The North Dakota pipeline battle may be over but veterans and activists who opposed of the project have said that their fight isn’t over yet and the Flint water crisis is next target on their list. The US military veterans who backed Native American tribes in their protest against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline may be headed to Michigan next, where the city of Flint is still dealing with lead in their water supply.
The key economic releases this week are ISM non-manufacturing on Monday and University of Michigan consumer sentiment index on Friday. There are a few scheduled speaking engagements from Fed officials this week.
Away from the US economic calendar, initially focus will be on the Italian referendum result, which already appears to have been largely digested by the market, despite a variety of unknown consequences still to emerge. It will then shift quickly to a critical ECB meeting.
With Carrier setting the precedent for what future negotiations with the Trump administration may look like, Ford CEO Mark Fields has come forward to layout potential policy changes that would be important to preserving auto jobs in the United States. Not surprisingly, per an interview with Bloomberg, Fields' opening "ask" focused on less restrictive fuel economy standards, new currency-manipulation rules to promote free and fair trade and corporate tax reform.
Earlier this morning we reported that Trump's attorneys had filed an objection to Jill Stein's recount petition with the election commission of Michigan. Per the Michigan Secretary of State, those objections have just been rejected and a recount has now been cleared to begin early next week barring any new legal actions over the weekend.
Bd of State Canvassers mtg has adjourned. Members did not adopt an objection to the recount or a motion to conduct the recount by machine.
Despite a Wisconsin judge denying her request for a hand recount last night due to the fact that she "failed to show any mistakes or irregularities that would bring a machine recount into question," Jill Stein continues her recount crusade today with an official petition in Michigan. As usual, Stein released a statement along with the petition saying that "Americans deserve a voting system we can trust." Michigan state officials have confirmed that the recount will start on Friday and must be completed by December 13th.
Per The Hill: