Big Oil isn’t too big on capex spending — even amid the spiraling energy crisis: Oil majors Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, and Chevron are funneling their excess liquidity into share buybacks and dividend payouts next year, rather than ramping up supplies, Bloomberg reports. Wary of repeating the early-2010s scenario, when fossil fuel shortages prompted a massive boom in capital spending that led to a lack of cost control and surplus in production, oil players are slashing capital spending to 20-30% of pre-covid levels.

The move towards renewables and the Paris Agreement’s pledge to slash greenhouse gas emissions puts further pressure on the companies, who are “stuck between two extreme populations — the ESG crowd and cashflow hungry shareholders,” one analyst told Bloomberg. Exxon will devote 15% of its budget to low-carbon investments, while Shell is devoting less than half of its budget to oil, directing the bulk towards gas, renewables and power.

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The supply chain crunch is causing staffing shortages and more costly wages as the US labor market tightens, the Financial Times reports. Employers in all sectors are struggling to meet rising consumer demand as “labor inflation” hits US companies, the salmon-colored paper says. With markets reopening and supply chains backed up, companies are rushing to make new hires to get operations back on course in the wake of the country’s ”Great Resignation.” McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Amazon all saw wage costs increase, with all of them reporting difficulties in “recruiting and retaining workers.” Both Amazon and Starbucks reported weaker-than-expected 3Q2021 results last week on the back of labor market woes and supply chain shortages. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, wages and benefits rose 1.3% in 3Q2021 — the fastest uptick since 2001 — as employers offer higher wages to incoming staff and adjusted wages to existing employees as the market reopens.

… which is in turn leading companies to slash their advertising budgets amid concerns that they can’t meet increased demand in 4Q2021, according to the Wall Street Journal. The budget cuts come ahead of the holiday season — advertising’s most lucrative quarter. Large media organizations, including Facebook and Snap, are feeling the impact of the supply chain shortages, reporting advertising pauses from clients including fast-food chains, car manufacturers and telecommunications companies.