Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11939549" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="trucking" source="Orion">Trucking</keyword> heavyweight <keyword id="14139924" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="saia" source="Orion">Saia</keyword> will no longer transport firearms, Freight Waves <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ltl-carriers-say-no-to-hauling-firearms">reported</a> Monday.</li><li>Firearms were already a small part part of businesses like Saia's, the outlet added.</li></ul>Trucking heavyweight Saia will no longer transport firearms, Freight Waves <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ltl-carriers-say-no-to-hauling-firearms">reported</a> Monday.Last week, the Georgia-based logistics and shipping company publicly updated its rules so that it would not move around firearms that are put together already or close to being so, the outlet <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ltl-carriers-say-no-to-hauling-firearms">reported</a>. Saia's latest "<a href="https://assets.ctfassets.net/kjv8gs2ccggb/3Y5vAsxznsXornATV1AG5D/9b5a666db542f5a3d1a4d17166eb7ee4/Saia_170D_06072022.pdf">rules tariff</a>," (which describes prices and other policies) is dated Monday and has on its list of banned or restricted items, "Firearms to include handguns, rifles, assembled and unassembled." Saia is an "LTL carrier," which means it transports goods for customers or shipments that don't take up an entire truck. Freight Waves noted that these "LTL carriers" were already not particularly keen on shipping guns before <keyword id="11964076" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="gun-violence" source="Orion">gun violence</keyword> <a href="https://www.insider.com/number-of-mass-shootingsin-america-this-year-2022-5">came to national prominence again recently</a>, because of their potential to be stolen and the problematic image in general."I would feel safe to say that most LTL companies today would shy away from the commodity due to the risk," Rex Oliver, director of operations at Atlantic Logistics, <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ltl-carriers-say-no-to-hauling-firearms">told Freight Waves in an email</a>. The company will still move individual parts of guns and ammunition, Freight Waves <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ltl-carriers-say-no-to-hauling-firearms">added</a>.Gun violence has become more visible for many in the US lately after a racist attack in a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/buffalo-shooting-suspect-shared-plans-on-discord-30-minutes-before-massacre-2022-5">Buffalo, New York</a> grocery store and in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/matthew-mcconaughey-white-house-speech-uvalde-shooting-video-2022-6">Uvalde, Texas</a> and others that followed. There have been 246 mass shootings so far in 2022, as of Sunday, Insider <a href="https://www.insider.com/number-of-mass-shootingsin-america-this-year-2022-5">reported</a>. Few corporations have responded publicly, ABC <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">News</keyword> <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/corporate-america-silent-recent-mass-shootings-experts/story?id=85083622">reported Tuesday,</a> besides the CEOs of Amazon and Goldman Sachs. ABC News reached out to 20 Fortune 500 companies and did not get a response from the majority, and two (Microsoft and Walgreens Boots Alliance) declined to comment. CEOs "see the risk of taking a position as exceeding the return," James O'Rourke, Norte Dame professor, told ABC News. Axon Enterprise, which makes law enforcement tools like tasers, is an exception. Axon's CEO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taser-axon-enterprise-nixes-drone-program-controversy-mass-shooter-2022-6">said the company should try to drones with stun guns to combat mass shootings</a>, but it caused internal strife; members of its ethics board quit. The ACLU also condemned the idea, and the company said it dropped the idea this week. The trustee of New York State Common Retirement Fund, which has money invested in Meta and Twitter, said it <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-twitter-buffalo-shooting-ny-retirement-fund-boot-directors-2022-5">would vote against confirming both companies' boards</a> to protest what he cited was content from the shooting in Buffalo and the shooter's racist manifesto going around the platforms. (The move was ineffectual.)"This time we must actually do something," President Biden <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-urges-action-on-gun-violence-in-prime-time-address-2022-6">said last week</a>.Saia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trucking giant Saia says it will no longer transport firearms that are fully or partly assembled

