubborn thanks to weak demand across the economy. The company is also grappling with deep-rooted issues such as too much unprofitable volume and high costs. — BLOOMBERG NEWS.
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MUNICIPAL FINANCE
Corporate head tax is 'on the table' in Chicago as city faces steep deficits
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is considering reviving a tax on corporations to help raise revenue and balance the city's budget. A so-called corporate head tax is 'on the table' as officials look for funds to help close back-to-back yearly shortfalls topping $1 billion, Johnson said at a press conference on Tuesday. A head tax is typically levied per employee hired by a business, so larger corporations are more impacted than smaller companies. 'It's an option now,' Johnson said in response to reporters' questions about such a levy. 'Everything has to be on the table.' The Windy City used to charge a per-employee tax more than a decade ago, but it was heavily opposed by the business community. Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel eliminated the rate in 2014, dubbing it a 'job killer.' Chicago's corporations have complained about the rising costs to do business in the city and slower economic growth compared to other areas of the United States. Several marquee companies have relocated including the financial conglomerate Citadel, which moved to Miami, and Boeing Co. which left for Arlington, Va. Reviving the corporate head tax is among the options Johnson is considering as he crafts a spending plan for 2026. Like many municipalities, Chicago is contending with a depletion of federal pandemic-era aid coupled with higher costs of labor and services. A budget working group the mayor established is looking at new revenue options. Payment in lieu of taxes — known as a PILOT — for some institutions is also under review, Johnson said. The mayor campaigned on a progressive platform aimed at reducing the burden on the city's poor. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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PHARMACEUTICALS
Ozempic maker lowers its sales target amid mounting competition
Shares of Novo Nordisk, the Danish drugmaker behind the popular diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, plummeted more than 20 percent on Tuesday after it said sales this year would grow much less than previously expected. The drugmaker, which cited increased competition in the United States as a reason for its slower growth, said its sales would increase 8 percent to 14 percent this year, while operating profit growth is expected to be between 10 percent and 16 percent. At one point, the company had expected sales growth of 16 percent to 24 percent for 2025. The share price dropped to its lowest level in more than three years. The company also announced Tuesday its new chief executive, Maziar Mike Doustdar, who is the current executive vice president for international operations. He will take over Aug. 7. 'I don't like it,' Doustdar said of the company's share price drop on a call with reporters. 'I don't like it as an employee. I don't like it as a CEO-elect, and I certainly don't like it as a shareholder myself.' Novo Nordisk has experienced a sharp reversal in fortunes over the past year. It lost its title as Europe's most valuable company, first to luxury empire LVMH and then to SAP, a German software company. In May, the board pushed out the company's chief executive, Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen. On top of this, some disappointing clinical trial results and investors losing faith in the lofty expectations of the weight-loss drug industry have hit Novo Nordisk especially hard. — NEW YORK TIMES
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ECONOMY
Consumer confidence picks up in July
US consumer confidence increased in July as concerns eased about the outlook for the broader economy and the labor market. The Conference Board's gauge of confidence rose 2 points to 97.2, data released Tuesday showed. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a reading of 96. A measure of expectations for the next six months climbed this month to 74.4, the highest since February, while a gauge of present conditions fell to a three-month low. Consumer concerns about the broader US economy eased after President Trump signed his budget megabill bill into law early this month that made 2017 tax cuts permanent and incentivized business investment. Even with the advance, the gauge remains below pre-pandemic levels as higher import duties risk keeping inflation elevated while the job market cools. While some consumers were upbeat about the positive economic impact from the legislation, others expressed concerns, Stephanie Guichard, senior economist at the Conference Board, said in a statement. 'However, the bill and its implications were relatively low on the list of themes that consumers were focused on in July.' Meanwhile, the share saying jobs were hard to get increased to a four-year high of 18.9 percent. The share saying jobs were plentiful also rose but to a lesser extent. The difference between these two — a metric closely followed by economists to gauge the job market — was the smallest since March 2021.— BLOOMBERG NEWS
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