1) The mega brewers Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors, America’s two largest brewers of beer, are embroiled in a legal battle with Anheuser-Busch claiming MillerCoors stole recipes and trade secrets. The legal conflict rose from attack ads in Super Bowl commercials last February. The legal war continues to escalate with suits and counter suits being filed by both companies. During discovery, Anheuser-Busch claims to have uncovered evidence MillerCoors had obtained trade secrets.
2) The very popular SUVs across the world has led to a nearly sixfold increase in the number of SUVs on the road since 2010, which makes them the second biggest contributor to the rise in carbon dioxide emissions. Only the generation of electrical power produces more carbon dioxide, although SUVs account for about a third of the emissions compared to power generation. SUVs are also the reason that oil demand from passenger cars has grown by 3.3 million barrels a day since 2010, while oil use has declined slightly for other kinds of cars.
3) The export of pork from America has hit an all time high. Buyers are stocking up in anticipation of a widening protein gap in China, the result of a pig killing disease in Asia. American exports jumped to 351,000 metric tons as both Mexico and China buy up future pork contracts, as well as sales of soybeans, another prime source of protein in Asia. The African swine fever has devastated pig herds causing domestic pork production to plunge.
4) Stock market closings for – 18 OCT 19:
Dow 26,770.20 down 255.68
Nasdaq 8,089.54 down 67.31
S&P 500 2,986.20 down 11.75
10 Year Yield: down at 1.75%
Oil: down at $53.70