Boeing labor

strike continues

Boeing factory workers have voted against the company’s latest contract offer and will remain on the picket lines six weeks into a strike that has stopped production of the aerospace giant’s bestselling jetliners. Local union leaders in Seattle say 64% of the members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted against the proposal Wednesday. The offer included pay raises of 35% over four years. Boeing workers told Associated Press reporters the company’s refusal to restore a traditional pension plan that was frozen a decade ago is a sticking point. A spokesperson for Boeing said officials didn’t have a comment on the vote.

Tesla posts

$2B profit

Tesla’s third-quarter net income rose 17.3% on stronger electric vehicle sales. An optimistic CEO Elon Musk predicted the company would achieve up to 30% sales growth next year. The performance changed the trajectory of the year for the Austin, Texas, company, which had seen sales and profits decline in the first two quarters. Tesla said Wednesday that it made $2.17 billion from July through September, more than the $1.85 billion profit a year ago. The earnings came despite price cuts and low-interest financing that helped boost sales of the company’s aging vehicle lineup. After the results were announced, Tesla’s stock soared almost 12%.

IMF warns of 

slow-growth rut

The world economy, buffeted by conflict and growing geopolitical rivalries, is in danger of getting stuck in a slow-growth, high-debt rut, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday. She also urged Chinese leaders to take more decisive action to jump-start their country’s sluggish economy or risk seeing economic growth plummet. “These are anxious times,’’ the fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, told reporters during the fall meetings of the IMF and its sister agency, the World Bank.

Jobless benefits 

applications fall

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week, but the total number of those collecting benefits rose to its highest level in almost three years. The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless claims fell by by 15,000 to 227,000 for the week of Oct. 19. That’s less than the 241,000 analysts forecast. Continuing claims, the total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits, rose by 28,000 to 1.9 million for the week of Oct. 12. That’s the most since November 13, 2021. Applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs.

— Bulletin wire reports