Page 25 - Aruba Today

BUSINESS A25
Friday 25 September 2015

Applications for US jobless aid tick up to still-low 267,000

C. S. RUGABER Applications are a proxy for volatility in the stock mar- Employers have added an this year. The Fed decided
AP Economics Writer layoffs, and the low read- average of 221,000 jobs against raising rates at its
WASHINGTON (AP) — The ings suggest Americans are ket. a month in the past three meeting last week, citing
number of Americans seek- enjoying solid job security. months, a solid pace and too-low inflation and eco-
ing unemployment benefits Steady economic growth “Overall employment above the average of nomic turmoil overseas.
rose slightly last week yet has encouraged employ- 189,000 in the preceding The interest rate the Fed
remained at a low level ers to hold onto the work- growth remains more than three months. The unem- controls has been pegged
consistent with solid job ers they already have and ployment rate has fallen to near zero for seven years.
growth. is spurring more hiring. The strong enough to keep the 5.1 percent, a seven-year “The pace of job gains has
Weekly applications for job- four-week average fell to a low. been solid, the unemploy-
less aid rose 3,000 to a sea- 15-year low last month. unemployment rate declin- The job market’s recov- ment rate has declined,
sonally adjusted 267,000, The steady stream of low ery is a key reason Federal and overall labor market
the Labor Department said readings also indicates that ing,” Jim O’Sullivan, chief Reserve chair Janet Yel- conditions have continued
Thursday. The four-week employers have not been len has indicated that the to improve,” Yellen said
average, a less volatile fig- spooked by signs of slowing U.S. economist at High Fre- Fed may raise short-term at a press conference last
ure, declined to 271,750. growth in China or recent interest rates by the end of week.q
quency Economics, said in

a note to clients. “Domestic

strength is offsetting foreign

weakness.”

The number of people re-

ceiving benefits was essen-

tially unchanged at 2.24

million.

Caterpillar says it could cut 10,000 jobs to reduce costs

Caterpillar equipment is seen available at the Ziegler CAT dealer, in Altoona, Iowa. Caterpillar thousands more, raising the ers replacing or upgrading
on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015 said it is planning another round of job cuts that could exceed 10,000 total above 10,000, as it their equipment.
people through 2018, as the construction and mining equipment maker adjusts to downturns in figures out which factories The company has been
key markets that it serves. and manufacturing sites to hurt, in particular, by a
close through 2018. slowdown in China’s con-
(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) Caterpillar also said Thurs- struction boom. That con-
day that it was dropping tributed to a 21 percent
TOM MURPHY equipment maker adjusts The Peoria, Illinois, com- its 2015 revenue outlook by drop in Caterpillar’s Asia-
AP Business Writer to downturns in key mar- pany said Thursday that it $1 billion, and its profit fore- Pacific region sales during
Caterpillar is planning an- kets. will cut as many as 5,000 cast will take a hit as well. the second quarter.
other round of job cuts that That could amount to people mostly by the end Caterpillar makes diesel Caterpillar has been cut-
could exceed 10,000 peo- more than 8 percent of the of this year from its salaried and natural gas engines, ting costs to counter those
ple through 2018, as the 126,800 employees it had and management work- industrial gas turbines and problems.
construction and mining globally as of June. force. It then could cut diesel-electric locomotives, But the company also
aside from construction had kept a more positive
and mining equipment. outlook than its competi-
Several sectors that it serves tors about its end markets
have been hit by problems for much of this year, said
beyond the company’s Kwame Webb, an analyst
control. who covers Caterpillar for
Low oil prices have hurt the Morningstar.
company’s Energy & Trans- “I’m sort of surprised it took
portation business, which them so long to come to
makes products used in oil this point,” he said after the
and gas production. Cat- cuts were announced.
erpillar said its construc- Caterpillar executives said
tion equipment sales have Thursday in a statement
fallen far below peak lev- that industries like mining,
els in North America, Latin oil and gas and construc-
America, Europe and the tion are the right busi-
Middle East. Mining equip- nesses to be in for the long
ment sales have stayed term, even with a history
well below a level consid- that includes prolonged
ered normal for custom- downturns. q

Orders for US durable goods down 2 percent in August

M. CRUTSINGER key category that serves as in investment by energy for Capital Economics, said 8.7 percent decline in July.
a proxy for business invest- companies. Still, econo- the small 0.2 percent set- In June, this volatile cate-
AP Economics Writer ment edged down 0.2 per- mists said the 2 percent Au- back in the businessinvest- gory had shown a 69.9 per-
cent last month after gains gust decline overstated the ment category had been cent increase. Orders for
WASHINGTON (AP) — Or- of 2.1 percent in July and weakness in manufactur- expected given the strong motor vehicles and parts
1.5 percent in June. ing because much of the gains in this area in the pre- fell 1.6 percent after gains
ders for long-lasting U.S. The underlying demand for drag last month came from vious two months. in the two previous months.
manufactured goods has a huge 19.3 percent fall in “Investment in equipment Orders outside of the trans-
manufactured goods been weaker this year as orders for defense equip- appears to be recovering portation categories were
a strong dollar and China’s ment, an extremely volatile in the third quarter,” Ash- flat in August after a mod-
dropped in August with economic slowdown have category. Excluding de- worth said in a research est 0.4 percent rise in July,
dragged down demand fense, orders would have note. For August, demand Demand for machinery
weakness in a key catego- for American exports and dropped a smaller 1 per- for commercial aircraft fell was up 1 percent but or-
big declines in oil prices cent in August. Paul Ash- for a second month, drop- ders for computers fell 5.7
ry that tracks business in- have resulted in cutbacks worth, chief U.S. economist ping 5.9 percent after an percent. q

vestment plans.

Orders for durable goods

fell 2 percent last month in

contrast to July when orders

had risen by 1.9 percent,

the Commerce Depart-

ment reported Thursday. A