Subscribe conglomerates 3M Co MMM
By Admin
conglomerates 3M Co (MMM.N), Honeywell InternationalInc (HON.N) and ITT Corp (ITT.N) on Friday joined a growingthrong of industrial companies that have cut their profitoutlooks. [ID:nN24404354] FREEFALL OVER? The draft communique from the G7 finance ministers, whichis expected to be signed on Friday, said economic activityshould recover late this year but the outlook remained weak andthere was a risk the economy may still worsen. [ID:nN24475650] The G7 has been under growing pressure to speed up effortsto rid banks of bad assets that have constricted the flow ofcredit and plunged the global economy into its deepestrecession since World War Two The U.S Federal Reserve said the top 19 U.S. banks need tohold a "substantial" amount of capital above regulatoryrequirements to weather a potential worsening of the recession.[ID:nN24404483] Supervisors said "stress tests" that regulators conductedat major banks were aimed at ensuring they have enough capitalon hand to continue to lend in potentially bleaker conditions,and are not to be seen as a measure of their current solvency.The stress tests' actual results won't be issued until May 4.
Meanwhile, Geithner told the Financial Times there weresigns of improvement in global markets and the world economy,but admitted the outlook for this year remained challenging. "In recent weeks, there have been some encouraging signsthat the global economic downturn may be slackening," he wrotein the Financial Times. "Conditions in some financial marketshave improved and the decline in world trade may be abating." Data from Germany suggested a turning point may be near. Munich's Ifo economic institute said corporate sentimentrose in April to its highest in five months. Its businessclimate index, based on a monthly poll of around 7,000 firms,rose to 83.7 from 82.2 in March [ID:nLO35398] New orders for U.S. durable goods slipped 0.8 percent inMarch, far below the 1.5 percent dip analysts had forecast.Meanwhile, although sales of newly built U.S. single-familyhomes dropped 0.6 percent in March, analysts were cheered by aplummet in inventories.
PARACHUTES YET TO OPEN Elsewhere, however, the parachutes have yet to open.Britain's economy shrank 4.1 percent year-on-year in the firstquarter. With Britons reeling from the toughest budget in ageneration this week, the Office for National Statisticsreported that gross domestic product fell 1.9 percent in thequarter, the worst since late 1979. [ID:nLO33955] In Spain, unemployment soared to 4 million in the firstquarter, almost doubling in a year as the recession destroysjobs more quickly than anywhere else in Europe, official datashowed. [ID:nLO15784] FORD HOPES FOR BREAKEVEN In Detroit, Ford said it was on track to at least breakeven in 2011 and did not expect to seek U.S government aid. The automaker, which has weathered diving auto sales betterthan its peers General Motors GM.N and Chrysler, said itburned through $3.7 billion in the first quarter but that thatwas a sharp drop from the second half of 2008.