UK Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab Doesn’t Seem To Know What ‘Misogyny’ Means

Dominic Raab, the U.K.’s deputy prime minister and justice secretary, totally botched the meaning of “misogyny” in a BBC “Breakfast” interview on Wednesday.

“Misogyny is absolutely wrong, whether it’s a man against a woman or a woman against a man,” Raab said. (Watch a longer clip of the interview below.)

Host Sally Nugent noted that the definition of misogyny was “hatred against, directed towards, women” and repeated his statement.

“Is that what you meant to say?” she asked.

But Raab seemed oblivious.

The politician was initially asked for his opinion on PM Boris Johnson’s comments that misogyny should not be a hate crime. Debate over women’s safety in the U.K. has intensified after a police officer last week was sentenced to life for the kidnapping, rape and killing of Sarah Everard.

Raab has previously called feminists “obnoxious bigots” and said men “from the cradle to the grave” are “getting a raw deal,” The Guardian noted.

Twitter gave him a lashing.

Constellation Brands Raises FY Comparable EPS Outlook

While reporting financial results for the second-quarter, Beverage alcohol company Constellation Brands Inc. (STZ) raised its fiscal 2022 comparable earnings per share outlook.

The company now expects annual comparable earnings per share, excluding Canopy EIE, to be in the range $10.15 – $10.45, compared to the prior outlook of $10.00 to $10.30 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report annual earnings of $10.03 per share. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

The company now projects annual earnings per share to be between $0.30 and $0.60, compared to the previous estimation of $2.70 to $3.00 per share.

The revised annual profit guidance includes shares repurchased through September only.

The company affirmed its fiscal 2022 operating cash flow target of $2.4 billion- $2.6 billion and free cash flow projection of $1.4 billion – $1.5 billion.

Person dies after car crashes down bank in rural Waikato

A person has died in a crash after their vehicle plunged down a bank in rural Waikato.

Emergency services were called to the incident on Waikaretu Valley Rd in Glen Murray about 8.10am today.

A police spokesperson said they arrived to find a vehicle had crashed off the road and down a bank.

The driver of the vehicle, who was the sole occupant, has been located deceased.

Cordons were put in place and the Serious Crash Unit has been called to the scene.

White House says President Biden, China's Xi Jinping are expected to meet virtually

• President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to hold a virtual working meeting before year's end, according to a senior Biden administration official.
• The agreement for a more formal leaders' meeting came as White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi met Wednesday in Zurich.

President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to hold a virtual working meeting before year's end, according to a senior Biden administration official.

The agreement for a more formal leaders' meeting came as White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi met Wednesday in Zurich for six hours of talks amid rising tensions between the global powers.

Details for the meeting still need to be worked out, according to the senior administration official, who was not authorized to comment publicly on the private talks between Sullivan and Yang.

Xi has not left China amid the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic and is not expected to attend the upcoming Group of 20 and COP26 summits in Europe in person.

The official said the idea of a virtual meeting was proposed after Biden — who spent a substantial amount of time with Xi when the two were vice presidents — mentioned to the Chinese president last month during a phone call that he would like to be able to see him again.

Hess Midstream Shares Tumble 10%; Announces Upsize Of Underwritten Public Offering

Shares of mid-stream energy company Hess Midstream LP (HESM) are trading down 10 percent in the Wednesday market after the company upsized an earlier announced underwritten public offering of Class A shares.

In the recent development, Hess Midstream upsized the previously announced 6 million Class A shares to an aggregate 7.5 million shares representing limited partner interests in HESM by a subsidiary of Hess Corp. and an affiliate of Global Infrastructure Partners at a public offering price of $26 per Class A share.

Currently at $25.96, the stock has traded between $14.95 and $30.34 during the past 52 weeks.

U.S. Services Index Indicates Modestly Faster Growth In September

Activity in the U.S. service sector unexpectedly grew at a slightly faster pace in the month of September, according to a report released by the Institute for Supply Management on Tuesday.

The ISM said its services PMI inched up to 61.9 in September from 61.7 in August, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the service sector. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 60.0.

“The slight uptick in the rate of expansion in the month of September continued the current period of strong growth for the services sector,” said Anthony Nieves, Chair of the ISM Services Business Survey Committee.

He added, “However, ongoing challenges with labor resources, logistics, and materials are affecting the continuity of supply.”

The uptick by the services PMI came as the business activity index climbed to 62.3 in September from 60.1 in August.

The new orders index also inched up to 63.5 in September from 63.2 in August, while the employment index edged down to 53.0 from 53.7.

On the inflation front, the prices index advanced to 77.5 in September from 75.4 in August, indicating an acceleration in the pace of growth.

The ISM released a separate report last Friday showing an unexpected acceleration in the pace of growth in U.S. manufacturing activity in the month of September.

The manufacturing PMI crept up to 61.1 in September from 59.9 in August. The uptick surprised economists, who had expected the index to edge down to 59.6.