As deadline looms, railroads say strike would cost $2B a day
The major freight railroads say in a new report designed to put pressure on unions and Congress that a strike would cost the economy more than $2 billion a day and disrupt deliveries of all kinds of goods and passenger traffic nationwide if it happens after a key deadline passes next Friday without a contract agreement.
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CSX profit slips in 4Q but railroad hauls 4% more freight
FILE - A CSX freight train pulls through McKeesport, Pa., on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. CSX railroad reported relatively flat fourth-quarter earnings even though it hauled 4% more freight as the economy continued to rebound from last years widespread virus-related shutdowns. โ CSX railroad reported relatively flat fourth-quarter earnings even though it hauled 4% more freight as the economy continued to rebound from last yearโs widespread virus-related shutdowns. The freight railroad posted revenue of $2.83 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. In last year's second quarter, volume fell 20% when many businesses were shut down as officials sought to limit the spread of COVID-19.
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Union Pacific delivered 3% more freight as economy recovered
FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2019, file photo the logo for Union Pacific appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Without that charge, Union Pacific said it would have reported $1.6 billion net income, or $2.36 per share. Union Pacific said volume grew 3% as the economy continued to recover from the worst of the pandemic. During the quarter, Union Pacific limited its expense growth to to 1% even as it handled more shipments and recorded the one-time charge. Union Pacific is one of the nationโs largest railroads, and it operates 32,400 miles (52,000 kilometers) of track in 23 Western states.
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Hawley, facing fallout, blames media, D.C. 'establishment'
FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2021 file image from video, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. And the allegation itself is corrosive and dangerous.โOther than Trump himself, no politician has suffered the fallout as has Hawley. โMissouri is fed up,โ Justice Horn, of Kansas City, who helped organize the event, said in a news release. Hallmark Cards, based in Kansas City, earlier this week asked Hawley and Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas to return employee campaign donations. Hawley, in his 739-word essay, said those involved in the Capitol attack must be punished, saying, โMob violence is always wrong.โโBut democratic debate is not mob violence,โ Hawley wrote.
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CSX plans to buy regional railroad in northeastern U.S.
โ CSX is acquiring a regional railroad in New England to bolster its network in the northeastern United States, but a rival railroad says the deal could hurt competition. If regulators approve the deal, CSX would also acquire Pan Am's partial ownership of a 600-mile joint venture with Norfolk Southern railroad called Pan Am Southern. Earlier this month, Norfolk Southern raised concerns about this deal with the Surface Transportation Board because it said allowing CSX to buy Pan Am could undermine competition between CSX and Norfolk Southern in the eastern United States. CSX already operates more than 21,000 miles (34,000 kilometers) of track in 23 Eastern states and two Canadian provinces. Norfolk Southernโs network of 19,500 miles of track covers much of the same territory as CSX in 22 Eastern states.
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Bank profits remain resilient despite lingering pandemic
In the early months of the U.S. pandemic, banks set aside tens of billions of dollars to cover losses that could come from loans that were suddenly going bad. On top of the stimulus, banks entered into this pandemic the healthiest theyโve been in years and certainly healthier than they were before the financial crisis of 2008. JPMorgan set aside $611 million to cover potentially bad loans in the third quarter, a fraction of the $10.47 billion the bank set aside to cover bad loans in the second quarter. On Wednesday, Bank of America said it set aside $1.4 billion to cover potentially bad loans, far less than the $5.1 billion it set aside three months earlier. Most of the worry seems to reflect investors' uncertainty about whether banks will have to set aside additional billions in the future.