Banks’ Retreat From Commodities Is Set to Derail Small Traders (WSJ)
- Banks retreating from lending to Energy/Commodity businesses given lower oil prices, frauds and investor pressure
- Energy companies will likely see higher funding costs as liquidity for traditional activities dry-up
Retail Stores Add Jobs as Shoppers Return (WSJ)
- ‘Stores, gasoline stations, auto dealers and other retailers added a seasonally adjusted 249,000 jobs in August’
- ‘Almost half the growth occurred at general-merchandise stores, a category that includes large employers such as Walmart Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp.’
- ‘Mall-based retailers and clothing stores have suffered deep job losses. State authorities ordered many of them to close this spring, and demand for their products has been softer even after reopening as many Americans working from home opt for pajama bottoms or shorts over dress slacks. Employment at clothing stores is down nearly 30% from February.’
- ‘However, employment at general-merchandise retailers, such as supercenters and warehouse stores, was up 10% in August from February’s prepandemic levels.’

Economy:

Politics:

Voters Face a Complicated Election as the Pandemic Remakes Voting (WSJ)
- ‘Increasing numbers of Americans are requesting a mail ballot for the November election. More than 33 million voted by mail in the 2016 general election, nearly a quarter of those who voted.’
- ‘This fall, that could rise to 50 million to 70 million, including those who mail in ballots and those who drop them off at designated locations like drop boxes, according to Stanford University law professor Nathaniel Persily, who studies election administration.’
- ‘A Wall Street Journal review of Mr. Trump’s Twitter postings since 2012 found more than 130 instances of the president claiming an election was rigged, plagued with fraud, or attacking mail-in voting. About two-thirds of those tweets have been this year.’