SKY News Summary 06-30-09
GE’s Innovative Energy Systems (IES) has developed a clean energy solution that recovers methane gas from landfills and converts it into electricity as an alternative energy source. IES has nine plants in New York and Vermont, producing more than 60 megawatts of capacity with more than 25 additional megawatts coming online over the next two years. “Landfill gas consists of methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide. Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas that is a key contributor to global climate change, over 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Methane also has a short, 10-year, atmospheric life. Because methane is both potent and short-lived, reducing methane emissions from municipal solid waste landfills, the second largest source of methane in the United States, is one of the best ways to achieve a near-term beneficial impact in mitigating global climate change. It is estimated that a landfill gas to energy projects will capture roughly 60 to 90% of the methane emitted from the landfill, depending on system design and effectiveness.”
http://www.genewscenter.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=7187&NewsAreaID=2&MenuSearchCategoryID=
Centocor Ortho Biotech, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, announced that a federal jury has returned a verdict of $1.67 billion against Abbott laboratories in a patent infringement suit. The suit involves an arthritis treatment patent which is co-owned by New York University and Centocor. According to the Chicago Tribune, “Abbott has argued that Humira was the first of its kind, fully derived from human DNA, compared to Remicade, which is made partially from mouse DNA.”
http://www.jnj.com/connect/news/all/20090629_210000
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tue-abbott-humira-0630-jun30,0,929187.story
Standard & Poor’s announced that its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showed a moderation in the decline of home prices. “The 10-City and 20-City Composites declined 18.0% and 18.1%, respectively, in April compared to the same month in 2008. These are improvements over their returns reported for March, down 18.7% for both indices.” http://www2.standardandpoors.com/spf/pdf/index/CSHomePrice_Release_063055.pdf
The Conference Board’s Confidence Index (CEI) decreased in May, due mainly to declines in industrial production and employment. The six-month change in the index is -3.3 percent through May. The Conference Board LEI rose 1.2 percent (a 2.4 percent annual rate) between November 2008 and May 2009, the first time the index has increased over a six-month period since July 2007.
http://www.conference-board.org/economics/bci/pressRelease_output.cfm?cid=1
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard spoke on exit strategies for the Federal Reserve at a Global Interdependence event at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
http://www.stlouisfed.org/
An interesting timeline of events and policy action associated with the financial crisis can be found at:
http://timeline.stlouisfed.org/index.cfm?p=timeline
Sources: St. Louis Fed, Conference Board, Standard and Poor’s, Chicago Tribune, J&J, and GE websites.
SKY News Summary 06-25-09
Kimberly-Clark announced that it will reduce its workforce by approximately 1,600 positions by the end of the year. It expects that the organizational changes will generate savings of about $150 million, but will create charge-offs in the second, third and fourth quarters of next year, totaling $140 million to $150 million pre-tax, with approximately $110 million of the costs recorded in the second quarter.
http://investor.kimberly-clark.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=391954
The latest TOP500 list shows that 399 of the world’s top 500 computer systems, including two in the top 10, run on Intel systems.
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20090623corp_a.htm?iid=pr1_releasepri_20090623ra
The Mortgage Bankers Association announced that its purchase applications for the week ending June 19th increased significantly, by 7.3 percent, from one week earlier. The refinance index also increased 5.9 percent from the previous week. Thirty-year fixed mortgage rates rose slightly from 5.38% the week of June 18th to 5.42 the week of June 19th, but still remained below the 6.32% 30-year rate of last year at this time.
http://www.mbaa.org/NewsandMedia/PressCenter/69418.htm
http://www.freddiemac.com/pmms/pmms30.htm
The U.S. Commerce Department announced that sales of newly built homes in May declined less than one percentage point. But this number is deceptive since only the South experienced reduced sales and other areas of the country increased sales dramatically. “Sales of new homes gained 1.3 percent in the West and posted double-digit gains of 28.6 percent and 18.6 percent in the Northeast and Midwest, respectively,” according to the National Association of Home Builders.
http://www.nahb.org/news_details.aspx?sectionID=0&newsID=9396
http://www.census.gov/const/newressales.pdf
Sales of existing homes increased 2.4 percent again in May, which was the first two-month increase since September 2005 and is only 3.6 percent below last year’s pace. Distressed properties were 33 percent of all sales in May, down from 45 percent in April. Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast rose 3.9 percent, which is 10.1 percent below a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $243,600, 12.5 percent below May 2008.
http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2009/06/ehs_continue
The Census Bureau announced that new orders for manufactured durable goods in May increased $2.8 billion or 1.8 percent to $163.9 billion. This was the third increase in the last four months and followed a 1.8 percent April increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 1.1 percent. Excluding defense, new orders increased 1.4 percent.
http://www.census.gov/indicator/www/m3/
The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that real gross domestic product decreased 5.5 percent in the first quarter of 2009, after a 6.3 percent decrease the quarter before. The first quarter drop was due to reduced exports, equipment and software, which were partly offset by an increase in personal consumption and a larger decrease in imports. (Imports are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP).
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/2009/gdp109f.htm
In the week ending June 20, initial unemployment claims increased 15,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 612,000. Continuing claims during the week ending June 13 increased 29,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 6,709,000.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20090707.htm
Sources: Census, Department of Labor, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Mortgage Bankers Association, Commerce Department, National Association of Realtors, and National Association of Home Builders.
SKY News Summary 06-16-09
GE announced that, at the Paris Air Show, the company received more than $8 billion in orders for its large jet engine. John Rice, Vice Chairman of GE, said “Our GEnx engine is proof that fuel-efficient, lower emissions innovation remains critical to aviation customers – and the GE/Mubadala agreement further emphasizes the growing global nature of the industry and world-class companies who are increasing their aerospace commitments.” GE and its joint ventures, CFM International and the Engine Alliance, announced 17 deals and partnerships during the four-day airshow.
http://www.genewscenter.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=7073&NewsAreaID=2&MenuSearchCategoryID=
Exelon Corporation announced that it will restructure, achieving approximately $350 million in operations and maintenance savings in 2010, a nearly 3.5% reduction in O&M spending from 2009 levels. There will be a staff reduction of 500 positions, mostly in corporate support functions.
http://www.exeloncorp.com/aboutus/news/pressrelease/corporate/Exelon+News+Release.htm
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the weekly June 12th purchase index decreased 3.5 percent from a week earlier. The refinance index also dropped, by 23.3 percent, due mainly to rising interest rates in that week. Freddie Mac’s survey of interest rates for June 12th showed the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.59 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 5.29 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.32 percent. http://www.mbaa.org/NewsandMedia/PressCenter/69275.htm
http://www.freddiemac.com/dlink/html/PMMS/display/PMMSOutputWk.jsp?week=24&ending=20090618
The Department of Labor reported that, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.1 percent in May after being unchanged in April. The index for energy, which had declined the previous two months, rose 0.2 percent in May as an increase in the gasoline index more than offset declines in other energy indexes. The food index decreased for the fourth consecutive month, falling 0.2 percent. Less food and energy, the core CPI also rose 0.1 percent in May following a 0.3 percent increase in April.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm
The Department of Labor also announced that, in the week ending June 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 608,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 605,000. The 4-week moving average was 615,750, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 622,750. Continuing claims, or insured unemployment, dropped to 6,687,000, a decrease of 148,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 6,835,000.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/current.htm
The Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators for increased 1.2 percent in May, following a 1.1 percent increase in April. Says Ken Goldstein, Economist at The Conference Board: “The leading economic index increased for the second consecutive month. The coincident economic index is still declining, but the declines are less intense. The recession is losing steam. Confidence is rebuilding and financial market volatility is abating. Even the housing market appears to be stabilizing. If these trends continue, expect a slow recovery beginning before the end of the year. However, employment will take longer to turn around.”
http://www.conference-board.org/pdf_free/economics/bci/hooded.pdf
The Philadelphia Fed’s business activity index showed declines slowed significantly. The new orders and shipments indexes showed increases this month, rising 21 points, to -4.8 and 2.1, respectively. Firms continue to report employment losses and declines in work hours. The current employment index remained at a relatively weak -21.8, although it increased five points from May. A growing number of firms expect conditions to improve over the next six months, and for the second consecutive month, more firms expect to expand employment over the next six months.
http://www.philadelphiafed.org/research-and-data/regional-economy/business-outlook-survey/2009/bos0609.cfm
Sources: Census, Department of Labor, Philadelphia Fed, Conference Board, Mortgage Bankers Association, GE, Exelon.
