ContractCentral Blog

NEC to Cut 10,000 Jobs on Forecast of Third Loss

January 27, 2012 – 11:11 am

NEC Corp., forecasting its third annual loss in four years, will cut 10,000 jobs as slower global growth reduces demand for its mobile phones, computers and wireless gear. “As macroeconomic concerns about Europe and developing countries increase, we decided to invest ...

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Briggs & Stratton shutting plants, to cut 767 jobs

January 27, 2012 – 11:10 am

Engine maker Briggs & Stratton Corp. on Thursday said it will close a plant in Tennessee and shift the work to Georgia, eliminating about 690 jobs in the U.S., as it adjusts to a changing market for outdoor equipment. The company ...

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Monster layoff: 400 cut at job board company

January 27, 2012 – 11:09 am

Monster Worldwide Inc. has laid off approximately 7 percent of its worldwide workforce, including fewer than 100 in Massachusetts, where the company maintains its Maynard headquarters and a Cambridge facility. According to company spokesperson, Monster laid off approximately 400 people Wednesday. ...

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Nevada solar plant cuts 300 jobs

January 27, 2012 – 11:07 am

A solar array production plant in North Las Vegas has cut its workforce by two-thirds less than a year after opening. The Las Vegas Sun reports that Flextronics Industrial laid off about 200 of 300-plus employees Tuesday. Singapore-based Flextronics is the staffing ...

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Nearly 600 Employees At ConocoPhillips Refinery Losing Their Jobs

January 27, 2012 – 11:06 am

At New English Style Pizza in Marcus Hook, Joe Salters enjoys a soda and slice of pizza as employees conduct business as usual, for now. Layoff notices went out for Thursday and Friday at the ConocoPhillips Refinery in nearby Trainer. “Officially we ...

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Regis Corporation lays-off 110

January 27, 2012 – 11:04 am

Regis Corporation President Randy L. Pearce, who was set to take the helm as CEO in February, plans to leave the company instead. The Edina-based hair-care company made that announcement Thursday—and separately confirmed that it laid off 110 employees at its ...

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McDonald’s admits using meat with household cleaning chemical in it

January 27, 2012 – 10:33 am

McDonald's is changing the recipe it uses for its burgers in the US, after a lengthy campaign by TV chef and food activist Jamie Oliver, reports the Daily Mail. The fast food juggernaut used ammonium hydroxide -- an additive typically found ...

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Major Obama Donor to Benefit from White House’s Natural Gas Proposal

January 27, 2012 – 9:58 am

George Soros, a billionaire investor and major backer of President Obama, stands to reap a windfall from legislation promoting natural gas-powered vehicles. The White House unveiled a proposal on Thursday that would do just that. The proposal would offer incentives for ...

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2011 GDP just 1.7%

January 27, 2012 – 9:49 am

That's the final, pathetic growth number for 2011. From the just-released GDP report: Real GDP increased 1.7 percent in 2011 (that is, from the 2010 annual level to the 2011 annual level), compared with an increase of 3.0 percent in 2010. ...

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Under Obama, Food Stamps Up 45%; Federal Handouts Up 32%

January 27, 2012 – 9:45 am

If the Republican primaries are any indication, one big debate in the upcoming election will be whether President Obama is pushing the country toward a European-style welfare culture. Mitt Romney, for example, argues that "over the past three years, Barack Obama ...

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Electric Car Firm that got $118.5 Million Stimulus files for Bankruptcy

January 27, 2012 – 7:54 am

Ener1--a company that manufactures batteries for electric cars, and that received $118.5 million in federal stimulus money, and that Vice President Joe Biden visited last year the day after President Obama’s State of the Union Address—announced today that it has ...

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New-home sales in 2011 worst in history

January 26, 2012 – 10:56 am

Fewer Americans bought new homes in December, making 2011 the worst sales year on record. The Commerce Department says new-home sales fell last month to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 307,000. The pace is less than half the 700,000 that ...

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US jobless claims edge higher

January 26, 2012 – 10:07 am

New claims for US unemployment benefits rose last week but the four-week average, an indicator of layoffs, continued to head lower, official data showed Thursday. Initial jobless claims climbed to 377,000 in the week ended January 21, the Labor Department said. ...

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JCPenney plans layoffs

January 26, 2012 – 10:06 am

A bold new pricing strategy at JCPenney calls for red tags, white tags, blue tags — and pink slips. CEO Ron Johnson — a former Apple exec who took the helm less than three months ago — unveiled a dramatic plan ...

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Taxpayers still owed $132.9 Billion from bailout

January 26, 2012 – 9:59 am

A government watchdog says U.S. taxpayers are still owed $132.9 billion that companies haven't repaid from the financial bailout, and some of that will never be recovered. The bailout launched at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008 will ...

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Construction Supervision Services files for bankruptcy

January 26, 2012 – 7:24 am

Construction Supervision Services Inc. filed for bankruptcy reorganization on Tuesday, due in part to a liquidity crunch that gummed up what was still a growing business. The 37-year-old Garner company’s Chapter 11 filing listed $8.2 million in assets and $8.98 million ...

