LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“China has to keep the currency stable under the current circumstances and will
certainly take any consequences of the yuan’s appreciation very seriously.”
Yi Xianrong,
economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Article, 1D
Lockheed gets back $5 billion job
GAITHERSBURG, Md. - The Pentagon has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. a contract worth up to $5 billion to support special operations forces, reinstating a program the company lost last June to rival military contractor L-3 Communications.
Lockheed was originally awarded the contract in March 2009, but it was canceled in June 2009 over a protest by L-3. However, L-3’s special support programs division earlier this month was temporarily barred from getting new federal contracts or orders because of an Air Force investigation into whether those employees were inappropriately monitoring and copying e-mail traffic. L-3 has said it is cooperating fully with the government and is providing information to the Air Force.
New York-based L-3 on Tuesday said the special ops contract represented 3 percent of its 2009 sales, and the loss of it will trim fiscal year net income by 4 cents per share and full-year revenue by $150 million.
Lockheed will provide logistics and other support services for the U.S. Special Operations Command. The contract is expected to run through 2018.
Shares of Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed fell 21 cents to close at $79.86, while shares of L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. fell $2.59 to close at $78.80.
GM creates South American unit
DETROIT - General Motors Co. has carved up its international operations to create a unit that will serve South America, where it controls about 20 percent of the market.
The company said in a statement Tuesday that GM South America will be based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and will handle sales and manufacturing in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.
GM appointed Jaime Ardila as president of the new region. He will report to Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre.
The new region will allow GM’s international operations unit to concentrate on growing markets including Asia, Russia, Australia and other countries, the company’s statement said.
Recently GM has had only three regional units - North America, Europe and International Operations.
GM has sold nearly 400,000 vehicles in South America during the first five months of the year. The South American unit employs about 29,000 people in manufacturing, sales and product design and engineering.
Intel, FTC work to settle antitrust case
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Intel Corp. is in talks with the Federal Trade Commission over settling an antitrust case against the chip maker.
In December, the FTC filed charges against Intel, seeking to end what it described as decades of illegal sales tactics that have hampered competitors and kept prices for computer chips artificially high.
This week, the FTC and Intel agreed to suspend administrative trial proceedings as they work on hashing out a settlement.
The FTC has said it seeks to change Intel’s behavior instead of fines, as the European Union and South Korea have imposed. Last year, Intel paid a record $1.45 billion fine to European regulators, but the company is appealing.
The two sides have 30 days to reach an agreement. If not, the case will continue and go to trial before an administrative law judge in September.
The FTC’s lawsuit contains the most wide-ranging allegations yet against Intel, the world’s largest chip maker.
The FTC accused Intel of strong-arming computer makers into exclusive deals, manipulating technical data to make its chips look more powerful than those from competitors and blocking rivals from letting their chips work with Intel’s.
Intel, which disclosed the settlement talks late Monday, has disputed the charges and said it’s merely been offering discounts.
Shares of Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., fell by 21 cents to close at $20.98.
Indonesia takes clove ban to WTO
GENEVA - Indonesia on Tuesday asked the World Trade Organization to investigate whether U.S. tobacco control laws are illegally preventing imports of clove-flavored cigarettes to the United States.
Jakarta said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s ban on manufacturing, importing, marketing and distributing candy-, fruit- and clove-flavored tobacco breaks trade rules because it exempts menthol cigarettes, most of which are made in the U.S.
Washington blocked Indonesia’s request for the establishment of a WTO dispute panel, but can only do so once under the trade body’s rules.
U.S. officials argued that the ban is legal because it doesn’t specifically target Indonesian clove cigarettes and asked the Southeast Asian country to reconsider its request.
Indonesia claimed more than 6 million people depend directly or indirectly on the production of clove cigarettes, which are a staple of the country’s smoking culture.
Strike halts Toyota factory in China
TOKYO - Toyota said it stopped production Tuesday at one of its main factories in China after a strike at a supplier, the latest labor action to hit a Japanese carmaker in recent weeks in the country.
The company’s plant in southern Guangzhou, which represents just under half of Toyota’s total capacity in the country, was stopped for both day and night shifts Tuesday, with no decision yet for operation after that, according to spokesman Paul Nolasco in Tokyo.
It was shut down after a strike by workers at a supplier run by Denso Corp. that makes electronic sensors and control components. Nolasco said he had no information on the status of the strike, and a Denso spokesman could not be reached in Tokyo.
Chinese migrant workers, the backbone of the country’s industrial sector, are becoming increasingly vocal in demands for higher wages. Several auto-related labor disputes have erupted recently in the Guangzhou region, where both Toyota and Honda have manufacturing bases with local partner Guangzhou Auto Group.
Tuesday’s shutdown occurred at GAC Toyota Motor Company Ltd., which can produce 360,000 cars per year at full operation. Toyota has a total Chinese capacity of about 800,000 vehicles at five plants.
Business, Pages 24 on 06/23/2010