Ford Motor company said it will create up to 1,200 jobs in the distressed state of Michigan as it ramps up its engineering and manufacturing operations to produce more fuel-efficient cars.
Lured by state tax incentives, the automotive company announced Monday it plans to invest $850 million in new fuel-saving technologies between 2011 and 2013.
Ford’s (F, Fortune 500) stock closed 1.4% higher.
The funds would generate hundreds of new full-time positions in manufacturing and engineering operations in Michigan by 2013, according to a statement released by the company.
Approximately 900 of those jobs would be hourly positions in Ford’s Michigan manufacturing facilities, and the rest would be salaried positions in the engineering and manufacturing operations, the company said.
The unemployment rate in Michigan was 13% in September, the second highest in the nation, according to the Labor Department.
"We are pleased to work with state and local government leaders to find new ways to … invest in our people as well as Ford facilities, further improve our competitiveness and secure jobs in Michigan," Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas, said in a statement.
"Promoting investments in technologies, facilities and our workforce ultimately will help revitalize manufacturing in Michigan and help Ford compete with the best in the business worldwide," Fields said.
The plan is awaiting approval by The Michigan Economic Development Council. Once approved, the funds will be allocated across a variety of plants including Van Dyke Transmission, Sterling Axle, Livonia Transmission and Dearborn Truck Plant.
Johnson & Johnson reported a sales drop in its third quarter Tuesday, saying that successive recalls of its over-the-counter drugs have "significantly impacted" its business.
New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, Fortune 500) said total sales last quarter fell 0.7% over the same period last year to $15 billion.
The company said sales were significantly impacted by "previous announced recalls" of certain over-the-counter medicines such as Tylenol, Benadryl and Motrin, and the temporary shutdown of a manufacturing plant that makes those drugs.
Johnson & Johnson said its domestic sales fell 2.5% while international sales increased 1.1%.
Late Monday, Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare division, which makes the non-prescription drugs involved in this year’s recalls, announced another recall of a Tylenol product sold in the United States and Puerto Rico.
McNeil recalled 127,728 Tylenol 8 Hour Caplets 50 -count bottles for an "odor" problem that led to consumer complaints.
The company said the odor was potentially caused by the presence of a chemical called 2,4,6-tribromoanisole.
Earlier this year, McNeil recalled several lots of Tylenol drugs for the same problem. The company said at the time that the chemical, which is applied to wooden pallets that are used to transport and store packaging materials, somehow leached into the products.
But the U.S. wooden pallet industry took issue with McNeil’s explanation.
Children’s recalled drugs returning
After an five month absence from stores, Johnson & Johnson restarted limited shipment some of its recalled over-the-counter children’s drugs to retailers this month.
The company said its is on track to ship 4 million bottles of liquid Children’s Tylenol, in the 3.38 fluid-ounce grape flavor, by the end of the year.
McNeil’s plant in Fort Washington, Pa., which makes the children’s medicine, is still shut for production following serious manufacturing violations. The plant is not expected to reopen until late next year.
In the meantime, the company has temporarily shifted production of its children’s medicines to a plant in Canada and said it expects production of the recalled children’s drugs to reach "normal" levels by the middle of 2011.
Economy hurting its consumer business
McNeil spokesman Marc Boston said Monday that the new recalled lot was not part of the lots manufactured and recalled earlier this year. He said the lot recalled this week was made this past March.
While the recalls have dented its non-prescription drugs business, Johnson & Johnson said the economy was also hurting performance of some of its other key consumer business units.
"There was a third-quarter deceleration in growth trend in the overall health spending that is related the economy," Johnson & Johnson’s CFO Dominic Caruso told analysts during a call Tuesday to discuss the company’s results.
The company said over-the-counter U.S. drug sales in the quarter fell 40.2% from a year earlier. Skincare product sales dropped 15.9%, while sales of oral care products declined 12.3%.
Total consumer products sales slid 24.5% in the United States and declined 10.6% internationally.
For the full-year, the company expects flat operational sales versus last year.
However, Johnson & Johnson upped its full-year earnings guidance, excluding items, to $4.70 to $4.80 a share, citing recent currency exchange rates.
Shares of Johnson & Johnson fell 1.6% in premarket trading.
The Dayton International Airport saw a significant bump in traffic in September.
The number of boardings increased more than 9 percent to nearly 108,000 passengers, up from less than 99,000 during the same month last year, according to airport officials.
American Airlines (NYSE: AMR) led the way with a 41.3 percent increase for the month. Among the others adding passengers were United Airlines (NYSE: UAL), which saw a 24.5 percent increase; US Airways (NYSE: LCC), which saw a 19.1 percent increase and Delta Airlines Inc. (NYSE: DAL), which saw a 3.8 percent bump. Boardings for AirTran Airways (NYSE: AAI) were down more than 8 percent.
Cargo traffic at the airport was down more than more than 30 percent compared to the same month last year.
Because of the spike in traffic, year-to-date airport boardings continue to creep closer to level with last year, but are still down 2.7 percent.
More than 932,000 passengers have flown out of Dayton this year so far, compared with about 958,000 in the first seven months of 2009.
Buffalo Sabres forward Jason Pominville is expected to be out of the team's line-up for a still-to-be determined period of time after suffering a concussion in Monday night's 4-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Pominville was injured late in the first period after taking a hard hit from Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson. Hjalmarsson received a five-minute major and a game misconduct and may be subject to further discpline by the National Hockey League.
Pominville lay prone for more than seven minutes. The Sabres' forward was taken off the ice on a stretcher.
"It was a quiet bench for a while," said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. "To see a guy carried off on a stretcher and you don't know his condition…first and foremost you worry about your teammate. We've seen some bad things happen in this building."
Then-Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednek had his throat accidentially sliced during a February 2008 game against the Sabres. He recovered and returned to the NHL the following season.
Ruff said he expects Pominville to be out, but he doesn't know for how long.
Pominville also took eight stitches above his eye because of the hit.
"The good thing is we knew he (Pominville) was talking and moving," said Sabres forward Thomas Vanek. "It was encouraging."
Pominville was treated in the medical room in HSBC Arena. Ruff said he was sitting up after the game.
About 700 contractors attended two recent events about upcoming Silicon Valley construction contracts worth $1.1 billion, according to officials of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.
The largest was a Sept. 30 event at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center where 550 contractors attended to learn details of the $785 million design-build contract for the 10-mile extension of BART from the future Warm Springs station in Fremont to San Jose's Berryessa district.
The Warm Springs station is expected to be open by 2014 with the completion of a 5.4-mile line from the existing Fremont station. The BART extension into Milpitas and North San Jose is scheduled to be operating by 2018.
"BART-Silicon Valley presents our local economy with the largest public works project in Northern California," Sam Liccardo, San Jose City Council member and chairman of the VTA board of directors, said in a statement. "The stand-room only turnout at this forum evinced the very high level of interest to become engaged with the project."
VTA officials will issue a Request for Qualifications Oct. 15 for that project, and a Request for Proposal early next year.
This week, transit district officials participated in a regional outreach to contractors and subcontractors considered small and disadvantaged to learn about opportunities provided by the BART extension and other transportation projects.
Hayden Lee, manager of VTA's Office of Small & Disadvantaged Businesses, said in a statement his agency makes an "ardent effort" to assist small firms, as well as those owned by women and people of minority backgrounds, in procuring contracts.
Facebook Inc. sent out invitations Monday to a "special event" on Wednesday morning, but hasn't offered any indication about what it plans to unveil.
This has prompted speculation that it might be ready to talk more about the so-called Facebook Phone that it originally denied it was working on.
TechCrunch has also speculated that the event might be about an iPad app for the social network, a broader launch of Facebook Credits that are used to buy virtual goods, an expansion of Facebook Places or a persistent toolbar that users could add to their browsers paydayloans.
SJW Corp. on Friday named James P. Lynch chief financial officer and treasurer of the company.
San Jose-based SJW (NYSE:SJW) was formerly an audit partner at KPMG LLP. The company said he has extensive experience providing audit service and business advice to public and privately held companies, including publically held water utility companies.
He also assisted clients with accounting and financial reporting matters, SEC registration and compliance matters, and securities offerings.
Lynch is a certified public accountant.
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