The daily business briefing: September 19, 2023

1. Instacart prices shares at top of range in IPO

Instacart late Monday priced its shares at $30 apiece in its initial public offering. The San Francisco-based grocery delivery startup on Friday had set a range of $28 to $30 per share. At the higher share price, the IPO will raise $660 million and put Instacart's valuation at $9.9 billion. That's a steep drop from its $39 valuation in a 2021 funding round, when its business was booming as people were forced to do more shopping online due to coronavirus lockdowns. Instacart's listing came on the heels of Arm's massive IPO last week, lifting equity capital markets after an extended drought. Barron's 

2. UAW says more walkouts could be coming Friday

The United Auto Workers will announce strikes at more General Motors, Ford and Stellantis plants on Friday unless there is "serious progress" in negotiations on a new contract, the union's president, Shawn Fain, said Monday night. About 12,700 union members, demanding wage increases and a shorter work week, walked out last week at three assembly plants — one belonging to each of Detroit's Big Three automakers. "Autoworkers have waited long enough to make things right at the Big Three," Fain said in a video the union released online. "We're not waiting around, and we're not messing around." GM said Monday it was "continuing to bargain in good faith with the union to reach an agreement as quickly as possible." The Detroit News, NBC News

3. GOP hardliners undermine McCarthy plan to avert shutdown

A dozen Republicans indicated Monday that they would oppose a spending proposal unveiled a day earlier by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in hopes of averting a government shutdown at the end of the month. "The Republican House is failing the American people again and pursuing a path of gamesmanship and circus," Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) said in a statement that called McCarthy a "weak speaker." With its slim House majority, the GOP can't pass the measure if a dozen members defect. Even without the far-right opposition, the plan, which includes an 8% spending cut for federal agencies and would only fund the government through October, stands almost no chance of clearing the Democratic-controlled Senate. The New York Times

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4. Stock futures little changed ahead of Fed meeting

U.S. stock futures edged higher early Tuesday ahead of the start of a two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were up 0.1% at 6:30 a.m. ET. The major indexes were little changed Monday, with all of them rising but by less than 0.1%. Trading was cautious ahead of the Tuesday start of the Fed meeting. The central bank's policymakers are expected to hold interest rates steady this month. But investors will be looking at the Fed's post-meeting statement for clues on the likelihood of another hike in November. CNBC

5. OECD: Rate hikes to slow global economy in 2024

The world economy will slow down next year due to interest rate hikes to fight inflation, plus China's disappointing rebound from pandemic lockdowns, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in forecasts released Tuesday. Economists at the Paris-based OECD said growth would ease from this year's "sub-par" 3% to 2.7% in 2024. With the exception of 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, that would be the "weakest annual expansion since the global financial crisis" of 2008, according to Bloomberg. "While high inflation continues to unwind, the world economy remains in a difficult place," OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli said. "We're confronting the double challenges of inflation and low growth." Bloomberg