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The dip in fuel is actually hurting some trucking companies.</li><li>Less-than-truckload, or LTL, carriers count fuel as 10% to 15% of their revenues.</li><li>Through the fuel surcharge system, truckers charge clients for the price of gas. They're sometimes able to make money off of it. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>A gallon of diesel costs 20% less than it did last year. For the trucking industry, which consumed 39 billion of diesel in the US <a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;q=how+much+diesel+does+a+trucking+company+use&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;oe=UTF-8F-8&amp;oe=UTF-8">in 2016</a>, such a steep decline in a major cost center should be good news. Such savings are particularly important now as the coronavirus brings the steepest declines to trucking volumes seen <a href="https://www.cassinfo.com/freight-audit-payment/cass-transportation-indexes/freight-index-archives">since 2009</a>.But one major sector of the trucking industry actually relies on high fuel prices to smooth out financially rocky times: less-than-truckload, or LTL, carriers.All trucking companies charge their customers for the fuel that they spend. Because the price of gas varies wildly, and because a single trucking trip can rack up hundreds or thousands of dollars in fuel, the fuel surcharge is necessary to ensure that the trucking company can move goods profitably.But when fuel prices hit unusual lows, as they have in 2020, that means the fuel surcharge dips.A quirk on the LTL side means that those truckers can actually earn a small profit off of the fuel surcharge. <h2>How it works</h2>The typical trucking company will rent its entire trailer to a single customer. An LTL trucking company, instead, rents its services on a per-pallet basis, meaning several retailers or manufacturers will share one vehicle to move goods. That means an LTL carrier can collect fuel surcharges from six or seven customers, instead of just one. This results in some "margin benefit," said Todd Fowler, equity research analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Fowler explained why:You're collecting a fuel surcharge on each of those pallets of freight that you're moving. If you added up all of those fuel surcharges for all the different customers in an environment where if you've got really good density and input a bunch of shipments that stack very nicely into your trailer, you might be collecting more fuel revenue than what your fuel expense is in that one instance. For LTL giant Old Dominion, in 2012, when diesel was 50% more expensive, Old Dominion said 16.9% of its total revenue stemmed from fuel surcharges. For the first three months of 2020, the fuel surcharge for a single shipment dropped to 14% of the total revenue. That used to be much higher. In the first quarter of Saia, another LTL carrier, reports similar shares. Some 12.8% of the company's revenue came from fuel surcharges in the first quarter of 2020. Saia did not report how much of its revenue came from fuel in the first quarter of 2012, <a href="https://sec.report/Document/0001193125-12-208239/">but credited a 10.6% bump in revenues</a> to "increased yield due to measured pricing actions and higher fuel surcharges." Fowler emphasized that this is not a moneymaker for LTL companies. "Most trucking companies don't look at fuel as being any sort of profit center," he said. "They're really not trying to make money on fuel. There's just times where fuel can be more or less of a headwind or a cost."Still, a boost in fuel prices, and available surcharges, would be welcome for struggling truckers, who would be able to use an increase in fuel surcharges to hedge falling revenues. Thanks to the challenging economic environment, Old Dominion reported in its most recent earnings a 5.2% reduction in employee headcount in the first quarter, while Saia has suspended salary increases and 401(k) matching for its employees. Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-trucking-companies-secretly-hate-rock-bottom-fuel-prices-2020-4">Business Insider</a>