SKY News Summary 06-16-09
The Federal Reserve announced that industrial production decreased 1.1 percent in May which, while not good, was below the average decrease in industrial production during the first three months of the year which was 1.6 percent. The May output was 13.4 percent below its year-earlier level. The rate of capacity utilization for total industry declined further in May to 68.3 percent. The low over the history of this series, which begins in 1967, was 70.9 percent in December 1982. The production of durable goods fell 1.8 percent with the largest decrease in motor vehicles and parts and in machinery. Gains were recorded in primary metals, aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment, and miscellaneous manufacturing. The production of nondurable goods was down 0.2 percent. Gains in the output of food, beverages, and tobacco products, apparel and leather, and chemicals were offset by declines of more than 1 percent in textile and product mills, paper, and petroleum and coal products.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/Current/default.htm
The Department of Labor reported that the Import Price Index increased 1.3 percent due to a 8.3 percent increase in petroleum prices. The Export Price Index rose 0.6 percent in May after increasing 0.4 percent in April.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ximpim.nr0.htm
The ICSC-Goldman Sachs index of U.S. chain store sales for the week ending June 6 rose by 0.2 percent from the prior week.
http://www.icsc.org/srch/apps/newsdsp.php?storyid=2507®ion=main
The Department of Labor announced that the Producer Price Index in May showed a 0.2 percent gain, after rising 0.3 percent in April. Food prices dropped 1.6 percent while energy grew 2.9 percent. The core PPI rate posted a 0.1 percent decrease in May. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ppi.nr0.htm
The Census Bureau announced that new residential construction building permits were up 4.0 percent in May but remain 47.0 percent below May 2008. Privately-owned housing starts grew17.2 percent.
http://www.census.gov/const/newresconst_200905.pdf
GE and Boeing were awarded contracts by Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates. GE will provide the GEnx-1B engine to power the airline’s new fleet of 35 Boeing 787-9 aircraft and 10 GE90-115B-powered Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The total value of both engine orders is worth $2.2 billion. The airline holds options for 25 Boeing 787 aircraft and 10 Boeing 777-300ERs with purchase rights for a further 10 Boeing 787 and five Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Etihad Airways also signed an agreement with GE Aviation for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of its GEnx and GE90 engine fleet. The OnPoint solution agreement is valued at more than $1.7 billion. Aircraft delivery is scheduled to begin late next year for the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and in 2015 for the Boeing 787 aircraft.
http://www.genewscenter.com/Content/Detail.asp?releaseID=7048&NewsAreaID=2&MenuSearchCategoryID=
Scribd, a social publishing company, and Simon & Schuster, signed an agreement to sell Simon & Schuster eBooks in the Scribd Store. Nearly 5,000 Simon & Schuster eBook titles will be available on Scribd for purchase and download, making them readable on Scribd.com, computer desktops and various mobile devices.
http://www.cbscorporation.com/news/prdetails.php?id=22004&pe=1
Sources: Census, Department of Labor, GE, Boeing, CBS, ICSC, Federal Reserve websites.
SKY News Summary 06-12-09
The Senate approved the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act today which was supported by Altria. In its statement, the company said, “We believe that adult consumers should be the primary beneficiaries of a federal regulatory framework: (1) under which all tobacco product manufacturers and importers doing business in the United States would operate at the same high standards; (2) for the pursuit of tobacco product alternatives that are less harmful than conventional cigarettes; and (3) that should provide for transparent, scientifically grounded, and accurate communication about tobacco products to consumers.”
http://www.altria.com/media/press_release/03_02_pr_2009_06_11_01.asp
Boeing is one of three companies that has been awarded a four-year U.S. Air Force contract to sustain the A-10 Thunderbolt II weapon system. Under the contract, the Air Force can authorize up to $1.6 billion of aircraft support activity.
http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=696
Coca-Cola Company announced a new organization, Global Business and Technology Services that will enable the Company to deliver global business services such as compensation and benefits administration, accounting and financial reporting, and application development and support — services that are dependent on technology and standardized processes – to its business units in a more effective way.
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/presscenter/nr_20090610_gbts_transformation.html
Medtronic announced that it received FDA approval to market the BRYAN Cervical Disc System for the treatment of single-level cervical disc disease. The disc system is a titanium-polyurethane prosthetic device that is inserted between the vertebrae to replace the natural spinal disc.
http://wwwp.medtronic.com/Newsroom/NewsReleaseDetails.do?itemId=1244730407543&lang=en_US
Applied Materials’ presentation at Deutsche Bank Alternative Energy Conference is available at: http://www.appliedmaterials.com/investors/assets/06112009_deustchebank.pdf
Cisco’s presentation at the 29th annual growth stock conference is available at:
http://www.wsw.com/webcast/blair17/csco/
The ICSC-Goldman Sachs index of U.S. chain store sales for the week ending June 6 were weak due to cooler weather than last year, rising gasoline prices, and sales comparisons with June 2008 that included tax rebates.
http://www.icsc.org/srch/apps/newsdsp.php?storyid=2507®ion=main
The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the trade sales and manufacturers’
shipments for April, were down 0.3 percent from March 2009 and down 17.3 percent from April 2008. The total business inventories/sales ratio was 1.43. The April 2008 ratio was 1.27.
http://www.census.gov/mtis/www/data/pdf/mtis_current.pdf
The U.S. Census Bureau also announced that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for May increased of 0.5 percent from the previous month, but were 9.6 percent below May 2008. Retail trade sales were up 0.5 percent from April 2009, but 10.8 percent below last year.
http://www.census.gov/marts/www/marts_current.pdf
The Department of Labor reported that the Import Price Index increased for the third consecutive month in May, rising 1.3 percent. An 8.3 percent increase in petroleum prices was the primary contributor to the overall advance. The U.S. Export Price Index rose 0.6 percent in May after increasing 0.4 percent in April.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ximpim.htm
In the week ending June 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 601,000, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 625,000. The 4-week moving average was 621,750, a decrease of 10,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 632,250.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20090636.htm
Sources: Department of Labor, Cisco, Applied Materials, Medtronic, Coke, Boeing Altria, ICSC-Goldman Sachs, and Census Bureau websites.
SKY News Summary 06-10-09
The Procter & Gamble Company announced that A.G. Lafley, chairman of the board and chief executive officer, will move full-time into his role as chairman, and Robert A. McDonald, currently chief operating officer, will be president and chief executive.
http://www.pginvestor.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=104574&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1297977&highlight=
Citi announced its agreement with the U.S. Government to issue exchange offers for publicly held convertible and non-convertible preferred and trust preferred securities. “Under the agreement, the Government will exchange a portion of its preferred securities with an aggregate liquidation value of up to $25 billion for interim securities and warrants and its remaining preferred securities for trust preferred securities. The public exchange offers are currently scheduled to expire on July 24, 2009, subject to extension by Citi…After completion of the exchange offers, our Tangible Common Equity could increase by up to approximately $61 billion, and our Tier 1 Common may increase by up to approximately $64 billion from their respective amounts at March 31, 2009,” said Ned Kelly, Citi CFO.
http://www.citigroup.com/citi/press/2009/090610a.htm
The Mortgage Bankers Association announced that the Purchase Index increased just 1.1 percent while the Refinance Index decreased 11.8 percent due mainly to an increase in interest rates. The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased from 5.25 percent to 5.57 percent.
http://www.mbaa.org/NewsandMedia/PressCenter/69189.htm
The SEC and the Administration came out with ideas about legistlating executive compensation. The SEC’s view is: “At the SEC, our role has not been to set pay scales or cap compensation. Our role is to protect investors by ensuring that they have the information needed to make sound investment decisions, whether those decisions impact proxy voting or a decision to buy or sell a stock….the SEC is actively considering a package of new proxy disclosure rules that will provide further sunshine on compensation decisions. While these proposals would not dictate particular compensation decisions, they would lead companies to analyze how compensation impacts risk taking and the implications for long term corporate health of the behavior they are incenting.
“To achieve this, we will be considering several proposals requiring greater disclosure:
• About how a company — and its board — manages risks.
o About a company’s overall compensation approach. Incentive structures that rewarded short term risk taking without taking into account the potential long term effects on the company are widely believed to have contributed to the economic crisis.
o About potential conflicts of interest by compensation consultants, including disclosure of relationships between the consultants and the company and their affiliates, so both compensation committees and investors will be better able to assess the advice the consultants provide.
o And, about director nominees, including their experience and qualifications to serve on the board or on particular board committees — and about why a board has chosen its particular leadership structure.
