QUOTE OF THE DAY “We’re trying to make an assessment of whether or not we’ve seen real and sustainable progress in the labor market outlook.” Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman Article, 1D
W. Memphis port to get $10.9 million
WEST MEMPHIS - West Memphis will get a $10.9 million grant from the U.S. Transportation Department to expand the railroad yard at the city’s port, the department announced Wednesday.
The work will enable the port to handle more freight.
The Transportation Department said the project will not only help the port but also will spur other business activity by stimulating trade. The expansion is also expected to attract development in West Memphis, which will create more jobs.
The project will expand the port’s rail-car capacity. Officials say that in 2012 the port handled only 800 rail cars.
When the project is complete, the port will be able to handle almost twice that number each week.
Italy worries over its standing with Fiat
The Italian government plans to press Fiat SpA Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne over concerns he’s shifting the car maker and heavy-truck manufacturer Fiat Industrial SpA away from the country.
Industry Minister Flavio Zanonato told newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore that he will meet with the CEO next week to ask about Italy’s future role at the two companies. Zanonato’s comments were confirmed by an Industry Ministry representative.
Fiat Industrial is planning for tax purposes to have its fiscal headquarters in the U.K. after completing a merger with tractor unit CNH Global NV. Fiat, the country’s biggest private employer, is evaluating moving its corporate headquarters to the U.S. from Turin after a planned combination with Chrysler Group LLC, three people familiar with the matter said last week.
The possible move away from Italy has unsettled labor leaders, who have asked the government to take action to protect jobs. Any shift is especially sensitive with unemployment in Italy near a 20-year high. Marchionne has also said he’s looking at primary stocks listings for the two companies in New York City to gain better access to capital markets.
- Bloomberg News
Iceland extends freeze on talks with EU
Iceland’s new government is turning its back on the European Union and will shelve accession talks that started in 2010 as the nation seeks to protect its economic recovery from the debt crisis.
Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, who will take over as prime minister this week, has decided that a January decision to freeze European Union membership talks will be extended indefinitely, his political adviser Johannes Thor Skulason said.
The new coalition of Progressive and Independence parties, which ousted the Social Democrat-led government of Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir in elections last month, unveiled its economic program Wednesday. The decision by Gunnlaugsson to shelve European Union talks means Iceland won’t target euro membership even after capital controls are lifted.
The appeal the European Union once held to nations seeking economic stability and access to free trade is crumbling as the region fails to emerge from its debt crisis, economists said.
- Bloomberg News
Oil-tanker industry singing the blues
Oil-tanker owners will struggle to retain crews and maintain ships after losing the most money in four decades, according to the industry’s biggest trade group.
The problems won’t ease any time soon because some vessel rates may take as long as four years to rebound, said Katharina Stanzel, the managing director of the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, or Intertanko. Its members operate more than half of the world’s tankers by capacity.
Owners have lost about $27 billion since 2009 and rates for the largest vessels might only recover by 2017, according to Intertanko. Daily rates for the biggest carriers slid 68 percent over the past year because of a glut of capacity, figures from London-based Clarkson PLC, the largest ship broker, show.
Earnings for very large crude carriers, each able to hold 2 million barrels of oil, retreated to $10,674 a day, according to Clarkson’s figures. That’s less than half of the $24,200 that Frontline Ltd., the tanker operator led by shipping billionaire John Fredriksen, said in February its very large crude carriers need to break even.
- Bloomberg News
Boeing claims 5-year edge on Airbus
Boeing Co.’s experience developing the composite plastic Dreamliner has helped the plane-maker attain a five-year advantage over Airbus SAS in twin-aisle jets, Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney said.
Composite plastic, which weighs less than traditional aluminum, will be used on the wings of the 777X, an upgrade of Boeing’s biggest twin-engine model that the company began marketing this year. Boeing is betting that the plane, which will also have more-efficient engines, will cement its lead in the market for wide-body jets used on long-haul routes.
Airbus doesn’t “have an airframe that can compete with the 777X,” McNerney said Wednesday at an investor conference. “They don’t have the appetite to do a ground up airplane, and they’d have to do a ground-up airplane.” - Bloomberg NewsU.S. ethanol production increases 2.1%
U.S. ethanol production rose 2.1 percent to 875,000 barrels a day last week, the most in 11 months, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday.
Output climbed for a second week while stockpiles of the biofuel sank 1.5 percent to 16.2 million barrels, the lowest level since Nov. 5, 2010, the Energy Department’s analytical arm said in a report. A barrel contains 42 gallons.
Returns to make the biofuel from a bushel of corn are near the highest levels since 2011, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Ethanol-blended gasoline made up about 94 percent of the total U.S. gasoline supply in the week that ended Friday, down from 95 percent in the previous period and the smallest amount since April 19, Energy Information Administration data show.
The U.S. hasn’t made any foreign purchases of the biofuel since April 19, the longest such stretch since March 2, 2012, the report showed.
Business, Pages 28 on 05/23/2013