U.S. manufacturing output rises 1.2%
WASHINGTON -- U.S. factory output jumped last month, led by big gains in the production of cars, computers and furniture.
The Federal Reserve said Friday that manufacturing output rebounded 1.2 percent in February, the most since October and following three months of weak or negative readings. Factory production has increased a healthy 2.5 percent in the past year.
Manufacturers are benefiting from robust spending by consumers and businesses and solid growth overseas. The dollar has declined in value over the past year, which also makes U.S. goods cheaper overseas.
Overall industrial production, which includes mines and utilities, rose 1.1 percent in February after a decline of 0.3 percent. Mining output soared 4.3 percent. Utility production plunged 4.7 percent as warmer weather reduced demand for heating.
Auto production climbed 3.9 percent last month after slipping 0.2 percent in January. Sales were strong at the end of last year, spurred in part by people in Texas and Florida replacing hurricane-destroyed cars. But that process has mostly been completed, and auto sales have slowed in recent months.
Furniture production increased 1.9 percent, and computer output rose 1.5 percent, the Fed said.
-- The Associated Press
Court overturns retirement planner rule
NEW ORLEANS -- A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the Department of Labor under President Barack Obama overstepped its authority when it wrote a rule that required financial professionals, including brokers and insurance agents, to put their customers' financial interests ahead of their own.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court's ruling in a 2-to-1 decision siding with the plaintiffs, which include several groups representing the financial services industry.
"That times have changed, the financial market has become more complex, and IRA accounts have assumed enormous importance are arguments for Congress to make adjustments in the law, or for other appropriate federal or state regulators to act within their authority," the majority wrote in their opinion. "A perceived 'need' does not empower [the Labor Department] to craft de facto statutory amendments or to act beyond its expressly defined authority."
The Obama-era regulation, drafted over roughly six years, had thus far survived intense criticism and resistance from the industry, which argued that the rule would make it too costly to work with smaller investors. The rule, which took partial effect in June 2017, requires financial advisers to act as fiduciaries when providing advice related to a client's retirement accounts, including individual retirement accounts and 401(k)s.
-- The New York Times
Denver Post will cut newsroom by third
DENVER -- The Denver Post is planning to cut about a third of its newsroom employees in the coming months.
The newspaper reports that editor Lee Ann Colacioppo told staff members Wednesday that 30 positions will be eliminated -- 25 by April 9 and another five by July 1. The newsroom has about 100 journalists, and the reductions will include managers and union-covered employees.
Colacioppo didn't say which jobs will be eliminated. She wrote in a staff memo that the cuts are "painful" and "dreadfully stressful," but the newspaper will continue to connect with and inform its readers.
Employees who lose their jobs can apply for a severance package.
The Post is owned by Digital First Media, which is controlled by New York hedge fund Alden Global Capital.
-- The Associated Press
Safety of nuke plant's steel questioned
SPOKANE, Wash. -- The federal government is demanding that the company building a giant nuclear waste treatment plant in Washington state provide records proving that the steel used in the nearly $17 billion project meets safety standards.
The U.S. Department of Energy says in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that records needed to ensure that the structural steel used in the project is safe are either missing or of "indeterminate quality."
"This condition is a potentially unrecoverable quality issue," said the letter sent March 6 from the agency's Office of River Protection in Richland, Wash., to Bechtel National Inc., which is building the long-delayed plant to dispose of waste created in the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons.
The plant is located on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland, which for decades made most of the plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal. The resulting 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous waste is stored in 177 underground tanks, many of which are leaking.
The waste treatment plant is designed to turn much of that waste into glass-like logs for burial, a technically demanding process.
-- The Associated Press
L.L. Bean drops bonuses, plans cutbacks
FREEPORT, Maine -- L.L. Bean's sales dipped slightly over the past year, forcing the elimination of worker bonuses for the first time since 2008, but the chief executive officer told workers on Friday that changes adopted in recent months are putting the company on a "path to a more prosperous future."
The Maine-based outdoors retailer announced annual revenue of $1.6 billion, which was nearly flat, for its fiscal year that ended on Feb. 25.
Steve Smith said nearly 500 workers took advantage of a voluntary early-retirement program and that another 100 jobs will be eliminated early next month. There will be a net loss of 400 jobs after some jobs are refilled. L.L. Bean employs 6,000 people.
L.L. Bean is coming off two years of flat sales. But the company continues to invest in the future, opening six stores in the past year, bringing the total number of stores outside Maine to 35, and there are plans to open five more stores in the coming year, Smith said.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 03/17/2018