The Latest Business Headlines from WWJ Newsradio 950
Fed Cuts Key Rate, Stock Futures Rebound: The Federal Reserve has ordered an emergency interest rate cut of a half a percentage point to 1.5 percent. Stock futures have reversed course and were headed back up. Story
Auto Stocks Hit hard | Shares of General Motors and Ford Motor posted some of their largest losses in years Tuesday, as they fell to their lowest levels in decades. | Story
US Economy Hurting Toyota | Toyota may have trouble meeting sales targets, as growth in emerging markets aren't likely to be enough to offset declines in the U.S. and Europe.|Story
UAW Health Trust Wants Cash | The union is tired of attempts by ailing automakers to delay payments to a fund that will take over retiree health care costs in 2010. | Story
Volvo Cutting Thousands of Jobs | Volvo Cars, which is owned by the Ford Motor Company, said this morning it will slash more than 3,000 jobs because of decreasing demand. | Story
Hundreds of Dealerships In Danger | The NADA says the continuing credit crunch and economic problems are likely to cause 700 auto dealers to go under this year. | Story
GM RenCen Presentation | General Motors meets tomorrow with the Detroit police and fire pension boards to see if it might be interested in investing in the Renaissance Center. |Story
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ITC HOLDINGS: MAKING THE ELECTRIC GRID MORE SECURE
You hear a lot about the tough shape the nation's power grid is in. It's the mission of Novi-based ITC Holdings Corp. to do something about that.
ITC is the nation’s first and only independently owned and operated high voltage electric transmission company.
ITC focuses solely on electric transmission, with a novel business model that ensures its stakeholders' interest are aligned with the company's. ITC invests in electric transmission to enhance reliability and relieve electric transmission congestion, connect renewable energy resources to customers, and to lower the delivered energy cost to consumers.
In short, the company offers non-discriminatory access to cheaper energy sources.
Over the past few years, ITC has invested nearly $900 million in maintenance and upgrades on the grid system in Michigan's Lower Peninsula, improving reliability and reducing congestion in the system, and all but eliminating a maintenance backlog of 15 years.
The company is also building the energy superhighway of the future with its Regional Transmission Development project, an extra-high-voltage transmission line which will interconnect the grid on a regional basis, as opposed to today's vertically oriented, separate, utility-by-utiliyt grid. More...
APA STUDY: MICHIGAN IS STRESSED OUT: A new survey finds that Detroiters are more stressed out--than just about everyone. The American Psychological Association study says Detroit adults are worried more about money, work, the economy and job stability than average Americans. And how we deal with stress is starting to take a toll. Detroiters said they dealt with stress by eating, drinking alcohol, or watching TV more than typical adults--but were also just as likely to vent via exercise.How Detroit fares with the rest of America: 72 percent of Detroit residents reported that they are managing their stress well, compared with 81 percent nationally. More...
TIME FOR OPEN ENROLLMENT: It's not quite holiday shopping season yet. But it is Open Enrollment season for more than 80-million Americans who are shopping for their employee benefits for next year. Stephanie AuWerter, editor of SmartMoney.com, offers some tips on getting the most out of your company benefits.The first thing to keep in mind is, health care costs are on the rise again. In 2009 the average employee at the big firms will shell out nearly $4,000 of their hard earned money for health care. That's up about 9% from this year. So if you have more than one health care plan to choose from, review your options, don't just blindly renew. More...
OLDER WORKERS: MAJORITY HAVE NO EXPECTATION OF FULL SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE BENEFITS: Many older workers—especially those without employer-provided retirement plans, retiree medical plans, or other financial resources—are not expecting to receive full Social Security or Medicare benefits in retirement, according to a recent analysis by consulting firm Watson Wyatt. And for those who are younger or have lower education levels, confidence is especially low. Sixty-one percent of workers ages 50 to 64 don't believe they'll receive their Medicare benefits after retirement, and 51 percent lack confidence when it comes to receiving Social Security after they leave the workforce, according to the survey of 5,000 older employees. More...
WORKING PAST AGE 67: FOR MANY, IT'S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY: Working past the typical retirement age for many U.S. workers is not all about the paycheck, according to a recent study by the U.S. division of Toronto-based Sun Life Financial Inc. The survey, which included responses from 1,515 respondents in random telephone interviews, found that 48 percent of U.S. workers believe they will be working part- or full-time jobs past the age of 67, says a recent Associated Press article. The most common reason? Eighty-three percent said they plan to continue working to remain mentally engaged, while 77 percent said they wanted to work longer to earn enough money to live well. Other most common reasons for working beyond traditional retirement age were love of career, staying close to people, and health care benefits. More...
WORLDWIDE AUTOMOTIVE REPORT PODCAST: WWJ AutoBeat Reporter Jeff Gilbert talks with the head of the National Automobile Dealers Association about the rough times ahead. We also look at unique ways auto companies are raising cash in tough times, and look at why the European auto companies are turning to their governments for help.
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The Daily Dash is written and edited by Ed Coury and Matt Roush
NEWS FROM CNET
CEA: ECONOMY DOWN, TV SALES UP: Sales in a couple of key gadget categories will rise despite the economic downturn, the Consumer Electronics Association predicted Tuesday--and no, CEA wasn't talking about calculators and sawed-off shotguns. Perhaps Pioneer's Elite Kuro PRO-111FD could help ease the pain of our flagging portfolios. During an industry Webcast titled "Economy in crisis: How we got here, where do we go from here and what does it mean for consumer electronics and your business," the CEA said flat-panel TVs and gaming hardware should do well during the upcoming holiday season even as consumers rein in their dollars amid the current financial uncertainty. More...
CLICK-TO-BUY LINKS FOR SONGS, GAMES ADDED TO YOUTUBE: Love that song in the latest "Where the hell is Matt?" video but have no idea what the hell it is? Wonder no more. Now YouTube will make it easier to identify songs and buy them instantly. Google, which owns the video-sharing site, is adding "click to buy" links to thousands of video pages of YouTube partners, the company announced on its corporate blog Tuesday afternoon. The idea is to make it easy for people to buy an MP3 or video game with the click of a mouse. The links appear just below the toolbox underneath a video, and link directly to the Amazon MP3 page or iTunes Store where people can buy the song. For video game trailers, YouTube will add links to buy the game from Amazon. More...
YAHOO HAS HIGH HOPES FOR CALENDAR MAKEOVER: Yahoo plans to begin a beta test of a major overhaul of its online calendar Wednesday, a redesign that brings new advertising and social-networking possibilities. The new site brings a more polished Web 2.0 interface, with drag-and-drop abilities, color-coded entries, Flickr image backdrops, and a slick "zoom" feature that expands a single day's schedule to a usefully large size when browsing in the monthly view. And picking up an ability from No. 2 rival Google Calendar, the new design finally moves beyond the narrow single-user calendar idea of the earlier design. For example, people can subscribe to others' calendars, such as schedules for sports teams or college courses, and to share calendars publicly or with others who've been invited. More...
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