General Motors (GM.N) opens new tab said on Wednesday it will cut U.S. electric vehicle and battery production and 1,200 factory jobs at its EV plant in Detroit along with 550 jobs at an Ohio battery plant as the automaker responds to a significant slowdown in demand for its battery cars.
Global automakers are scrambling to find chips and checking with suppliers to see if they have enough stockpiled, as a deepening semiconductor supply crunch related to Dutch firm Nexperia threatens car production across the industry.
The federal government shutdown could cost the U.S. economy between $7 billion and $14 billion, shaving up to 2% from gross domestic product in the fourth quarter due to the lapse in government spending, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday.
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday for the second time this year and said it would stop reducing the size of its balance sheet as soon as December. Fed Chair Jerome Powell pushed back against expectations that another rate cut in December was a done deal, citing growing divisions among voting members over the rate outlook.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that a trade deal with China could be signed “pretty soon” after what he called an “amazing” meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, signaling a thaw in the two countries’ strained economic relationship.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met behind closed doors Thursday in the South Korean port city of Busan, the first one-on-one between the two leaders since Trump’s return to office.