Why trucking companies secretly hate rock-bottom fuel prices

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The governing boards of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/trucking">trucking</a> companies have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/women-truck-drivers-better-safer-trucker-shortage-2018-12">"generally low" gender diversity</a>, according to a new Morgan Stanley report.</li><li>That's one of the environmental, social, and governmental (ESG) trends that Morgan Stanley says could threaten the trucking industry.</li><li>The average trucking company in Morgan Stanley's report had a corporate governance board gender-inclusivity rate of 18%. Women comprised 25% of <a href="https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2019/02/05/missing-pieces-report-the-2018-board-diversity-census-of-women-and-minorities-on-fortune-500-boards/">Fortune 100 corporate boards</a> in 2018. Women comprise 50.8% of the <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/LFE046218">US working population</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>The governing boards of trucking companies have "generally low" diversity, according to a new Morgan Stanley report.The average trucking company in Morgan Stanley's report had a corporate governance board gender-inclusivity rate of 18%, according to 2018 data. That's less than the gender inclusivity seen at other large public firms. Women made up 25% of <a href="https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2019/02/05/missing-pieces-report-the-2018-board-diversity-census-of-women-and-minorities-on-fortune-500-boards/">Fortune 100 corporate boards</a> in 2018, and 22.5% of Fortune 500 boards. Freight as a whole - which includes trucking, rail, parcel, intermodal, and third-party logistics - sits at 23.5%, Morgan Stanley said. And all of those numbers still fall beneath the percentage of women in the US working population - 50.8%, according to the <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/LFE046218">US Census</a>.The 35-page report detailed the environmental, social, and governmental (ESG) trends that Morgan Stanley says could threaten the freight industry in coming years. "Many of the ESG themes discussed in the team's report - whether it be efforts to curb emissions, or stricter labor regulations - are certainly risks that the industry faces," Mark Savino, equity strategist on Morgan Stanley's global sustainability research team, told Business Insider in an email.Still, not each company will be as affected by these risks."However, it's important to make the distinction that these issues won't impact all companies equally, and better management against these risks can create points of differentiation," Savino added. "For example, the team highlighted that stricter emissions regulations, while a risk for some companies, could benefit large, well-capitalized TL companies as a result of likely supply rationalization of smaller competitors and operating cost savings."The bank also declined to comment on how a lack of women on corporate boards would affect the trucking industry. Academic research has suggested that more women in the boardroom results <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119913001120">in better investment and M&amp;A decision-making</a> and <a href="https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amj.2013.0319">stronger accounting returns and financial monitoring</a>. <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/02/women-directors-change-how-boards-work">In Norway,</a> where women are now required to comprise 40% of corporate boards, researchers have found that women on corporate boards are "more likely than their male counterparts to probe deeply into the issues at hand."However, investors tend to punish gender-inclusive boardrooms. <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/11/why-investors-react-negatively-to-companies-that-put-women-on-their-boards">A 2019 paper from INSEAD</a> suggests that investors shy away from companies that appoint more women to their corporate boards, because they view such hires as a sign that the company is not dedicated to maximizing shareholder value. <h2>Here are the trucking companies Morgan Stanley covers, what percent of their boards were women in 2018, and what the companies say about the gender breakdown</h2><ul><li>Schneider National - 20% women (above trucking average, but below Fortune 500 average). "Our history has taught us that treating everyone with dignity and embracing diversity of thought, experience and background is vital to our ongoing success," a Schneider representative told Business Insider. "We are passionate about continuous improvement in all areas of our business, and we will continue to advance diversity in leadership roles throughout the company."</li><li>Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings - 25% women, as of 2020 (above trucking average and Fortune 500 average). A Knight-Swift representative had no comment beyond providing updated numbers. </li><li>Heartland Express - 28.6% women (above trucking and Fortune 500 average). "Those two individuals on our board are outstanding - and they just happen to be female," CEO Michael Gerdin told Business Insider. "We're happy to have them both on our board."</li><li>Werner Enterprises - 11.1% women (below trucking and Fortune 500 average). A representative declined to comment.</li><li>U.S. Xpress - 12.5% women (below trucking and Fortune 500 average). "We're actively searching to fill more board seats, and diversity is one of the criteria we're using to evaluate options," chief brand officer Danna Bailey told Business Insider. </li><li>Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. - 10% women (below trucking and Fortune 500 average). A representative declined to comment.</li><li>ArcBest Corp. - 33.3% women (above trucking and Fortune 500 average). "ArcBest is proud of its board diversity with three women directors, including chairman, president and CEO Judy R. McReynolds," a company spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider. "Each of the women directors have a specific skill set that enhances our board's ability to help the company navigate the changing industry and we believe there are many opportunities for women who choose to make their career in transportation and logistics."</li><li>Saia, Inc. - 10% (below trucking and Fortune 500 average). Saia did not respond to Business Insider requests for inquiry. </li></ul>

Only 18% of the trucking industry's governing boards are women and Morgan Stanley just highlighted it as a potential industry risk

