Summit of the Americas opens as tensions rise over economy and migration - June 10, 2022

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 600 points Thursday in advance of inflation data Friday morning that revealed inflation accelerated further in May, with prices rising 8.6% from a year ago. The Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index accelerated to 1% mostly due to sky-high fuel and food prices. The average price in the U.S. for gasoline is wavering near $5 a gallon as fuel costs are rippling through almost every corner of business and are beginning to alter consumer behavior. President Joe Biden arrived in Los Angeles to host nearly two dozen leaders from Latin America for the Summit of the Americas with the hopes to use new economic and migration announcements to show cohesion in an often divided region. Latin American leaders criticized Biden over his exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the summit, underscoring the challenges he faces to reassert leadership. The Biden administration hopes its announcement of the “Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity” framework will act as common ground among the divided countries. The White House outlined the early stages of its plan to make COVID-19 vaccines available to roughly 18 million children younger than 5 this month. The vaccinations could begin as soon as June 21 with manufacturers Moderna and Pfizer offering 10 million initial doses. Pfizer recently reported that its three-dose coronavirus vaccine for children 6 months to 5 years old was 80% effective against omicron. Officials said they are continuing to struggle to come up with enough funding to be able to buy new versions of vaccines needed for later this year even as the White House announced $10 billion towards fall vaccine purchases. Meta Platform’s Facebook is re-examining its pledge to pay for news, causing some news organizations to prepare for a potential revenue shortfall of tens of millions of dollars. The company has paid average annual fees of more than $15 million as part of a broader Facebook News deal. The decision comes after Meta flopped once again in a test of ho