The Traderszone Network

Greetings one and all
I hope your week has been going well. The week-end almost beckons but there’s more work to be done, and opportunity yet to come, in these busy meltdown markets

Federal Reserve officials planning to lift interest rates as soon as September have been encouraged by solid U.S. jobs growth, but inflation holds the key to how far the Fed can go in moving rates away from zero. Fed officials have said that they do not need to see prices accelerate to start raising rates after six years near zero, and “lift-off” appears nearly ordained by a 5.3 percent unemployment rate, the lowest since April of 2008. If prices remain stalled as the Fed tightens, inflation-adjusted “real” rates would rise faster than the Fed wants, and threaten the recovery.

When Hormel Foods Corp (HRL.N), maker of Spam canned meat, said it was buying Applegate Farms in May, fans of the organic and natural meat company lamented its takeover by Big Food on social media and questioned whether product quality would go down.

McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N), the world’s biggest fast-food chain, was accused of mistreating its employees and dodging taxes on Thursday during a Senate hearing in Brazil, where politicians, union leaders and workers from five continents voiced allegations. McDonald’s has come under increasing scrutiny worldwide for allegations of labor abuses, health and safety violations, plus tax evasion in Europe, and Brazilian Senator Pablo Paim called a hearing to allow both sides to make their cases. McDonald’s deferred comment to its regional operator.

Toyota Motor Corp , in a bid to reduce its risk from potentially lethal air-bag inflators supplied by Takata Corp (7312.T), will buy millions of them from smaller parts maker Nippon Kayaku Co (4272.T), people familiar with the matter said. The Japanese carmaker asked the second-tier supplier last month to increase production so it can supply Toyota with more than 13 million inflators from next July until 2020, said a person with direct knowledge of the deal and a second individual who was briefed on it.

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Oil prices resumed their downward trend on Friday pulled lower by weaker global stock markets and a sharp contraction in China’s manufacturing activity, with the U.S. benchmark on track for its longest weekly losing streak since 1986. Activity in China’s factory sector shrank at its fastest pace in almost 6-1/2 years in August as domestic and export demand dwindled, adding to worries about lower demand for crude in the world’s second biggest oil consumer.

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Top shale oil producer Pioneer Natural Resources Co (PXD.N) has found an unusual way to both save water and cut costs for its wells: tapping the treated runoff from toilets, sinks and showers in west Texas. Pioneer has signed an 11-year, $117 million deal with the city of Odessa, Texas that will guarantee it access to millions of gallons of treated municipal wastewater each day, for use in nearby oilfields.

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