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Hamilton Health Sciences May Cut 140 Jobs

January 26, 2012 – 7:23 am

Hamilton Health Sciences is preparing to cut costs by $15 million to $22 million. About 140 jobs are expected to be affected by the gap between costs and provincial funding. HHS predicts no increases in funding from the province on April 1 ...

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Federal Reserve Pondering Further Stimulus

January 26, 2012 – 7:20 am

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the central bank was ready to offer the economy additional stimulus after it announced it would likely keep interest rates near zero until at least late 2014. The Fed also took the historic ...

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Netflix regains 600,000 U.S. subscribers

January 26, 2012 – 7:05 am

Netflix has regained most of the U.S. customers it had lost following an unpopular price increase, signaling that the video subscription service is healing from its self-inflected wounds. Fourth-quarter figures released Wednesday show Netflix ended December with 24.4 million subscribers in ...

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Apple has nearly $100 billion in cash, $64 billion of it OFFSHORE

January 26, 2012 – 7:00 am

Apple has nearly $100 billion in cash. $97.6 billion to be precise. That is a lot of iDough. Even for Warren Buffett. Perhaps it's time for Apple to, I don't know, use some of it? Unless Apple is planning to build ...

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Federal employees owe $3.4 Billion in unpaid taxes

January 25, 2012 – 2:36 pm

From postal workers to congressional staffers, federal workers failed to pay billions in taxes in 2010. According to records released by the Internal Revenue Service, active and retired federal employees and military personnel combined owed $3,420,168,684 in unpaid taxes for ...

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Fed says economy faces "significant downside risks”

January 25, 2012 – 2:31 pm

The Federal Reserve, ending a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, repeated its view that the economy faces "significant downside risks'' but it offered little to suggest it was close to launching another round of bond-buying to prop up growth. Its forecasts ...

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Abbott cuts 700 jobs primarily in manufacturing

January 25, 2012 – 2:26 pm

Health-products maker Abbott Laboratories has laid off about 700 workers, primarily in manufacturing operations, and plans to eliminate several hundred additional positions over the course of the year. The company attributed some of the layoffs to the impending mid-2012 expiration of ...

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Tim Cook: I Looked At The iPad Sales Data Closely, And I Saw No Impact From The Kindle Fire

January 25, 2012 – 7:27 am

Apple blew away analyst expectations for iPad sales last quarter despite the introduction of the Kindle Fire, the first seemingly credible threat in the market. On the earnings call Tim Cook was asked if he thought that customers might have bought ...

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First Solyndra, then Beacon — now Evergreen files for Bankruptcy

January 25, 2012 – 7:02 am

Evergreen Energy Inc., a developer of alternative fuel products, filed for bankruptcy protection, saying it was impossible to maintain operations with a lack of financing. The company listed assets of about $240 million and debt of $25 million in Chapter 7 ...

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The Real State of the Union by Newt Gingrich

January 25, 2012 – 6:53 am

The President’s class warfare, his commitment to raising taxes and increasing regulation, and his failed ideology make his vision for America one of the most radical in our history. The vision he describes is for fundamentally changing our county. ...

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Wireless firm’s creditors demand details of White House meeting

January 25, 2012 – 6:48 am

Creditors of the bankrupt wireless company Open Range Communications, which closed in October owing more than $70 million in unpaid federal loans, say the Justice Department is refusing to turn over records as part of a court-ordered investigation, including details ...

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Bell Mobility guts call center, fires 500

January 25, 2012 – 6:35 am

Several hundred call center workers for Canadian communications giant Bell Mobility have been laid off as part of a realignment, the company said. The company wouldn't release the number of terminations it announced Wednesday, but workers told the Toronto Star it ...

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Sears Canada cuts 400 employees

January 25, 2012 – 6:33 am

Sears Canada has laid off 400 staff across the country, the majority in Ontario, the second downsizing in two months as the struggling retailer tries to cuts costs. “These are never easy decisions. These people gave their heart to Sears,” said ...

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GETTING OUT: Since 2008, 1,000+ Americans ditched their citizenship

January 25, 2012 – 6:28 am

Rather than deal with the complexities of U.S. tax law, Americans living overseas are increasingly renouncing their citizenship in order to avoid paying their income taxes. According to National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson, approximately 4,000 people gave up their ...

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World bosses gloomy about year ahead

January 24, 2012 – 10:05 pm

Business leaders are gloomy about prospects for the world economy, according to a major survey of international chief executives released on the eve of the Davos forum. A survey of 1,258 bosses by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, timed to coincide with the ...

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U.S. inches closer to ‘Europe moment’

January 24, 2012 – 5:27 pm

Bond yields are slowly creeping up in the United States as the economy improves. But with a yield barely above 2%, the 10-year Treasury is still not that far above its all-time lows. On the one hand, you may not want ...

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U.S. inches closer to ‘Europe moment’

January 24, 2012 – 5:27 pm

Bond yields are slowly creeping up in the United States as the economy improves. But with a yield barely above 2%, the 10-year Treasury is still not that far above its all-time lows. How much longer can that last? paul_lamonica_morning_buzz2.jpg On the one ...

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