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2009/2009-133.htm
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/reports/fact_sheet_say%20on%20pay.pdf
Beige Book issued by the Federal Reserve showed a weak economy but there were signs of improvement. The District of New York was weaker than most.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/fomc/beigebook/2009/20090610/2.htm
The Department of Commerce announced that the trade deficit was up slightly to $29.2
billion from $28.5 billion in March, as both exports and imports shrank. Exports were $2.8 billon less than March exports due mainly to a decrease in industrial supplies and material (down $1.3 billion) and capital goods (down $1.1 billion). Imports were $2.2 billion less than March imports of $152.5 billion mainly due to reduced imports of capital goods (down $0.9 billion) and industrial supplies and materials (down $0.7 billion). The silver lining is that consumer goods imported increased by $0.4 billion, indicating a perceived increase in future consumer spending.
http://www.economicindicators.gov/
Consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 7-1/2 percent in April 2009. Revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 11 percent, and nonrevolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 5-1/4 percent.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/current/g19.htm
Art Laffer has a wonderful opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal today.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124458888993599879.html#mod=todays_us_opinion
Sources: Wall Street Journal, Federal Reserve, Department of Commerce, Treasury, SEC, Mortgage Bankers Association, Procter & Gamble, and Citi websites.
SKY News Summary 06-09-09
The Census Bureau announced that April 2009 sales of merchant wholesalers were down 0.4 percent from the revised March level and were down 19.5 percent from the April 2008 level. Sales of durable goods, down 1.9 percent from last month, were partially offset by an increase of sales of nondurable goods, especially sales of farm products (up 10.5%) and beer, wine and alcoholic drinks (up 2.6 percent). Inventories of durable goods were down 2.2 percent while inventories of metals and minerals, excluding oil, were down 6.8 percent.
http://www.census.gov/wholesale/index.html
Under the “cool stuff” banner, a company called Bionic Power in Burnaby, B.C. Canada has developed an “energy harvester” that it is currently being tested by the Canadian Department of Defense. The device is strapped to a person’s knee and as the person starts a stride, the device grabs the energy released by the knee. The person feels no difference in his stride. Apparently, a device on each knee, with one minute of walking, extracts 13 watts of power, or a half an hour of talk time on a cell phone. “To the armed forces, equipment for communication and navigation is as critical as food and water. But it comes at a steep price: On a 24-hour mission, a soldier will carry as much as 30 pounds of batteries to power this equipment – significantly limiting his or her range and speed of travel. Due to logistics, delivering portable power is expensive with estimates as high as $57,000 per soldier per year for the cost of batteries alone. The Bionic Energy Harvester can dramatically improve performance, reduce weight, and cut overall costs by slashing the size and quantity of batteries required to complete a given mission. It could also make rechargeable batteries a feasible option for the vast majority of applications currently powered by disposables.”
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1852747_1854195_1854172,00.html
http://www.bionic-power.com/pressreleases.htm
American Express announced that it has been notified by the Treasury Department that it can repurchase the $3.39 billion of preferred shares that were issued to the Treasury Department as part of the Capital Purchase Program. “The Company will incur a one-time negative impact resulting from an accelerated accretion of the preferred shares will be approximately $0.18 per share for the quarter it is repurchased. The repurchase will be slightly accretive to earnings per common share in subsequent quarters.” In May the Company raised $3.0 billion of long-term funding through issuance of unsecured debt, and in June, the Company raised $500 million equity capital through issuance of common shares.
http://home3.americanexpress.com/corp/pc/2009/tarppay.asp
If the ten firms that are allowed to, choose to repay the Treasury under the Capital Purchase Program, the Treasury will receive $68 billion in repayment proceeds. “Under the CPP investment agreements, firms that repay their preferred stock have the right to repurchase the warrants Treasury holds in their firms at fair market value. In addition to Treasury’s potential income from sale of the warrants, these 10 institutions have already paid dividends on the preferred stock totaling approximately $1.8 billion over the last seven months. Dividend payments received for all CPP participants are approximately $4.5 billion to date.”
