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With consumers already dealing with the fastest price increases in decades, another unwelcome uptick is on the horizon: a widely expected increase in winter heating bills, the New York Times reported. After plunging during the pandemic as the global economy slowed, energy prices have roared upward. Natural gas, used to heat almost half of U.S. households, has almost doubled in price since this time last year. The price of crude oil — which deeply affects the 10 percent of households that rely on heating oil and propane during the winter — has soared by similarly eye-popping levels. And those costs are being quickly passed through to consumers, who have become accustomed to cheaper energy prices in recent years and now find themselves with growing concerns about inflation this year. In the U.S., the winter months account for about 50 to 80 percent of residential fuel consumption. And there is “a significant chance” consumers could face a “marked increase” in prices for heating, said Nina Fahy, an analyst for Energy Aspects, a research consultancy. Last winter was warmer than average, which led to residential energy bills that were comparatively low. This season, heating costs could rise to levels not seen for a decade, even if there isn’t a severe winter. Several factors — lower global fuel inventories, incentives for producers to let prices rise and a mismatch between supply and demand as economies emerge from the pandemic — may combine to push bills higher regardless.

U.S. regulators moved closer to proposing fresh reforms to the market for Treasury securities as they continue to study the disruptions of March 2020 that were triggered by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. A progress report released yesterday by a panel of staff from the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and other top regulators identified five areas of study. It showed continued interest in expanding central clearing, improving transparency around dealing activity and enhancing trading-venue oversight, among other themes. The report was prepared by the Inter-Agency Working Group for Treasury Market Surveillance, which gave no timeline for any eventual recommendations. The Fed in July implemented the most important response since the March 2020 meltdown when it made permanent its standing repurchase facility -- a mechanism for providing short-term financing to financial institutions through repo agreements. The IAWG report continued to ponder expanded eligibility for the domestic version of that program, following some adjustments made by the New York Fed in August.

Airlines started flying thousands of Europeans and others to the U.S. after Washington reopened its borders to citizens of 33 countries who had been barred by COVID-19 restrictions for more than 18 months, the Wall Street Journal reported. As of Monday, vaccinated non-American citizens from previously restricted countries — predominantly in Europe — are allowed to travel to the U.S. if they have proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test taken within the prior three days. The countries formerly on the banned list accounted for 53% of all overseas visitors to the U.S. in 2019, according to the U.S. Travel Association. In March 2020, then-President Donald Trump banned Europeans and others from traveling to the U.S., part of a series of national travel restrictions put in place in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. For many travelers, the ban kept them away from family and friends in the U.S. For business people, visits to American home offices or sales calls to U.S. clients were prohibited, long after domestic business travel started to resume on both sides of the Atlantic.

The U.S. labor market sprang back to life in October after a summer slowdown, with employers briskly adding jobs and nearly 200,000 women joining the labor force, the Wall Street Journal reported. The economy churned out 531,000 new jobs last month, the biggest gain in three months, the Labor Department said Friday. Restaurants, consulting firms and factories all boosted hiring, suggesting broad strength across the economy. Nationwide job growth was also stronger in August and September than previously estimated, with new data boosting employment over that period by 235,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 4.6% in October from 4.8% a month earlier, and is down by more than half a percentage point in just two months. Stocks marched higher, and bond yields fell after the strong report. The U.S. still has 4 million fewer jobs than in February 2020, the month before the pandemic shut down much of the economy, and the unemployment rate remains higher than the pre-pandemic level of 3.5%. But Friday’s report showed the economy rebounding from the summer wave of the Delta variant, a highly contagious strain of COVID-19. Employers say they are eager to hire and are raising wages as they compete over a depleted pool of workers.

Retailers, expecting the holiday shopping season to be bustling once again this year after being upended by the coronavirus in 2020, are scrambling to find enough workers to staff their stores and distribution centers in a tight labor market, the New York Times reported. It is not proving easy to entice applicants to an industry that has been battered, more than most, by the pandemic’s many challenges, from fights over mask-wearing to high rates of infection among employees. Willing retail workers are likely to earn larger paychecks and work fewer hours, while consumers may be greeted by less inventory and understaffed stores. Macy’s is offering referral bonuses of up to $500 for each friend or family member that employees recruit to join the company. Walmart is paying as much as $17 an hour to start and has begun offering free college tuition to its workers. And some Amazon warehouse jobs now command signing bonuses of up to $3,000. While some of the most generous perks, like tuition reimbursement, are being offered mainly to long-term workers, even seasonal workers will see higher pay than usual. It’s especially critical for retailers to hire temporary help this year because existing employees are already strained from nearly two years of pandemic conditions. The National Retail Federation, an industry group, is anticipating record holiday sales and has forecast that retailers will hire 500,000 to 665,000 seasonal workers, significantly more than the 486,000 in 2020.

A federal appeals court suspended the Biden administration’s new vaccine requirement for private companies, delivering a major blow for one of the White House’s signature attempts to increase the number of vaccinations to corral the pandemic, the Washington Post reported. The decision was issued by a panel of three judges appointed by Republican presidents in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The judges wrote that there was “cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the mandate,” staying the order while the court assesses it in more depth. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed Friday by a group of plaintiffs including Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (R), part of a wave of lawsuits against the order from mostly Republican-aligned groups and politicians. The unsigned, four-paragraph order from the panel temporarily stops Biden’s mandate but is not a ruling on the merits of the policy. The court gave the Justice Department until 5 p.m. Monday to respond to the challenger’s request for a more permanent halt to the mandate.

Workplace whistleblowers and a fear of losing federal funds are expected to play vital roles in ensuring compliance with COVID-19 vaccine mandates ordered by President Joe Biden's administration for U.S. businesses, nursing homes and hospitals, according to experts, Reuters reported. Biden announced last Thursday that his administration will enforce the vaccine mandates starting on Jan. 4. The rules apply to employers with at least 100 workers, federal contractors and employees of nursing homes and other health care facilities that receive reimbursements under the Medicare and Medicaid government health care programs. On Saturday, a federal appeals court suspended the new vaccine and testing requirements for private companies while the court considers it in more depth. It gave the Justice Department until late Monday to respond. The portion of the mandate for the health care sector is not affected by Saturday's ruling. If the rule goes into effect, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which enforces work safety rules, is not likely to immediately swoop in to ensure that vaccination and testing rules are being followed, experts said. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the regulator for the two federal health programs, does not typically survey accredited health care providers unless there is a complaint or a need for recertification, according to Sandy DiVarco, a partner at the firm McDermott Will & Emery who represents health care providers. Since patients and clients do not have access to staff vaccination records, those complaints would likely come from another staff member, DiVarco added.

24 Hour Fitness Worldwide, Inc. and Equinox Holdings Inc. are pursuing out-of-the-box ways to raise cash from investors, as the gym franchises manage through a prolonged downturn catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. After burning through much of its cash this year, 24 Hour Fitness in October agreed to borrow up to $70 million in a transaction that will help the company fund its operations into next year. The company didn’t project that it would need additional capital when it exited bankruptcy late last year, according to court filings. Privately owned Equinox is also low on cash to fund operations, with $39 million on its balance sheet as of June 30 and cash burn from its operations averaging $46 million a quarter during the first half of this year, according to a quarterly earnings report. It also made less from membership fees in the first six months of 2021 than in the same period in 2020, despite the reopening of a majority of its clubs, the report showed.