Crude Oil Futures Settle Higher Again

Crude oil prices moved higher on Thursday despite lingering worries about energy demand outlook in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases and fresh lockdown measures in several parts across Europe.

The U.K., France and Germany have all been reporting spikes in new cases of coronavirus infections and several countries in Europe, including these three, have imposed new restrictions.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended up $0.38 or almost 1% at $40.31 a barrel, recovering well after early weakness.

Brent crude futures edged up $0.08 or about 0.2% to $41.85 a barrel.

Recent data from Energy Information Administration that showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories supported oil’s recovery.

The EIA data on Wednesday showed crude inventories in the country fell by 1.6 million barrels last week. The drop, however, was less than what markets had expected.

Gasoline stockpiles fell by about 4 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles showed a drawdown of 3.4 million barrels, according the report from EIA.

However, data showing a drop in U.S. business activity in September limited oil’s uptick. The continued impasse over additional fiscal stimulus too raised concerns about economic recovery and weighed on the commodity.

B&G Foods to remove black Cream of Wheat chef from packaging

B&G Foods said Thursday it would drop an image of a black chef from the packaging of its Cream of Wheat cereal mix, the latest company to make changes to branding widely considered as racially insensitive.

Companies including Mars and PepsiCo are changing names and branding of some of their products that are rooted in racist imagery amid a wider national debate over racial inequality in the United States.

“For years, the image of an African-American chef appeared on our Cream of Wheat packaging. While research indicates the image may be based upon an actual Chicago chef named Frank White, it reminds some consumers of earlier depictions they find offensive,” B&G Foods said in a statement.

The condiments and sauce maker is expected to roll out new packaging in the first quarter of 2021, it said.

On Wednesday, Mars said it was changing the name and branding of its Uncle Ben’s rice products, while PepsiCo said in June that it would rename and change the brand image of its Aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrup.

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Podcast: The child care tax on America's economy

Child care in the U.S. is in crisis, which makes it much harder for the American economy to recover — as providers struggle to stay in business and parents wrestle with work.

Axios Re:Cap digs into the problems and what can be done to solve them, with Vox senior reporter Anna North.

ICM Partners Signs ‘ZeroZeroZero’ Breakout Star Harold Torres

EXCLUSIVE: Harold Torres has signed with ICM Partners for representation in all areas. Torres is currently receiving rave reviews for his chillingly brilliant turn as a Narco enforcer in Amazon’s limited series ZeroZeroZero. The series was created by Stefano Sollima, Leonardo Fasoli, and Mauricio Katz; Andrea Riseborough and Dane DeHaan also star.

While the show features incredible performances across the board, Torres stole every scene he was in. Following the show’s premiere in April, Torres quickly was on every agencies radar and seemed like only a matter of time before he was signed by one of the majors.

The three-time Ariel Award nominated Torres has appeared in more than 30 films in his native Mexico, including Rudo Y Cursi alongside Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, as well as Cary Joji Fukunaga’s debut feature Sin Nombre. In 2013 he won the actor prize at the 2013 Morelia Film Festival for his role in González: falsos profetas. Other recent television credits include a starring role in the History Channel miniseries Texas Rising with Bill Paxton, and in the Netflix series Ingobernable and El Chapo.

Torres graduated with a BFA in Acting at the Centro Universitario de Teatro (CUT or University Theater Center) at the UNAM (Mexico’s National Autonomous University) and is based in Mexico City.

He is additionally represented by Jimmy Miller, John Tynan, and Jeremy Berney at Mosaic.

European Economics Preview: UK Retail Sales Data Due

Retail sales data from the UK is due on Friday, headlining a light day for the European economic news.

At 2.00 am ET, the Office for National Statistics is slated to issue UK retail sales data for August. Sales are forecast to grow 0.7 percent on month, slower than the 3.6 percent rise seen in July.

In the meantime, Germany’s producer price figures for August are due. Economists expect prices to decline 1.4 percent annually, following a 1.7 percent drop in July.

At 4.00 am ET, the European Central Bank is set to issue euro area current account data for July. The surplus totaled EUR 17.3 billion in June.

Also, industrial production figures are due from Italy and Poland. Economists forecast Poland’s industrial output to climb 2.8 percent on year in August, faster than the 1.1 percent increase a month ago.

At 6.30 am ET, Russia’s central bank announces its rate decision. The bank is expected to hold its key rate at 4.25 percent.

Denver Dachshund puppy stolen at gunpoint is reunited with owners

A dog that was stolen at gunpoint in Denver has been reunited with its owners, police said.

Loki, a a 2-month-old miniature Dachshund puppy, was stolen at about 7 p.m. on Sept. 17 at Nettie Moore Park, 1200 block of Utica Street, in the West Colfax neighborhood.

Police have said they linked two juveniles to the incident. No arrest has been made at this time.