http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/tg162.htm
David L. Calhoun was elected to the Board of Boeing. He was most-recently chairman of the management board and chief executive officer of The Nielsen Company, an information and media company. Prior to Nielsen, Calhoun spent more than 25 years at GE, where he held several senior positions including vice chairman of the company and president and CEO of the GE Infrastructure, GE Transportation, and GE Aircraft Engines businesses.
http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=692
Exxon Mobil announced that it will partner with the Turkish national oil company, TPAO, to explore two deepwater blocks in the Black Sea. ExxonMobil will be the operator and will earn a 50% interest in both offshore blocks. In December 2008, ExxonMobil announced that it had signed an agreement with Petrom to explore deepwater portions of the Neptune Block offshore Romania. http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/exxonmobil/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1001106&newsId=20090608005780&newsLang=en
GE Oil & Gas announced that it was awarded an historic three-year contract worth at least $250 million to supply 250 VetcoGray subsea wellhead systems to Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) of Brazil. This is the largest contract awarded to date in the industry. With this contract, GE Oil & Gas will have more than 1,000 gas turbines and compressors installed throughout Latin America.
http://www.genewscenter.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=6943&NewsAreaID=2&MenuSearchCategoryID=
UPS and its pilots’ union, the Independent Pilots Association, signed an agreement to prevent the furlough of 300 UPS pilots. Cost-cutting measures will save $131 million over the next three years. “The savings identified by the IPA have been produced through voluntary programs such as pilots taking short- and long-term leaves of absence; military leaves; job sharing; reductions in flight pay guarantees; early retirement, and sick bank contributions.”
http://www.ups.com/pressroom/us/press_releases/press_release/0,0,5117,00.html
Sources: UPS, GE, Exxon, Boeing, Treasury, American Express, Time Magazine, Bionic Power, and Census Bureau websites.
SKY News Summary 06-04-09
Sanford Berstein Strategic Decisions Conference presentations:
Conoco
http://webcastingplayer.corporate-ir.net/player/PlayerHost.aspx?EventId=2184562&StreamId=1315842&TIK={7039F9CB-C281-4081-9A82-14FF43E7F121}&RGS=1
ITW
http://webcastingplayer.corporate-ir.net/player/PlayerHost.aspx?EventId=2184740&StreamId=1316118&TIK={49E79D02-D665-4285-99E0-57C2C01D219F}&RGS=1
Target
http://webcastingplayer.corporate-ir.net/player/PlayerHost.aspx?EventId=1831619&StreamId=1102202&TIK={2BCFCCC4-EEAB-42C9-82BE-F7292C6F69E4}&RGS=1
UTC
http://www.utc.com/utc/Static%20files/Investor_Relations/2009-05-28_bernstein.pdf
Praxair
http://www.praxair.com/praxair.nsf/0/49BC02C6650936208525753500577C6F/$file/Praxair-BernsteinConf-5-29-09.pdf
Praxair presentation at Goldman Sachs Basic Materials Conference
http://www.praxair.com/praxair.nsf/0/49BC02C6650936208525753500577C6F/$file/Praxair-GSachsBasicMaterials-6-3-09.pdf
Spectra Energy presentation at Macquarie Capital Global Infrastructure Conference
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MjI0ODM0OXxDaGlsZElEPTMzOTI4MXxUeXBlPTI=&t=1
TI presentation at the Barclays Capital Investor Conference
http://cc.talkpoint.com/barc002/052709a_rb/?entity=9_8RQQCYC
Cisco presentation at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch U.S. Technology Conference
http://www.veracast.com/webcasts/bas/technology09/id25206572.cfm
Emirates and the Engine Alliance, jointly owned by GE and Pratt & Whitney, signed a Fleet Management Agreement valued at more than $3 billion, to manage aftermarket services for the GP7200 engine. “Emirates entered service with the GP7200-powered A380 in August 2008, and took delivery of its fifth A380 in April. With 58 A380s and more than 250 GP7200 engines on order, Emirates is positioned to operate the largest A380 fleet in the world.”
