Just before Holidays OPEC begins to restrict production of Oil

Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’

Important Takeaways:

  • L.A. Gas Prices Hit Record High $6.494; OPEC Move Suggests Worse Ahead
  • The announcement Wednesday that the OPEC+ nations intended to restrict production by two million barrels per day has prompted fears of more price hikes to come, though some of the refinery issues that have caused prices to spike recently are being resolved.
  • Other Western states, such as Oregon and Washington, have also seen increases.
  • President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia earlier this year to ask the kingdom to increase oil production, but seems to have failed.

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Aldi’s to raise their prices 20 to 50%

Rev 6:6 NAS And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”

Important Takeaways:

  • German retailer Aldi Nord to raise prices by 20-50% on Monday
  • Meat, sausage products, butter to be more expensive amid rising production, energy costs due to Russia-Ukraine war, says spokesman
  • “Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, we’re witnessing jumps in purchase prices that we have not experienced in this way before,” said spokesman Florian Scholbeck.
  • Meanwhile, the German Retail Federation (HDE) has warned that the price hikes are likely to continue in the coming days in almost all supermarkets due to the effects of Russia’s war on Ukraine and increase in energy costs.

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Campbell Soup lowers annual profit forecast as costs rise

By Nivedita Balu

(Reuters) -Campbell Soup Co on Wednesday slashed its forecast for annual earnings after the company’s quarterly results fell short of estimates, hurt by higher costs related to raw materials and transportation.

The canned soup maker’s shares fell about 6% to $46.30.

Campbell, known for Swanson broth, Prego pasta sauces and Pepperidge Farm cookies, expects higher costs to hurt margins even as it plans price hikes for later this year.

Shipping logjams globally and surging demand on the back of a resurgent U.S. economy have led food manufacturers to sacrifice their profit margin as costs rose for items across the board.

“We expected this to be a challenging quarter … but it was made even tougher by several additional factors,” Campbell Chief Executive Officer Mark Clouse said, adding that he expects price price increases to offset some margin pressures.

Campbell also struggled with production and supply disruptions due to the winter storms in Texas earlier this year.

Price hikes are a “cold comfort” and expect investors to view food companies with a skeptical eye in the next few quarters, J.P. Morgan analyst Ken Goldman said.

Campbell forecast fiscal 2021 adjusted earnings between $2.90 and $2.93 per share, compared with its prior forecast of $3.03 to $3.11 per share. It expects sales to fall at least 3.0%, compared with the minimum 2.5% fall projected earlier.

The company, which saw an uptick in demand during peak pandemic from consumers staying at home, said sales of snacks fell 8% in the third quarter, while sales of its soups and pasta sauces fell 14%.

On an adjusted basis, Campbell earned 57 cents per share, missing estimates of 66 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Net sales fell about 11% to $1.98 billion, compared with estimates of $2.00 billion.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

Drug companies greet 2019 with U.S. price hikes

FILE PHOTO: A person holds pharmaceutical tablets and capsules in this picture illustration taken in Ljubljana September 18, 2013. REUTERS/Srdjan Zivulovic

By Michael Erman

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Drugmakers kicked off 2019 with price increases in the United States on more than 250 prescription drugs, including the world’s top-selling medicine, Humira, although the pace of price hikes was slower than last year.

The industry has been under pressure by the U.S. President Donald Trump to hold their prices level as his administration works on plans aimed at lowering the costs of medications for consumers in the world’s most expensive pharmaceutical market.

During a White House meeting with members of his Cabinet, U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he expected to see a tremendous decrease in drug prices. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar was at the meeting.

The overall number of price increases was down by around a third from last year, when drugmakers raised prices on more than 400 medicines, according to data provided by Rx Savings Solutions, which helps health plans and employers seek lower cost prescription medicines.

Allergan Plc was particularly aggressive. It raised list prices on more than 50 drugs, and more than half of those by 9.5 percent, according to the Rx Savings data

AbbVie Inc increased by 6.2 percent the list price of its blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira, which is on pace to record about $20 billion in sales in 2018.

Allergan said in a statement that its average list price increase across its portfolio is around 3.8 percent this year. It said it does not expect to realize any net benefit from the increases this year because of higher rebates and discounts it expects to make to payers.

AbbVie did not immediately respond to request for comment.

More price increases are expected this month. Reuters reported late last year that nearly 30 drugmakers had notified California agencies they plan to raise list prices of their drugs. Not all of those increases have been announced yet.

The United States, which leaves drug pricing to market competition, has higher prices than in other countries where governments directly or indirectly control the costs, making it the world’s most lucrative market for manufacturers.

HHS has proposed policy changes aimed at lowering drug prices and passing more of the discounts negotiated by health insurers on to patients. Those measures are not expected to provide relief to consumers in the short-term, however, and fall short of giving government health agencies direct authority to negotiate or regulate drug prices.

“It’s business as usual” for drugmakers, said Rx Savings Solutions Chief Executive Michael Rea, who said he believes there has to be meaningful changes to the marketplace, rather than new regulations in order for drug prices to drop.

(Reporting by Michael Erman; additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot)