1) General Motors announced it has sold its Lordstown Assembly plant in Ohio, which has been idle since 8 March. The 6.2 million square foot facility was sold to an investment group called Lordstown Motors, in conjunction with Workhorse Group, a maker of electric trucks, for an undisclosed amount. The company plans to build its Endurance electric pickup focusing on electric pickup trucks for commercial fleets. The operation is expected to create 450 jobs.
2) Truck drivers cheer the automation of LA ports with robots, which will reduce their wait time to be loaded, while the longshore locals, with 9,300 register members, are fighting the robots. The 13,000 truckers are nonunion who get paid by the load-trip and have little to no fringe benefits, while the longshoremen have excellent pay and benefits. The truckers must wait from half an hour to as much as seven hours, for which they receive no pay for. The robots will automate the loading/unloading process reducing the wait times for truckers.
3) Today, 44% of Americans, age 18 to 64, are low-wage workers with a median wage of $10.33 an hour. This is despite a near five decade low in unemployment, the workforce participation at its highest in six years. Low wage workers is defined as those who earn less than two-thirds the median wage. There are 53 million low wage Americans who have little prospects for anything better in life, with nearly half of those working in just ten occupations such as cooks, cleaners, construction and retail sales.
4) Stock market closings for – 8 NOV 19:
Dow 27,681.24 up 6.44
Nasdaq 8,475.31 up 40.80
S&P 500 3,093.08 up 7.90
10 Year Yield: up at 1.93%
Oil: up at $57.44