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Tesla made a raft of promises when it accepted a hefty tax-incentive package to build its Gigafactory battery plant just outside Reno, Nevada. While the building itself is coming together ahead of schedule, one Reno newspaper discovered that other parts of the deal have yet to live up to the government's expectations. The Reno Gazette-Journal crunched some numbers, and it discovered that several projections are missing the mark. The Gigafactory, built in partnership with Panasonic, was supposed to produce 700 permanent jobs by the end of 2015, for example. In reality, fewer than 100 have been hired. The company's payroll...

Hillary Clinton and her team are definitely hearing the shuffling footsteps of Bernie Sanders creeping up behind them. The former Secretary of State and her surrogates have been firing back at the Vermont Senator in a serious fashion this week, seeking a way to blunt his recent gains in the polls. The problem for Bernie seems to be that he’s not used to being attacked and has little experience in how to respond. The gut level impulses of either Sanders or somebody on his staff are showing now that the pressure is on because he’s backing off on some of...

Despite recent gloomy private sector and regional Fed surveys, the Federal Reserve's new December industrial production figures revealed that real manufacturing output dropped a bare 0.05 percent on month, and revisions barely worsened the picture. Yet the weak year-end number left such output down on net for five months - one short of a technical recession. And the automotive sector, which has led industry's post-Great Recession comeback, sank into technical recession. Full-year 2015 manufacturing after-inflation growth of 0.74 percent was the lowest such figure since the last recession began, and less than 20 percent as strong as 2014's 4.16 percent...

The company began looking to leave Fairfield, Conn., last year after state legislators threatened to raise corporate taxes. GE’s quest for a new global headquarters can be traced back to a decision by Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy and Connecticut lawmakers last spring to significantly change business tax policies, to help fill a big state budget gap. The package, among other things, altered how multistate companies collect corporate taxes and how losses can be used to reduce tax bills over a period of years.

".....[Donald Trump's] detractors will no doubt see his China-bashing as another example of Trumpian buffoonery. Most students of U.S.-China trade will tell you that both countries benefit from the flow of goods and services across the Pacific, and that although China is guilty of imposing nontariff barriers, subsidizing its exporters in violation of global trade rules, and failing to respect the intellectual property rights of U.S. entities, the pros for American investors, workers, and consumers massively outweigh the cons. There is a problem with that view, however....[snip]......Of all the wackadoo ironies of Trump's emergence as tribune of America's white working...

It's a good thing Trump wants to rebuild our manufacturing base, because it truly has taken a hit. We've turned from a nation of builders to burger flippers. To put in perspective just how bad things have gotten - there were more Americans employed in manufacturing in the months leading up to Pearl Harbor than there are today, despite the fact that the population then was a fraction of what it is today. In that time, there was 1 person employed in manufacturing for every 10.6 people in the overall population compared to 1 person employed in government for every...

Automakers finished 2015 on a high note, with strong December sales helping to set a number of new sales records, as General Motors (NYSE:GM), Ford Motor (NYSE:F), Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) and Fiat Chrysler (NYSE:FCAU) all reported gains. U.S. auto sales eased to an annualized pace of 17.34 million, Autodata said, down from 18.2 million in November and below forecasts for 18.1 million. For the entirety of 2015, U.S. sales hit a record 17.47 million vehicles, breaking 2000's mark of 17.41 million, according to Autodata, as U.S. consumers were buoyed by low gasoline prices, moderate economic growth and easier credit. Ford...

Manufacturing activity is falling at its fastest pace in more than six years, according to fresh data out Monday. And those woes are probably going to continue, industry officials and experts predict, after years of prosperity. "(Production activity) is not really growing, and if it is growing it is not growing by much," said Chad Moutray, chief economist at the National Association of Manufacturers, or NAM, the nation's largest advocacy group representing factory owners. The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its December manufacturing activity index was the weakest since June 2009, when the recession ended. The 48.2 reading...

Manufacturing activity in the U.S. contracted at the fastest pace since July 2009 in December, dampening optimism over the strength of the economy and adding to uncertainty as to how fast the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next year, industry data showed on Monday. In a report, the Institute for Supply Management said its index of purchasing managers fell to 48.2 last month from a reading of 48.6 in November. Analysts had expected the manufacturing PMI to inch up to 49.0 in December. The New Orders Index registered 49.2, an increase of 0.3 points from the reading of 48.9...