http://www.genewscenter.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=6926&NewsAreaID=2&MenuSearchCategoryID=
Microsoft’s OEM Division Corporate Vice President Steve Guggenheimer announced that Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will become generally available on Oct. 22, 2009. Guggenheimer says the economy may also be facilitating growth in the small notebook PC space. Buyers are becoming increasingly cost-conscious and mobile, and laptop sales are soon expected to outstrip desktop PC sales in developed economies. “Fortunately, the breadth of the Windows platform gives device manufacturers a host of options when it comes to designing new devices to suit new forms of consumer demand,” he says. Already, several OEMs have announced plans to issue new small notebook PCs designed for the Windows 7 operating system.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/Jun09/06-02SteveGuggenheimer.mspx
Intel Corporation plans to acquire Wind River Systems for $884 million. “Wind River is a leading software vendor in embedded devices, and will become part of Intel’s strategy to grow its processor and software presence outside the traditional PC and server market segments into embedded systems and mobile handheld devices. Embedded systems and mobile devices include smart phones, mobile Internet devices, other consumer electronics (CE) devices, in-car “info-tainment” systems and other automotive areas, networking equipment, aerospace and defense, energy and thousands of other devices. This multi-billion dollar market opportunity is increasingly becoming connected and more intelligent, requiring supporting applications and services as well as full Internet functionality.”
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20090604corp.htm?iid=pr1_releasepri_20090604r
The Department of Labor reported that the national unemployment rate in April was 8.6 percent, up from 4.8 percent a year earlier.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.nr0.htm
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new orders for manufactured goods in April, increased $2.5 billion or 0.7 percent to $344.4 billion. This followed a 1.9 percent March decrease. Transportation equipment, up two of the last three months, had the largest increase, $2.2 billion or 5.8 percent to $40.6 billion. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.1 percent. Shipments, down nine consecutive months, decreased $0.8 billion or 0.2 percent to $357.3 billion. Inventories, down eight consecutive months, decreased $5.1 billion or 1.0 percent to $517.6 billion.
http://www.census.gov/indicator/www/m3/prel/pdf/s-i-o.pdf
“Outlays by foreign direct investors to acquire or establish U.S. businesses increased 3 percent in 2008, to $260.4 billion. Outlays in 2008 were the third-largest on record and the sixth consecutive increase since a falloff in outlays in 2001-2002. Among major industries, there was a substantial increase in outlays in manufacturing, which accounted for the majority of the spending by investors in 2008. Outlays were also large in information and in finance. Outlays in real estate fell sharply. Outlays increased from investors in Europe, Latin America and Other Western Hemisphere and in the Asia and Pacific region. As in previous years, the largest share of outlays was from European investors. Outlays by investors from Canada and the Middle East fell.”
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/fdi/2009/fdi08.htm
Sources: Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Labor, Intel, Microsoft, GE, Cisco, TI, Spectra, Praxair, UTC, Target, ITW, Conoco websites.
SKY News Summary 06-02-09
CBI’s subsidiary, Lummus Technology was awarded two contracts from Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited to build new ethylene plants in India.
http://www.cbi.com/ir/news.htm
GE Capital announced it co-led a $4 billion asset-based working capital loan for Sears Holdings. “We’re pleased to be able to provide $400 million to Sears in this transaction, making the largest contribution of new capital to the company and demonstrating how retailers benefit from working with a retail-focused lending team,” said Jim Hogan, managing director of GE Capital, Corporate Retail Finance. “Even in this challenging environment, retailers with strong business models can access the capital they require to help meet their business objectives.”
http://www.genewscenter.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=6912&NewsAreaID=2&MenuSearchCategoryID=
The Board of Directors of Eli Lilly elected R. David Hoover as a new member, effective June 1, 2009. He is the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ball Corporation, “I am very pleased to welcome Dave Hoover to the Lilly board,” commented John Lechleiter, Ph.D., Lilly chairman and chief executive officer. “Throughout his nearly forty year career at Ball Corporation, Dave has demonstrated both strong business leadership and deep financial acumen. Dave has been one of the key architects in transforming Ball Corporation into a hi-tech, diversified concern. As Ball’s chairman and CEO, Dave has successfully guided the company with a clear focus on growth and innovation, while at the same time advancing Ball’s sustainability efforts.”
http://newsroom.lilly.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=387377
Roche announced results from a phase I study with PLX4032 (R7204) a treatment for patients with advanced melanoma. Patients treated with PLX4032 lived for a median of at least six months without their disease getting worse and experienced shrinkage of their tumors.
