Tag: Economy: Page 10

Business

Hitachi restores excavator production in China

After shutting down operations for half a month last year at its excavator plant in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui, Hitachi Construction Machinery is now gradually increasing production there, Bloomberg reports. Chinese construction equipment sales fell 19 percent in 2012 to $32.3 billion, according to Bloomberg data. Like Komatsu, who a few days ago spoke […]

February 21, 2013

Workforce

Economists forecast housing-fueled construction job growth

Goldman Sachs economists recently forecasted a housing recovery-fueled increase to the pace of added jobs each month to between 25,000 and 30,000, CNBC reported. In 2012 that pace averaged out at 14,000 per month. Due to the 1.5 million jobs lost in residential construction between 2006 and 2011, the economists warn that even with the […]

February 20, 2013

Business

Following four-year high, U.S. housing starts drop 8.5% in January

After surging to a four-year high in December, much of the momentum in housing starts was lost in January though things remain markedly better than they were at the same point in 2012, according to numbers from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Census Bureau. Construction began on houses and apartments at a seasonally adjusted rate of 890,000 […]

February 20, 2013

Business

Caterpillar CEO: Growth, immigration and tax code reforms key to job creation in U.S.

After receiving a mention during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, Caterpillar’s CEO Doug Olberhelman was invited to share his thoughts on the U.S. economy and job creation on CNBC’s Squawk Box. Olberhelman said he was “surprised” but “happy” to hear Obama’s kudos for bringing jobs back into the country from Japan. And […]

February 14, 2013

Business

Transportation Sec. LaHood praises Obama’s focus on infrastructure in State of the Union

President Barack Obama spent a great deal of time discussing the sad state of American  infrastructure in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, saying that the structurally deficient nature of nearly 70,000 American bridges hurts the country’s chances at attracting business and creating new jobs. Just days before, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood […]

February 14, 2013

Equipment

Opinion: Carbon tax bill would hurt job growth

That was fast. The pundits hadn’t even stopped pontificating on President Obama’s State of the Union speech when it was announced that Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Barbara Boxer of California will introduce legislation designed to tax carbon dioxide emissions tomorrow. (During his address Tuesday night, Obama challenged Congress to act and do more […]

February 13, 2013

Business

Obama stresses importance of construction, infrastructure, skilled labor in State of the Union

In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Barack Obama stressed the great importance of construction, housing, infrastructure, manufacturing and energy in creating new jobs and aiding the ongoing recovery of the American economy. Obama spent several minutes of the address discussing the sad state of the country’s infrastructure, which he said is […]

February 12, 2013

Business

POLL: Are you optimistic about the construction industry in 2013?

There are plenty of people who get paid to make forecasts regarding how successful or unsuccessful our industry will be. We report on some of those forecasts and predictions right here. However, we wanted to see what you, the reader think about the year ahead. Answer in our poll below and tell us why you […]

February 12, 2013

Business

Trimble approves two-for-one stock split

Trimble’s Board of Directors have approved a two-for-one split of all outstanding shares of the company’s common stock. The record date for the stock split is expected to be Mar. 6, 2013 with new shares expected to be distributed on or about Mar. 20, 2013. Each shareholder on record at the end of the business day on […]

February 12, 2013

Business

Nonresidential construction index stagnates year-to-year, mixed outlook for 2013

The FMI Nonresidential Construction index rose to 58.1 in the first quarter of 2013, up 2.6 points from Q4 2012’s 55.6. The index sits at the same mark of 58.1 as one year ago, but up greatly from the 35.6 in Q1 2011. With the fiscal cliff and great political uncertainty of 2012 behind it, […]

February 12, 2013

Business

Dealers surveyed by GE Capital expect construction equipment sales to increase in 2013

An encouraging 75 percent of construction equipment dealers surveyed by GE Captial Equipment Finance said they expect retail sales of construction equipment to increase at least 3 percent this year. The finding is 10 percent better than last year’s and 24 percent said they expect their sales to increase betwen 6 and 8 percent. The […]

February 11, 2013

Business

Little change in Volvo Construction Equipment net sales for 2012

Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) has released its fourth quarter and year­-end results, which report net sales for 2012 remained the same as 2011, as well as a 15-­percent share in the Chinese wheel loader and excavator segment in 2012. Volvo CE also reported 78,491 machine sales for the year, the company’s second best ever […]

February 6, 2013