The semiconductor chip shortage and severe winter weather in the southwestern United States in February have caused automakers to shut factories, turning analysts cautious about the speed of the sector’s recovery in 2021.
General Motors said its first-quarter U.S. sales rose 4 percent to 642,250 vehicles, helped by increased demand for its Escalade SUVs and Encore subcompact crossover SUVs.
The No. 1 U.S. automaker said it expects the country’s auto demand to remain “strong” through the year, with rising consumer confidence and spending aided by stimulus payments, higher coronavirus vaccination rates and the reopening of the economy.
Fiat Chrysler’s U.S. arm said first-quarter sales rose 5 percent to 469,651 vehicles, due to higher Jeep SUVs and Ram pickup trucks demand. Fiat Chrysler is a unit of Stellantis NV. Ford’s quarterly U.S. vehicles sales were up 1 percent at 521,334 vehicles, with retail sales rising 23 percent.
Japan’s Toyota Motor said its U.S. sales jumped nearly 22 percent to 603,066 vehicles in the quarter, while South Korea’s Hyundai Motor’s U.S. sales surged about 28 percent to 167,130 vehicles.
New York loses appeal in oil company suit
A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected New York City’s effort to hold five major oil companies liable to help pay the costs of addressing harm caused by global warming.
Ruling in favor of BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City said the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions should be addressed under federal law and international treaties.
The court rejected the city’s efforts to sue under state nuisance law for damages caused by the companies’ “admittedly legal” production and sale of fossil fuels, and said the city’s federal common law claims were displaced by the Clean Air Act.
“Global warming presents a uniquely international problem of national concern,” Circuit Judge Richard Sullivan wrote for a three-judge panel. “It is therefore not well-suited to the application of state law.”
Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for the city’s law department, said the city was disappointed it could not hold the oil companies “accountable for the environmental damage they knew their products would cause.”
The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Thursday’s decision upheld a July 2018 dismissal by U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan in Manhattan.
New York City’s lawsuit was an early effort among U.S. states and municipalities to turn to the judiciary and invoke state law to address climate change.
U.S. manufacturers expanded in March at the fastest pace in 37 years, a sign of strengthening demand as the pandemic wanes and government emergency aid flows through the economy. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said that its measure of factory activity jumped to 64.7 last month from 60.8 the previous month. That’s the highest since December 1983.
A federal judge has thrown out a rule allowing pork plants to speed up production lines because the Agriculture Department didn’t properly consider the risks to workers. U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen in Minnesota ruled Wednesday that the agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Service didn’t follow proper procedures before President Donald Trump’s administration issued the rule in 2019. The USDA said Thursday that the agency is reviewing the ruling.
The amount of office space available in Manhattan is at the highest level in at least 30 years. The availability rate jumped to 17.2 percent in the first quarter, according to a report Thursday by Savills. Much of that was driven by a surge in sublease space, which reached 22 million square feet, the real estate services firm said. “Abundant short- and long-term options are driving price reductions,” Savills said in the report.
8:30 a.m.: Labor Department releases employment data for March.
