Embattled OCC Nominee Omarova Withdraws From Consideration

Saule Omarova, the White House’s pick to helm the OCC, has withdrawing from consideration for the post, saying it was “no longer tenable” for her to seek the position following withering attacks from the banking industry and many Senate Republicans (as well as a lack of full Democratic Senatorial support) - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and Law360

Congressional leaders appear on track to agree on a deal that “would allow a swift increase in the debt ceiling . . . “ through use of “an unusual maneuver that could avert the threat of a first-ever federal default,” which could come as soon as December 15 if no action is taken - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg

More on what the intersection of Omicron and persistent inflation means for the central bank - NYTimes

Workers at four Kellogg’s cereal plants have rejected the “tentative agreement on a five-year contract negotiated by their union,” extending a walkout that’s been in place since October 5. The move mirrors that of John Deere union workers, who “rejected two tentative agreements before approving a third one last month” - NYTimes and WSJ

AWS outages on Tuesday “took down the technology” that powers Amazon’s logistics operations and affected a wide range of other companies “that rely on Amazon’s cloud computing” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and TechCrunch

And while we’re talking the ‘zon and labor, why not a consideration of what the e-commerce giant’s growing presence across America has meant for local economies and traditional retailers, especially in this tight labor market. In short, “Amazon is emerging as a de facto wage-and-benefit setter for a large pool of low-skilled workers,” and its “every move is causing ripple effects well beyond the retail space in local markets throughout America, including on inflation, regional job markets and labor standards” - WSJ

Meta will “restructur[e]” its  research department at the heart of the explosive whistleblower revelations that the company routinely prioritizes “profits over tackling user safety and security” - Bloomberg

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said this week that the bank “will have to cut off some clients” in order to meet a pledge she made in March that Citi would “have its entire financing portfolio achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.” More details to come over the next year - WSJ

By most accounts, it was a rough day of cross for Elizabeth Holmes, who did her best to stay the course in defending herself in her criminal fraud trial by offering “a variety of excuses for Theranos’s shortcomings” - NYTimes and Law360

Stellantis, the auto giant created by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot, said that it is committing $34 billion over the next 4 years “to develop new vehicles based on software that will let the company sell entertainment, navigation and other subscription services to buyers of its cars and trucks.” The move is a clear attempt to compete with Tesla as well as old-line rivals who have recently made massive investments in “electric vehicles, autonomous driving and software services” - NYTimes and WSJ

Prepare yourselves, states beyond Utah. The “dirty soda” movement is hear, and it’s coming for your families - NYTimes

Stay safe, and get boosted,

MDR