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Aly Song / ReutersA researcher prepares medicine at a laboratory in Nanjing University in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, April 29, 2011.</div></div></div>Lab-testing giant <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/LH-Quote">LabCorp</a> just picked up contract research organization Chiltern for $1.2 billion. Chiltern, a CRO, works with drugmakers to take on some of the <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> that companies have to carry out to get drugs approved, like discovering potential drug targets and running clinical trials on behalf of pharmaceutical companies. For example, say you need to run a clinical trial for a drug you're working on but don't want to invest in hiring all the folks to run the clinical trial. You could work with a CRO, which can set that up for you and recruit patients for a certain price.As drug companies continue to look for ways to trim research-and-development costs, these companies have become more popular. That activity has made a lot of room for mergers and acquisitions, even at a time when <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/shire-ceo-flemming-ornskov-on-pharma-ma-2017-7">drugmakers themselves are in a bit of a dealmaking lull</a>. According to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-21/biopharma-outsourcing-is-going-through-deal-bonanza-in-u-s">Bloomberg</a>, M&amp;A spending in the CRO industry was $24 billion in 2016. So far this year, spending on deals has totaled $14.2 billion, including the LabCorp acquisition.LabCorp itself is no stranger to CROs. In 2015, it acquired Covance <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150219005757/en/LabCorp-Completes-Acquisition-Covance">in a $6.2 billion deal</a>. And in May, Chiltern picked up <a href="http://www.outsourcing-pharma.com/Clinical-Development/Chiltern-acquires-Japanese-CRO">Japanese CRO Integrated Development Associates</a>.Many of these CROs are getting picked up by private equity, signaling that investors expect the companies to grow over the next decade. Pamplona Capital Management, Carlyle Group, and GTCR have all struck big deals in the space recently.Stocks of the companies that are public are up by more than 25% over the past year, signaling Wall Street investors are betting on the companies too, potentially in anticipation of activity to come."We are at the beginning of this process," KPMG principal Paul Saias <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-21/biopharma-outsourcing-is-going-through-deal-bonanza-in-u-s">told Bloomberg</a>.Here are some of the other notable CRO deals from the past few years.<ul><li>Pamplona Capital Management acquired Parexel International in a $5 billion deal to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-pamplona-capital-to-take-parexel-private-in-5-bln-deal-2017-6">take the CRO private</a> in June.</li><li>In June, Albany Molecular Research Inc. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gtcr-carlyle-group-buying-albany-molecular-research-for-922-million-2017-6">was acquired for $922 million and taken private</a> by Carlyle Group and GTCR.</li><li>In May, two of the largest CROs - Inc Research Holdings and InVentiv Health - <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-contract-medical-research-firm-inc-to-buy-inventiv-in-46-bln-deal-2017-5">merged in a $4.6 billion deal</a>.</li><li>In 2016, Charles River Laboratories went on an acquisition spree, <a href="http://www.fiercebiotech.com/deals/charles-river-spends-585m-on-wil-research-amid-a-buyout-spree">snapping up other CROs</a>.</li><li>In 2016, Quintiles Transnational merged with IMS Health <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ims-health-quintiles-to-merge-in-8-75-billion-deal-1462272680">in an $8.75 billion deal</a>. The combined company provides clinical research and health-information technologies, which goes beyond what's traditionally considered a CRO.</li></ul>Only <a href="http://blog.proclinical.com/top10-contract-research-organisations-to-watch">two of the top 10 CROs haven't been part of the dealmaking frenzy</a>. One is Pharmaceutical Product Development, whose majority is owned by Carlyle Group, which was also behind taking Albany Molecular private. The other is Icon, which might be more open to deals now, according to Jefferies analyst David Windley. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-bottom-line-google-alphabet-earnings-reaction-zuckerberg-musk-gene-munster-2017-7">THE BOTTOM LINE: Google's earnings overreaction and the raging debate over AI</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="N3cGQzYzE6clQvADEKamILfQQ83i0RIO" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

A lab-testing company just inked a billion-dollar deal for a healthcare company you've never heard of

