Adjusting to the market: As crude continues to slump with no end in sight, Moody’s Investors Services predicts that oil companies will slash their capital budgets by about 20% next year and possibly more if weak prices persist. As FuelFix.com reports, independent exploration and production companies are less willing to spend as oil prices hover around $75 per barrel, particularly in risky shale plays or regions outside of the the core, sweet spot acreage, according to the analysis released today by the ratings agency. Crude prices have tumbled more than 30% in four months as global oil supplies outpace demand, forcing North American producers to make tough decisions about how they plan to operate next year. Many are crafting their spending budgets now for 2015. Read the full story.
Pushing weight: House and Senate negotiators neared a deal to make permanent a list of major tax breaks for business, infuriating White House officials and some liberal Democrats who say the package will blow a hole in the budget deficit over the longer term while providing little for the working class. The New York Times reports the package shows how sharply power has shifted after the Democrats’ electoral defeat. Republicans are effectively steamrolling the Obama administration and the Democrats who still control the Senate Finance Committee by cutting the deal with the departing Senate Democratic leadership. Read the full story.
Holiday blues: Millions of Americans will work on Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, and many of them are not in the retail industry. A quarter of Americans will be required to work on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day or New Year’s Day this year, according to Allstate/National Journal’s annual Heartland Monitor poll, out this month. But more, 45%, said there’s at least a chance they will work one of those holidays. While retail workers have elicited increasing public outrage over holiday scheduling, particularly in recent years as stores have moved opening hours into Thanksgiving, employees in industries including law enforcement, health care, travel, utilities, freight and news also all work over the holidays. USA Today has the full story.