Tim Cook has come out about a real truth of the decline in manufacturing. What he omitted however, is that no one will manufacture in the U.S. unless they absolutely have to due to a 38% corporate tax rate. On 60 Minutes Sunday, Charlie Rose asked Apple CEO Tim Cook about his company’s manufacturing practices in China. Cook said the decision to use Chinese manufacturing has nothing to do with American workers demanding higher wages. He said it was because the Chinese have more skill. “Let me be clear,” Cook told Rose, “China put an enormous focus on manufacturing in...

HARTFORD ~ New Britain-based Stag Arms LLC pleaded guilty Tuesday to violating federal firearms laws and as part of a plea agreement president and owner Mark Malkowski agreed to sell the company and have no further ownership or management role in a gun manufacturer. Malkowski pleaded guilty on behalf of the company in federal court in Hartford to a felony count of possession of machine guns not registered to the company.

Factory activity in New York shrank for the fifth straight month in December, forcing significant job cuts. The New York Federal Reserve's Empire State manufacturing index, released Tuesday, did improve but stayed in negative territory. It moved up to minus 4.6, from minus 10.7. Any figure below zero indicates contraction. ...

If founder Elon Musk is right, Tesla Motors just might reinvent the American auto industry—with specialized robots building slick electric cars in a factory straight from the future. That's where the battery-powered Model S is born. (See video.)

Here is one of the reasons why the Fed is confident the US economy is strong and resilient enough to sustain a rate hike: since January, the US has added 293,900 waiter & bartender positions and zero manufacturing workers.Unless one is an economist, no further commentary is needed. If one is an economist, we eagerly look forward to an extended discussion why one should focus only on the blue line and ignore the red one, debate the adverse impacts of the weather (both hot and cold) on manufacturing, listen to how the collapse of high-paying jobs is actually a...

Manufacturing continues to be the weak spot in the U.S. economy, as the sector unexpectedly contracted during November when a key index fell to its lowest level since June 2009. Despite encouraging signs from General Motors (NYSE:GM) and other domestic automakers, the Institute for Supply Management said its U.S. manufacturing activity index fell to 48.6 last month, nearly 2 points below the consensus estimate and more than 1 point below the consensus range. Any ISM index reading below 50 indicates contraction. New orders fell 4 points to 48.9, their lowest reading since August 2012. Backlog orders had their 6th consecutive...

This market is looking like a disaster and the rates are a reflection of that," warns one of the world's largest shipbrokers, but while The Baltic Dry Freight Index gets all the headlines - having collapsed to all-time record lows this week - it is the spefics below that headline that are truly terrifying. At a time of typical seasonal strength for freight and thus global trade around the world, Reuters reports that spot rates for transporting containers from Asia to Northern Europe have crashed a stunning 70% in the last 3 weeks alone.

State-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) Group have signed a general memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly collaborate on business development opportunities in Saudi Arabia. The signing ceremony was presided by Amin H Nasser, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco and Ki-sun Chung, senior vice president of HHI Corporate Planning. Jeong-Hwan Kim, chief operating officer (COO) of HHI Shipbuilding; and Cheul-ho Park, chief operating officer (COO) of HHI IP&E (Industrial Plant and Engineering) also attended the event. The MoU lays out a comprehensive, multi-faceted business cooperation framework in areas such as engineering, procurement and construction (EPC),...

Kraft Heinz To Close Seven Plants, Cut 2,600 Jobs Thu, 11/05/2015 - 9:37am Andy Szal, Digital Reporter Kraft Heinz on Wednesday announced that it will close seven facilities and cut 2,600 jobs as part of its continued efforts to reduce costs. The plan includes shuttering the nearly century-old Oscar Mayer plant in Madison, Wisconsin, which houses the company's U.S. meats business. The meats operation will instead move to Chicago along with about 250 of the plant's workforce of more than 1,000. Kraft Heinz will move its Illinois office from the former Kraft headquarters in suburban Northfield to downtown Chicago early...

Manufacturing eased slightly in October, an industry report showed Monday, but its details suggested that the factory sector may be stabilizing in the face of strong headwinds. The Institute for Supply Management's closely watched Purchasing Managers' Index fell 0.1 point to 50.1, just a tick above the neutral 50 line that separates expansion from contraction. Economists expected a 50 reading. Details of the ISM report were mixed: The production gauge rose 1.1 percentage points to 52.9. New orders, which foreshadow future activity, rose 2.8 points to 52.9. Both were below post-recession averages. Still, after months of mostly declining activity, they...

Word is that Ford Motor, because of my constant badgering at packed events, is going to cancel their deal to go to Mexico and stay in U.S.