REUTERS/Fred ProuserCarlyle Group co-founder and Managing Director David Rubenstein<ul><li>Wall Street is interested in the companies that help drugmakers research and develop drugs.</li><li>These companies, called contract research organizations, are becoming increasingly important for the pharmaceutical industry as companies look to save money on R&amp;D. </li></ul>Wall Street has been piling in to an area in healthcare you've likely never heard of. Contract research organizations, or CROs for short, work with drugmakers to take on some of the science companies have to do to get drugs approved. That means everything from discovering potential drug targets to running clinical trials on behalf of pharmaceutical companies.For example, say you need to run a clinical trial for a drug you're working on, but you don't want to invest in hiring all the folks to run the clinical trial yourself. So you work with a CRO, which can set that up for you and recruit patients for a certain price. As drug companies continue to look for ways to trim R&amp;D costs, these companies have become more popular.That activity has made a lot of room for mergers and acquisitions, even at a time when <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/shire-ceo-flemming-ornskov-on-pharma-ma-2017-7">drugmakers themselves are in a bit of a dealmaking lull</a>. According to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-21/biopharma-outsourcing-is-going-through-deal-bonanza-in-u-s">Bloomberg</a> that M&amp;A spending in the CRO industry was $24 billion in 2016. So far in 2017, the spending on deals is $13 billion. Many of these CROs are getting picked up by private equity, signaling that investors expect the companies to grow over the next decade. Pamplona Capital Management, Carlyle Group and GTCR have all struck big deals in the space recently.Stocks of the companies that are public are up more than 25% over the past year meanwhile, signaling public market investors are betting on the companies too, potentially in anticipation of activity to come"We are at the beginning of this process," KPMG principal Paul Saias <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-21/biopharma-outsourcing-is-going-through-deal-bonanza-in-u-s">told Bloomberg</a>. Almost every major CRO has been involved with an acquisition, starting back in 2015. <ul><li>Pamplona Capital Management acquired Parexel International in a $5 billion deal to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-pamplona-capital-to-take-parexel-private-in-5-bln-deal-2017-6">take the CRO private</a> in June. </li><li>In June, Albany Molecular Research Inc. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gtcr-carlyle-group-buying-albany-molecular-research-for-922-million-2017-6">was acquired and taken private</a> by Carlyle Group and GTCR for $922 billion. </li><li>Chiltern picked up a <a href="http://www.outsourcing-pharma.com/Clinical-Development/Chiltern-acquires-Japanese-CRO">Japanese CRO Integrated Development Associates</a> in May. </li><li>In May, two of the largest CROs - INC Research Holdings and InVentiv Health - <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-contract-medical-research-firm-inc-to-buy-inventiv-in-46-bln-deal-2017-5">merged in a $4.6 billion deal</a>. </li><li>In 2016, Charles River Laboratories went on an acquisition spree, <a href="http://www.fiercebiotech.com/deals/charles-river-spends-585m-on-wil-research-amid-a-buyout-spree">snapping up other CROs</a>. </li><li>In 2016, Quintiles Transitional merged with IMS Health <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ims-health-quintiles-to-merge-in-8-75-billion-deal-1462272680">in a $8.75 deal</a>. Together, the company provides clinical research and health information technologies, which goes beyond what's traditionally considered a CRO. </li><li>Back in 2015, LabCorp acquired Covance <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150219005757/en/LabCorp-Completes-Acquisition-Covance">in a $6.2 billion deal</a>.</li></ul>Only <a href="http://blog.proclinical.com/top10-contract-research-organisations-to-watch">two of the top 10 CROs appear to not be part of the dealmaking frenzy</a>: Pharmaceutical Product Development, which is majority owned by the Carlyle Group, which was also behind taking Albany Molecular private. The other is Icon, which might be more open to deals now, according to Jefferies analyst David Windley. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-more-skepticism-around-trumponomics-imf-growth-forecasts-2017-6">HENRY BLODGET: Seeing more skepticism around Trumponomics</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Wall Street is making huge bets on healthcare companies you've never heard of

