Made In America: Commerce Department Continues Lobbying For TPP Deal
by October 25, 2015 5:59 am 121 views
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CATERPILLAR CUTS PROFIT FORECAST AS GLOBAL DEMAND WEAKENS: Agriculture and industrial giant Caterpillar Inc. said last week that full-year profits for the rest of 2105 will be down $1.00 from the company’s earlier yearly forecast of $3.70 per share.
At the same time, the Peoria, Illinois-based industrial conglomerate slashed sales forecasts by 13% to nearly $48 billion for the rest of the year, and cut its revenue forecast for fiscal 2016 by 5% – the fourth straight year sales have declined since the 2012 peak of nearly $66 billion.
Caterpillar also said the previous guidance for 2015 restructuring costs that included across-the-board job cuts of more than 10,000 workers has jumped significantly, up $250 million or 42% to about $850 million.
For the third quarter, Caterpillar reported profit in the third quarter of $368 million, or 62 cents a share, down from $1.02 billion, or $1.63 a share, a year earlier. Excluding restructuring costs, the company had earnings of 75 cents a share on sales of $11 billion, down 18.5% from $13.5 billion a year ago. The Fortune 500 industrial giant was three pennies short of Wall Street’s expectations of 78 cents a share on revenue of $11.25 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
TYSON FOODS RAISES PAY IN ITS CHICKEN PLANTS TO COMPETE FOR LABOR: In an increasingly competitive poultry processing landscape Tyson Foods, announced a minimum hourly pay raise to $10 at 51 of its chicken processing plants across the country, effective Nov. 1.
The pay increases range from 11% to 25% based on the $8 and $9 starting pay the company has in place. The Springdale-based meat giant said the rate in beginning pay will raise its hourly average to more than $12. The highest pay for production workers in chicken processing plants is roughly $16 per hour.
COMMERCE DEPARTMENT CONTINUES LOBBYING FOR TPP DEAL: U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker released the first in a series of 15 new reports designed to spotlight key market access benefits and commitments of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Pritzker announced the report during the Coalition of Service Industries’ (CSI) Global Services Summit 2015 in Washington, which brought together more than 300 senior trade officials, policymakers, and business leaders from around the world to discuss current international trade challenges and opportunities.
The new report lists important TPP commitments that directly benefit U.S. service suppliers. In 2013, the leading TPP markets for U.S. services exports were Canada ($63.3 billion), Japan ($46.2 billion), and Mexico ($29.9 billion). From 2011 to 2013, U.S. services exports to TPP countries increased by 6.9%. To obtain the report, visit here.
APPLE ANNOUNCES PLAN TO REDUCE CARBON FOOTPRINT IN CHINA: Apple has announced two new programs aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of its manufacturing partners in China. The programs will avoid over 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution in the country between now and 2020, equivalent to taking nearly 4 million passenger vehicles off the road for one year.
Apple first plans to build more than 200 megawatts of solar projects in the northern, eastern and southern grid regions of China, which will produce the equivalent of the energy used by more than 265,000 Chinese homes in a year and will begin to offset the energy used in Apple’s supply chain.
Second, Apple is launching a new initiative to drive its manufacturing partners to become more energy efficient and to use clean energy for their manufacturing operations. The tech giant said it will partner with suppliers in China to install more than 2 gigawatts of new clean energy in the coming years. It will also share best practices in procuring clean energy and building high-quality renewable energy projects, and provide hands-on assistance to some suppliers in areas like energy efficiency audits, regulatory guidance and building strong partnerships to bring new clean energy projects to China.