Wednesday Afternoon Links
1. US Steel Posts Q1 Profit on Lower Natural Gas Prices, Higher Steel Prices, Strong Sales from Auto and Oil Industries.
2. Economic Optimism Increases Across Minnesota as 40% of Businesses Plan Increased Hiring in Q2 2012, Up from 39% in Q1 2012 and 29% in Q4 2011.
3. Ohio steel industry is expanding, led by a drilling boom in the gas and oil industry and strong demand for cars and light trucks.
4. Nine project sponsors seeking Federal approval to export LNG produced from cheap, abundant domestic natural gas.
5. South Dakota prepares for an oil boom as the North Dakota oil boom moves south.
6. WSJ: U.S. Manufacturers Regain Swagger as Earnings Topple Expectations.
6 Comments:
lm ml
That symbol above is supposed to look like two thumbs up. I'm trying to start a new meme.
what does it mean if there is no space between them?
;-0
Small business optimism remains low:
NFIB - National Federation of Independent Business
APRIL 10, 2012
After six months of gains, the Small-Business Optimism Index fell by almost 2 points in March, settling at 92.5. After a promising start to the year, nine of ten index components dropped last month, most notably hiring plans and expected real sales growth each taking a significant dive, in spite of owners reporting the largest increase in new jobs per firm in a year.
What could have been a trend in job growth is more likely a blip,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “And what looked like the start of a recovery in profits fizzled out. The mood of owners is subdued—they just can’t seem to shake off the uncertainties out there...What we saw in March is painfully familiar – this was the same pattern of growth followed by months of decline from 2011. History appears to be repeating itself—and not in a good way.”
http://www.nfib.com/press-media/press-media-item?cmsid=59825
Chart:
http://www.nfib.com/research-foundation/surveys/small-business-economic-trends
Small Business Drives U.S. Economy
2007
Small business -- firms with fewer than 500 employees -- are job creators...represent 99.7 percent of all firms, create more than half of the private non-farm gross domestic product, and create 60 to 80 percent of the net new jobs.
Will be interesting if that LNG terminal in Oregon is approved. For exporting to Asia, the Gulf and East Coast make no sense, yet that's where all the current ones seem to be per FERC. Except for one in Alaska, which surely can't ship out LNG from the lower 48.
Prior west coast LNG terminal projects that I heard of were stopped by envionmentalists. But this will be exporting, not importing, which is much more palatable for politicians and the electorate.
LOL...I guess that in the quest to cherry pick 'positive' news headlines Mark missed how negative Bernanke and the Fed are. If things were as good as implied the Fed would not continue its liquidity operations.
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