http://www.roche.com/media/media_releases/med-cor-2009-06-01.htm
You can see the Intel presentation at Computex Taipei at:
http://intelstudios.edgesuite.net/computex/2009/090602_sm/msm.htm
The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that personal income increased $58.2 billion, or 0.5 percent, and disposable personal income increased $121.8 billion, or 1.1 percent, in April, while consumer spending decreased $5.4 billion, or 0.1 percent. Factors for the increase in personal income include: 1) Rental income, which increased $2.7 billion in April, in contrast to a decrease of $3.2 billion in March. 2) The Making Work Pay Credit provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which reduced personal current taxes $49.8 billion in April and $11.2 billion in March. (The provision allows a refundable tax credit of up to $400 for working individuals and up to $800 for married taxpayers filing joint returns). 3) The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which resulted in an 8.6 percent increase in unemployment insurance benefits. The increase in personal income was mitigated by a decrease in receipts on assets (personal interest income plus personal dividend income) which decreased $2.7 billion, compared with a decrease of $20.5 billion last month.
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/pi/pinewsrelease.htm
“Chain-store sales, helped by warm weather, improved a bit in the May 30 week but were still down a year-on-year 0.1 percent, according to Redbook’s same-store sales tally. The key full-month reading against April is down 0.3 percent pointing to a third straight month of declines for Commerce Department data, a result that would make everyone reassess the economic outlook.”
http://www.nasdaq.com/asp/econodayframe.asp?page=http://anasdaq.econoday.com/byweek.asp?cust=nasdaq
The ISM’s manufacturing report indicated the PMI rose to 42.8 in May vs. 40.1 April, but still below the breakeven point of 50. New orders however, rose above 50 for the first time in 17 months. Order backlogs also improved, at 48.0 vs. 40.5.
http://www.nasdaq.com/asp/econodayframe.asp?page=http://anasdaq.econoday.com/byweek.asp?cust=nasdaq
The Census Bureau announced that April’s new orders for manufactured durable goods increased $3.0 billion or 1.9 percent to $161.5 billion. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.8 percent. Excluding defense, new orders also increased 1.0 percent. Another piece of good news, inventories of manufactured durable goods continued to shrink in April, decreasing $2.6 billion or 0.8 percent to $327.0 billion. Primary metals, down seven consecutive months, had the largest decrease, $1.0 billion or 3.3 percent to $28.1 billion.
http://www.census.gov/indicator/www/m3/adv/pdf/durgd.pdf
The Census Bureau also announced that construction spending during April 2009 was $968.7 billion, 0.8 percent above March’s number. Private construction rose 1.4 percent while public construction rose 0.6 percent. NASDAQ comments that, “Construction on existing homes jumped 8.9 percent after rising 0.8 percent in March, reflecting an increase in spending on improvements… Strength was in a somewhat unreliable subcomponent for home improvement which is based on a small sample from the Consumer Expenditure Survey.”
http://www.census.gov/const/C30/release.pdf
http://www.nasdaq.com/asp/econodayframe.asp?page=http://anasdaq.econoday.com/byweek.asp?cust=nasdaq
The Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that sales of new one-family houses in April increased 0.3 percent above March but remain 34.0 percent below April 2008. Pending Existing-Home Sales rose 6.7 percent due mainly (according to the National Association of Realtors) to the $8,000 credit that runs out at the end of November. ‘Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said buyers are responding to very favorable market conditions. “Housing affordability conditions have been at historic highs, but now the $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit is beginning to impact the market,” he said. “Since first-time buyers must finalize their purchase by November 30 to get the credit, we expect greater activity in the months ahead, and that should spark more sales by repeat buyers.” The Pending Home Sales Index in the Northeast shot up 32.6 percent to 78.9 in April and is 0.8 percent above a year ago. In the Midwest the index rose 9.8 percent to 90.4 and is 11.1 percent above April 2008. The index in the South slipped 0.2 percent to 93.0 in April but is 3.5 percent higher than a year ago. In the West the index rose 1.8 percent to 94.8 but is 2.9 percent below April 2008.’
http://www.census.gov/const/newressales.pdf
http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2009/06/phs_up
Lawrence Yun’s commentary is worth reading.
http://www.realtor.org/research/reinsights/economistcommentary
Sources: Census Bureau, Department of Housing and Urban Development, ISM, NASDAQ, Bureau of Economic Analysis, CBI, Lilly, GE, Intel, and Roche websites.