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U.S. Consumer Doubts Linger; Farmers Get $12 Billion in Aid; Amazon Helps Fund Battery Startup By Mark R. Long | WSJ Logistics Report

High prices, a fragile job market and anxiety about President Trump's tariffs have helped drag consumer sentiment, as measured by the University of Michigan, down near historic lows this year . The WSJ's Chao Deng writes that the latest numbers were slightly improved from a previous reading freighted by government shutdown disruptions, but barely.

Responses to the Michigan survey are baked into an equation that produces a number ranging from 2 to 150.2. The nation started the year in relatively decent spirits about the economy, with a reading above 70 in January. A preliminary monthly reading released in early December showed sentiment now slightly above 53 , up from 51 in November. The index hit its all-time high of 112 in 2000, and bottomed out at 50 in June 2022.

Weak readings don't mean Americans aren't spending , or that the economy is stalling. Retailers have reported signs of a solid holiday shopping season. Still, less-affluent households have been pulling back on routine purchases, while upper- and middle-income consumers race ahead. And retail-sales growth has cooled amid concerns about tariffs affecting prices.

The Trump administration unveiled a $12 billion aid package for U.S. farmers in a meeting at the White House. The agriculture sector has been grappling with the fallout from Trump's far-reaching tariffs . Much of the aid-$11 billion-will be in the form of one-time payments through the Farmer Bridge Assistance program.

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Amazon led an $81 million funding round for battery startup Blue Current, a deal that comes as the e-commerce giant is expanding its fleet of electric delivery vans. WSJ Pro Venture Capital's Marc Vartabedian writes that Blue Current is making battery cells at a facility in Hayward, Calif. , and said its batteries could be on the market by 2030.

James Hamilton, a senior vice president and distinguished engineer at Amazon, is joining Blue Current's board and will help guide technology development and commercialization, the startup said. Founded in 2014, Blue Current says its silicon solid-state batteries can power a variety of vehicles and offer them longer range and faster charging rates than existing electric-vehicle batteries.

Aurora Innovation said Detmar Logistics would use trucks with its self-driving technology to autonomously transport fracking sand on public roads and highways in Texas's oil-and-gas rich Permian Basin. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Number of the Day In Other News The U.S. collected $336 billion in November, up 11% from the same month a year earlier as tariff collections more than tripled , the Congressional Budget Office said. (WSJ) The Bureau of Labor Statistics will skip publication of its delayed report on wholesale-price inflation and will roll those figures into a postponed November report to be published on Jan. 14. (WSJ) China's trade surplus in goods this year topped $1 trillion for the first time , with exports in the first 11 months of the year increasing 5.4% year-over-year to $3.4 trillion. (WSJ) Japan's economy contracted by 2.3%

on an annualized basis in the third quarter, a faster pace than the initial 1.8% estimate. (WSJ) Germany's industrial output increased by 1.8%

in October, following a 1.1% rise in September, surpassing economists' expectations. (WSJ) China's retail passenger- car sales fell by 8.1%

year-over-year to 2.23 million units in November, marking the second consecutive monthly decline. (WSJ) The Trump administration plans to let Nvidia export its H200 chip to China. (WSJ) PepsiCo committed to cutting costs

and lowering prices in its slowing food business in a pact struck with Elliott Investment Management. (WSJ) Toll Brothers logged higher quarterly revenue, but gave a cautious outlook

on house deliveries in the new fiscal year as demand remains soft. (WSJ) German shipbuilder TKMS said its sales and earnings grew

in fiscal 2025, as Europe ramps up procurement of submarines and warships. (WSJ) South Korea's HD Hyundai plans to build a shipyard

in India's Tamil Nadu state with investment possibly reaching $2 billion. (Business Standard) Chinese state-owned Cosco Shipping ordered 87 new ships

from China State Shipbuilding for more than $7 billion. (TradeWinds) Morocco plans to open a new deepwater port

on the Mediterranean in the second half of next year and another on the Atlantic in 2028. (Reuters) About Us

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at [mark.long@wsj.com]. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long , Liz Young and Paul Berger .

This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 09, 2025 07:04 ET (12:04 GMT)

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