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image">The Economist</div></div>IF BRAZILIANS find themselves in a tight spot, they say they are in a saia justa (a tight skirt). Although she usually prefers trouser suits, that is precisely where Dilma Rousseff finds herself. Later this month she will launch her campaign to win a second term in a presidential election due on October 5th. Normally at this stage of the political cycle, as in the run-up to elections in 2006 and 2010, the government would be ramping up spending. But when Ms Rousseff spoke to the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, with the São Paulo stockmarket and the real dipping along with other emerging economies, she felt impelled to stress her commitment to being strait-laced.
Brazil's economy has disappointed since she took office in January 2011. Growth has averaged just 1.8% a year; inflation has been around 6%; and the current-account deficit has ballooned, to 3.7% of GDP. Her government has some good excuses. She inherited an overheating economy, the world has grown sluggishly, and cheap money in the United States and Europe prompted an exaggerated appreciation of the real.
But Ms Rousseff has scored some own goals as well. Her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, left monetary policy to the Central Bank and mostly stuck to clear fiscal targets. By contrast, Ms Rousseff chivvied the bank into slashing interest rates; her officials tried to micromanage investment decisions with subsidies and to cover up the fiscal damage through accounting tricks. Rather than the promised recovery of growth, the result was that Brazilian businessmen and foreign investors lost confidence in the economic team--and just at the wrong time. When America's Federal Reserve last year announced a possible "tapering" of its bond-buying, the real began to slide. Against the dollar, it is now 17% below its value in May.
A weaker currency is just what Brazil needs if it is to balance its external accounts and its manufacturers are to thrive. But it also risks adding to inflation, the upward creep of which was one factor (along with poor public services) in mass protests that shook Ms Rousseff's government last year. This has prompted a change of mind. Alexandre Tombini, the Central Bank governor, has been allowed to raise interest rates (from 7.25% to 10.5%). At Davos, Ms Rousseff for the first time said that her aim was to bring inflation down to 4.5%; she previously seemed content merely for it to stay below the ceiling of the target range of 2.5-6.5%. Lula, her political mentor, "surely told Dilma that interest rates won't lose her the election, but inflation might," says a senior opposition economist.
The Workers' Party, which has ruled Brazil since 2003, expects to fight and win the election on its record of job creation and of lifting 40m Brazilians out of poverty. Unemployment is low and real wages are still rising (see chart). This explains why Ms Rousseff remains the clear favourite for October. A Datafolha poll in late November gave her 47% of the vote, compared with 19% for Aécio Neves and 11% for Eduardo Campos, her main challengers.
Some market analysts include Brazil as one of five "fragile" emerging economies, but the government rightly counters that it does not belong in the same company as Argentina or Turkey. As Mr Tombini points out, Brazil has a strong banking system and the reserves ($376 billion) to smooth a gradual exchange-rate adjustment. While talking of fiscal responsibility, the signs are that the government thinks it can get away with postponing belt-tightening until after the election.
But what if a mixture of outside events and fiscal fudging at home (and even a possible downgrade by credit-rating agencies) prompts a bigger decline in the real? So far the pass-through of devaluation to domestic prices has been low, but the history of price-setting in Brazil suggests that this might suddenly change if the currency weakens further, says Monica Baumgarten de Bolle, an economist at Rio de Janeiro's Catholic University. "This is what really worries the Central Bank," she says. It would have to respond with a monetary squeeze, killing growth.
In the same Datafolha poll 66% of respondents said they want the next president to act differently from Ms Rousseff, a generic yearning for change that suggests her support may be less solid than it seems. By allowing inflation to become a campaign issue, she has strayed on to the opposition's ground. Her past mistakes have led her to a situation in which her promise to spend more on public services is uncomfortably dependent on the humours of international investors. That is the tight skirt she has donned. The next few months will show whether she can wriggle out of it.
Click <a href="http://www.store.eiu.com">here</a> to subscribe to The Economist

You Searched For "saia" and got 6 results

Trucking giant Saia says it will no longer transport firearms that are fully or partly assembled

Gabrielle Bienasz

Why trucking companies secretly hate rock-bottom fuel prices

Rachel Premack

Only 18% of the trucking industry's governing boards are women and Morgan Stanley just highlighted it as a potential industry risk

Rachel Premack

A lab-testing company just inked a billion-dollar deal for a healthcare company you've never heard of

Lydia Ramsey

Wall Street is making huge bets on healthcare companies you've never heard of

Lydia Ramsey

Brazil Economy: Dilma's Tight Skirt

The Economist

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides