…“People somehow think you must buy at the bottom and sell at the top to be successful in the market. That’s nonsense! The idea is to buy when the probability is greatest that the market is going to advance”… Jesse Livermore

1. Delta Air Lines to Impose Monthly Surcharge on Unvaccinated Employees — Delta Air Lines Inc. will impose a $200 monthly surcharge on employees who aren’t vaccinated against Covid-19, becoming the first major U.S. company to levy a penalty to encourage workers to get protected. The fee applies to employees in the airline’s health-care plan who haven’t received shots by Nov. 1. The company also will require weekly testing for employees who aren’t vaccinated by mid-September.
2. Fed’s Chairman Powell Says Taper Could Start in 2021, With No Rush on Rate Hike — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank could begin reducing its monthly bond purchases this year, though it won’t be in a hurry to begin raising interest rates thereafter.
The economy has now met the test of “substantial further progress” toward the Fed’s inflation objective that Powell and his colleagues said would be a precondition for tapering the bond purchases, while the labor market has also made “clear progress,” the Fed chief said Friday in the prepared text of a virtual speech at the Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole symposium.
3. China Could Ban Some U.S. IPOs — the latest reports that China plans to ban data-heavy technology firms from U.S. IPOs confirms what many feared a couple of weeks ago.
Chinese stock regulators, according to The Wall Street Journal on Friday, have alerted some foreign investors and companies that new rules could ban internet companies with a lot of user-related data from listing in the U.S. The moves are the latest in a crackdown by China as it tries to wrest more control over businesses and society more broadly. Among authorities’ top concern, money managers say, is data security and control, as well as more technology independence, as U.S.-China tensions escalate. Another priority: Addressing growing inequality after years of breakneck growth in the digital economy and creating a more level playing field for smaller businesses.
4. Peloton Says U.S. Government Has Subpoenaed Company –the U.S. government has subpoenaed the company for information on its reporting of injuries related to its products.
Both the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Justice have issued subpoenas, Peloton said in its annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additionally, it said the SEC is investigating the company’s public disclosures over these issues. The Consumer Product Safety Commission earlier this year warned people with pets or children to cease using the company’s treadmills after it investigated a child dying from being pulled under one of them. Peloton initially pushed back against the regulator, but later apologized and agreed to recall its treadmills.
5. Supreme Court Blocks Biden Administration’s New Eviction Moratorium — The Supreme Court on Thursday lifted the latest federal ban on evictions during the Covid-19 pandemic, siding with landlords against a moratorium the Biden administration imposed this month despite questions about its legality. “The moratorium has put…millions of landlords across the country, at risk of irreparable harm by depriving them of rent payments with no guarantee of eventual recovery,” the court said. “Many landlords have modest means. And preventing them from evicting tenants who breach their leases intrudes on one of the most fundamental elements of property ownership—the right to exclude.”

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: