Boeing will temporarily suspend production of its 737 MAX in January as it continues to grapple with the ongoing issues that caused two fatal crashes and prompted the company to ground the jet for nine months, according to the New York Times.
Why it matters: The suspension will likely hurt manufacturers and part suppliers who rely on Boeing's business. The company is the largest component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the nation's biggest manufacturing exporter, according to the Times.
The battle over what counts as "family-friendly" in America is currently raging over at the Christmas movie channel, with important lessons for anyone who runs a major corporation.
Why it matters: Media brands are under pressure to change their standards of what "family-friendly" looks like.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a letter to a top Mexican trade negotiator Monday that the full-time diplomats, or attachés, designated to uphold labor standards in the version of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) sent to Congress are not "labor inspectors."
Why it matters: Mexico’s Undersecretary for North America Jesús Seade flew to Washington on Sunday to confront U.S. officials over the inclusion of language that would appoint attachés to implement labor reform in Mexico, accusing the Trump administration of blindsiding them. The intervention has thrown a wrench in the House's tentative plan to vote on the North American trade deal on Thursday.
The head of the Commerce Department's tech and telecom branch is leaving the agency, according to an internal email obtained by Axios.
Driving the news: Diane Rinaldo, who is acting administrator for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, emailed staff a "fond farewell" on Monday.
Wall Street shrugged in response to below-forecast consumer spending.
What's happening: Rather than interpret the data as a sign that the all-important consumer is losing steam, some are blaming November's figures on a calendar quirk — and keeping faith shoppers will continue to open up their wallets.
The U.S. pork industry — whose commodity was among the hardest hit by China's retaliatory tariffs — breathed a sigh of cautious relief following news of a deal that winds down tensions between the U.S. and China.
Why it matters: The deal in theory is a reprieve for farmers, a key part of President Trump's base who have borne the brunt of the trade war. China's purchases of goods like soybeans and pork have waned in the nearly two-year battle — pushing rural America into a financial tailspin in an otherwise solid economy.
The Hallmark Channel has apologized and reversed a decision made at the request of a Christian mothers group to pull a commercial showing a same-sex couple kissing, its CEO said in a statement to news outlets including Axios Sunday.
Driving the news: The channel faced a social media backlash and calls for a boycott after pulling the ad, which the company said before the backflip was "distracting from the purpose of our network," per CNN.
A top Mexican trade negotiator traveled to Washington on Sunday to push back against U.S. officials for allegedly blindsiding Mexico with a provision to designate labor monitors as part of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the Washington Post reports.
The big picture: House Democrats came out in support of the USMCA last week after successfully negotiating a mechanism to ensure the enforcement of labor standards in Mexico, which had been a sticking point during trade talks. Mexico had claimed during negotiations that foreign labor inspectors would violate its sovereignty, and the three countries had instead settled on three-person panels to resolve labor disputes.
Two of the biggest constraints to the world economy — uncertainty about Brexit and the China trade war — were alleviated last week, Bloomberg reports.
Why it matters: With a "phase one" deal between U.S. and China staving off more tariffs and the United Kingdom now on pace to leave the European Union on Jan. 31, the outlook for global growth should be more positive in 2020 after being hampered by widespread uncertainty in 2019.
China announced Sunday that it is postponing additional tariffs on U.S. automobiles, corn, wheat and other goods that were set to take effect on Dec. 15, Reuters reports.
The big picture: The U.S. and China agreed to a "phase one" trade deal last week in which Washington agreed to delay a tariff hike on $160 billion of Chinese products that was also planned for Dec. 15. In exchange, Beijing agreed to increase imports from the U.S. by at least $200 billion over the next two years, including agricultural goods.
The New York Times editorial board became on Saturday the latest to support the impeachment of President Trump, with an article simply headlined: "Impeach."
[T]he story told by the two articles of impeachment approved on Friday morning by the House Judiciary Committee is short, simple and damning"
— Excerpt from the New York Times editorial board op-ed
