Business news in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“They said they were going to produce lousy results, and they didn’t disappoint - they produced lousy results.”

Erik Gordon,

University of Michigan business and law professor, on Best Buy’s quarterly earnings report Article, 1D

Wal-Mart labor case still undecided

NEW YORK - Federal labor officials said they haven’t decided whether to support a request by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to stop a union-backed group from encouraging worker walkouts that are expected to culminate Friday, the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season.

The Bentonville-based retailer filed an unfair-laborpractice charge Friday with the National Labor Relations Board against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. It said the demonstrations organized by Our Walmart, a union-backed group, threaten to disrupt business and intimidate customers and other associates.

Labor board spokesman Nancy Cleeland said Monday that the board’s goal was to decide whether Wal-Mart’s case had merit within 72 hours of the filing. She said Tuesday that the board now expects to complete its investigation today.

  • The Associated PressNanoMech to get $150,000 U.S. grant

Springdale-based NanoMech said Tuesday that it has been selected for a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a nano-manufactured additive lubricant for motor oil to reduce friction in engine components.

Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at the atomic and molecular scale. NanoMech develops nanotechnology for use in machining and manufacturing, lubrication, packaging, biomedical implant coatings and military applications.

The grant is part of the Department of Energy’s Small Business Innovation Research program.

During the first phase of development, NanoMech will perform tests on its nanolubricants that are designed to improve energy efficiency in engines. If the first phase is successful, NanoMech will be eligible for up to $1 million in further funding, said James Phillips, the company’s chief executive officer and chairman.

  • John Magsam

Icahn boosts stake in Chesapeake

NEW YORK - Activist investor Carl Icahn bumped up his stake in Chesapeake Energy, a company where he has already pushed for sweeping changes in governance.

Shares rose 13 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $17.60 in Tuesday trading. The shares have ranged from $13.32 to $26.16 over the past 52 weeks.

A regulatory filing shows Icahn now owns 8.98 percent, compared with a 7.6 percent stake in the Oklahoma City company he held this summer. Icahn first invested in Chesapeake Energy Corp. in May.

Chesapeake is one of the nation’s largest natural gas producers and was the second-biggest gas producer in Arkansas’ Fayetteville Shale until the company sold those assets to BHP Billiton for $4.75 billion in 2011. It has been reeling from a combination of historically low natural gas prices and questions from investors about its management.

Since Icahn first bought up shares, he’s pushed for many changes, including stripping Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon of the chairmanship.

Investors revolted after a series of corporate governance issues surfaced. They were angered by reports that McClendon was accepting personal loans from a company that was doing business with Chesapeake.

The company lost more than half of its market value in the three months leading up to Icahn’s initial investment, but shares have since increased by about 20 percent.

  • The Associated Press

Egypt, IMF OK $4.8 billion loan deal

CAIRO - Egypt and the International Monetary Fund have reached an initial agreement for a $4.8 billion loan to revive the country’s ailing economy.

The deal, struck after nearly three weeks of negotiations in Cairo, will support the government’s economic program for 22 months, the IMF said in a statement Tuesday.

“The Egyptian authorities have developed a national program that seeks to promote economic recovery, address the country’s fiscal and balance of payments deficits, and lay the foundation for rapid job creation and socially balanced growth in the medium term,” said Andreas Bauer, head of the IMF negotiating team.

Egypt’s government views the loan as crucial to addressing a range of economic troubles it is facing in the wake of last year’s uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak’s 29-year regime. The new economic plan put forward for the loan includes the overhaul of a long-existing energy subsidy program - an explosive issue in a country where more than 40 percent of a population of 83 million live on less than $2 dollars a day.

  • The Associated Press

Argentine breakaway unions strike

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Argentine President Cristina Fernandez faced a nationwide strike Tuesday, led by the union bosses who used to be her most steadfast supporters.

Many workers stayed home as the strike made commuting a puzzle, with some trains and bus lines paralyzed and small groups of people blocking highways in about a dozen places around the capital. Banks, courts and many schools were closed, many hospitals offered only emergency services, most Argentine flights were canceled and garbage wasn’t picked up.

But in other ways, it was a normal day in Buenos Aires, where cafes and small stores stayed open.

The strike was called by truckers union boss Pablo Moyano, the longtime leader of Argentina’s vast General Workers’ Federation.

Moyano and some other union leaders broke away from Fernandez this year as she tried to contain the demands of a now-divided labor movement by supporting a rival slate in union elections.

Moyano said their demands include “the total elimination of income taxes,” as well as other new salary increases and benefits.

Fernandez called on workers to act responsibly and defend all she’s accomplished for workers in Argentina, rather than return to a past when a relative few enjoyed the benefits of economic growth.

Business, Pages 26 on 11/21/2012

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