Afternoon Coffee: Uber’s London Ban Overturned, Walmart Leads Effort to Track Full Food Supply Chain

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Uber will once again be permitted to operate in London, after the city’s transport regulator overturned its September decision not to renew Uber’s operating license, the BBC reports. Transport for London (TfL) granted the ride share giant a 15-month probationary license, complete with conditions that TfL will “thoroughly monitor and enforce.”

Food Blockchain 

Ten of the world’s largest companies operating in the food supply chain, including industry leaders Walmart and Nestle, are building a blockchain to track food movement from farm to fork, the Wall Street Journal reports. Called Food Trust, the new system aims to improve recalls, quickly identifying the issue and shrinking the time consumers are at risk. One Walmart executive described it to the WSJ as the “equivalent of FedEx tracking for food.”

Harley Production 

Escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and the E.U. are starting to affect how companies are planning their production futures. As the New York Times reports, motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson will shift some production of its bikes overseas to avoid retaliatory tariffs imposed by the E.U. in response to Trump’s trade measures.

Consumer Confidence  

And finally, an economic update: U.S. consumer confidence dipped in June, Reuters reports, with The Conference Board’s index falling to 126.4 this month from an upwardly revised 128.8 in May. While confidence is still historically strong, the slip in the index may indicate a slowdown in economic activity later this year.