Royal Dutch Shell could start shutting down its refinery in Convent any day now. Some 350 hourly employees got severance package details last week. It will be the first Gulf Coast refinery to permanently close because of the pandemic-related decline in demand for refined products.
No decision by a committee of OPEC+ ministers in an informal online discussion yesterday on whether to delay January’s oil-output increase, so the full meeting of the cartel and its allies today will drill down into the issue. No agreement this week could mean restarting almost 2 million barrels of output a day and sending the global market back into surplus.
The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission is underwriting more drunk driver checkpoints by New Orleans Police next year. The $300,000-grant will also help cops stop speeders and enforce seat belt requirements.
Big box retailers like Walmart and Target got a huge online bounce by being closed on Thanksgiving. Adobe Analytics reports sales at big stores surged by some 400% Thursday and Black Friday compared to the daily average in October. Small retailers not that far behind -- their online sales were up almost $350%.
The Dow has risen nearly 13% in November and is headed for its best month since January 1987. It was up 37 points Friday. The Nasdaq posted its 45th record close of the year, up 111 to post a new record, and the S&P closed in record territory too, up 8 points. Futures are mixed.
