In what appears to be a serious black eye for the organization, the World Bank has canceled its prominent “Doing Business” report (which rates the “business environment of the world’s countries”) after an “investigation concluded that senior bank management pressured staff to alter data affecting the ranking of China and other nations.” The probe implicates former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and CEO Kristalina Georgieva (who now serves as the IMF’s managing director). Georgieva has already objected to the investigation’s findings - WSJ and Bloomberg and NYTimes
The House Oversight Committee will call “top executives from Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP and Royal Shell” along with lead oil industry lobbying groups to testify before Congress next month as part of a growing probe into the sector’s “role in spreading disinformation about the role of fossil fuels in causing global warming” - NYTimes and Law360
Some rare positive news for the U.S. in this season of the Delta variant. Even as companies are pushing back reopening plans and some Americans have fallen back into caution, the economy is “proving resilient, “ helped along by strong retail spending and employers who have “largely resisted the urge to lay off workers.” New figures out Thursday showed retail sales rising again (after an unexpected drop in July) and new jobless claims sticking close to last week’s pandemic-era low - WSJ and NYTimes
MassMutual will pay Massachusetts’ securities regulator $4 million to “resolve claims that it failed to supervise its agents, including Keith Gill, who fomented the trading frenzy around GameStop and other meme stocks under the online persona ‘Roaring Kitty’” – Law360 and WSJ and MarketWatch
Outcry after recent reports of stock trading by presidents of the Dallas and Boston Federal Reserve banks has prompted the Federal Reserve to launch “a review of its internal rules governing the financial activities of its officials” - WSJ and Bloomberg and Law360 and NYTimes
The Times on how the pandemic changed the Empire State Building (and the city itself), perhaps forever and from top to bottom - NYTimes
Despite a Bankruptcy Court’s blessing of the deal just weeks ago, the DOJ is “continuing its fight against a roughly $4.5 billion settlement that will shield” the Sackler family from any future legal liability for their role in the massive opioid crisis - WSJ and NYTimes
Federal authorities are reportedly close to unveiling criminal charges against a former Boeing 737 MAX test pilot “they suspect of misleading aviation regulators about safety issues blamed for two fatal crashes of the 737 MAX.” When he held that role, pilot Mark Forkner was Boeing’s “lead contact” with the FAA - WSJ
Previewing a new documentary on the meteoric rise (and precipitous fall) of e-cigarette company Juul - NYTimes
We here in the North are always wary of doing anything that might push the last gasps of summer away, but it hit 85 degrees yesterday, so we feel okay putting these fall recipes out into the ether (and even saying that we’re looking forward to them) - NYTimes
Stay safe, get vaxxed, and have a great weekend,
MDR
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