Kia recalling 319K cars over hatch

Kia is recalling 319,436 cars to fix a trunk latch that can crack, preventing it from being opened from the inside, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced.

The models that the recall covers include the 2016-2017 Rio, the 2016-2018 Optima, and the 2017 and 2018 Optima Hybrid and Optima Plug-in hybrid vehicles.

According to a recall notice posted Wednesday by NHTSA, the base of the cars’ trunk latch can crack, preventing the opening of the trunk from the inside.

Federal auto safety regulations require that trunks can be opened from the inside. Kia spokesman James Bell said no injuries or deaths are associated with the recall.

“A person inside the trunk compartment may become trapped, increasing their risk of injury,” NHTSA recall division chief Alex Ansley wrote in a letter addressed to J.S. (Jurassic) Park, chief safety office at Kia.

Vehicle owners have until Oct. 19 to take their car to a Kia dealership, where the trunk latch part will be replaced free of charge.

Stocks struggle ahead of reports

Stocks churned at the end of a challenging month, with traders parsing mixed economic data and awaiting a key jobs reading to gauge the outlook for Federal Reserve policy. Bond yields fell. The dollar rose.

The S&P 500 finished with a small loss on Thursday, while notching its first monthly slide since February.

Aside from profit taking after this year’s rally, traders cited the view that the Fed will keep interest rates higher for longer to prevent a flare-up in price pressures.

The Fed’s preferred measure of underlying inflation saw the smallest back-to-back increases since late 2020, encouraging consumer spending.

Markets took the report in stride, with the numbers illustrating the divergence within the U.S. economy, according to Jeffrey Roach at LPL Financial.

Wall Street is now bracing for Friday’s labor-market data, which will provide further insights on the Fed’s next steps.

The report is forecast to show employers boosted their payrolls by nearly 170,000 in August, while the unemployment rate held at a historic low of 3.5%.

“Given the continued strength in the labor market and the fact that the economy is still growing above trend, the Fed will view inflation as cooling, but not sufficiently cool,” said George Mateyo, chief investment officer at Key Private Bank.

More than 60% of investors surveyed by 22V Research expect softer-than-estimated August payrolls data, while 78% see wage inflation at or below consensus. Meantime, 49% of them said the report will be “risk-on” and only 24% expect a “risk-off” reaction.

One Medical CEO leaves company

A little over a year after Amazon bought concierge primary health-care start-up One Medical for $3.9 billion, CEO Amir Dan Rubin is leaving the company.

“After six-plus years as CEO of One Medical, helping guide the organization to new levels of impact, Amir Dan Rubin has decided to leave One Medical later this year,” Amazon senior vice president wrote Neil Lindsay in a Thursday email to One Medical staff obtained by The Washington Post.

Rubin will be replaced by One Medical COO Trent Green.

In an email to staff, Rubin said he had “affection, admiration, appreciation and ambition” for his former employees.

“Trent is such a highly effective, experienced, and values driven leader,” Rubin wrote. “I am so excited about all that One Medical is positioned to do going forward as part of Amazon.”

“After more than six years as CEO of One Medical, Amir Dan Rubin has decided to leave One Medical later this year,” One Medical spokesperson Breanna Shirk confirmed in an email.

“He will work closely with the team over the coming months to transition the CEO role smoothly to Trent Green, who is currently One Medical’s COO and is deeply familiar with the business and team.”

From wire reports