QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Mexico is now one of the major global players in car manufacturing.”
Eduardo Solis, Mexican Automotive Industry Association president Article, 1D
Yellen recognized recession in early ’08
Janet Yellen saw the U.S. economy “at, if not beyond, the brink of recession” in January 2008, differing from the less gloomy view of Federal Reserve staff, according to transcripts of policy meetings released Friday.
Yellen, president of the San Francisco Fed at the time and now central bank chairman, spoke at the January 2008 meeting after Fed staff members reported that the economy wasn’t in a recession, though the likelihood of a downturn was increasing.
Yellen said deteriorating credit conditions and a slowdown in the labor market were likely to weigh on economic growth.
“Delinquencies and charge-offs on most forms of consumer debt have already risen, and slower job growth seems likely to exacerbate this trend, prompting financial institutions to further tighten credit standards and terms,” she said at the Jan. 29-30, 2008, meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. “In my forecast, such developments reverberate back negatively onto economic activity.”
As the Fed met, the U.S. economy had already been in a recession for almost two months. The 18-month recession began in December 2007, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Railroads to adopt new safety measures
BILLINGS, Mont. - Railroads that haul volatile crude shipments have reached an agreement with U.S. transportation officials to adopt wide-ranging voluntary safety measures after a string of explosive and deadly accidents.
A copy of the agreement between the U.S. Transportation Department and the railroads was obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
It calls for railroads to slow oil trains through major cities, increase track inspections and bolster emergency response planning along routes that see trains that can haul up to 3 million gallons of oil each.
The agreement does not address concerns over another fuel, ethanol, that’s also been at the center of a spate of accidents as production has increased. It also doesn’t deal with design flaws in tens of thousands of tank cars that make them prone to rupture during derailments.
Chevron raises its drilling success rate
Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. energy company by market value, improved its success rate in finding oil and natural gas last year even as it more than quadrupled the number of wells it drilled in some regions.
Ten of the 57 exploratory wells Chevron participated in last year failed to tap commercial quantities of oil or gas, for a failure rate of 17.5 percent, the San Ramon, Calif.-based company said Friday in a public filing. That compared with a 19.4 percent failure rate a year earlier.
Chevron and its partners drilled 19 exploratory wells in the U.S. last year, more than any other region of the world and an increase from four domestic wells in 2012, according to the filing. The areas that posed the greatest risks for Chevron’s exploration teams were Europe and Asia, where 100 percent and 24 percent of last year’s wells were dry, respectively.
- Bloomberg News
Mexico’s quarterly growth slows to 0.7%
MEXICO CITY - Mexico’s economy grew less than forecast by analysts in three of the past four quarters as the nation faced a housing crisis and the government delayed public spending last year.
Gross domestic product expansion slowed in the fourth quarter to 0.7 percent from the year earlier, compared with a revised 1.4 percent in the third quarter. The economy grew 1.1 percent for the full year, the national statistics institute said on its website Friday. The median estimate of 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for fourth-quarter growth of 1 percent. Industrial output shrank 0.4 percent.
Mexico cut its growth estimate last year four times to its lowest since the 2009 recession after exports to the United States dropped and the government reduced public spending. While analysts expect growth to pick up this year, fourth-quarter data show the economy has yet to show signs of improvement and will lead Barclays to lower its 2014 expansion forecast, chief Mexico economist Marco Oviedo said.
The economy “remains very weak,” said Oviedo, who before Friday’s report projected 3.7 percent growth this year. “The recovery of the economy might come later in the year, and it will be modest.”
- The Associated Press
FDA aims to overhaul drug-review system
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration is seeking to revamp its 40-year-old system for regulating hundreds of over-the-counter drugs, saying the decades old process is not flexible enough to keep pace with modern medical developments.
In a federal posting Friday, the agency announced a two-day meeting next month to discuss overhauling the system known as the over-the-counter monograph.
The system was put in place in 1972 as a way to set dosing, labeling and other standards for hundreds of nonprescription drug ingredients, including aspirin and antibacterial hand scrubs.
But the process has proved cumbersome and time consuming, requiring multiple rounds of scientific review, public hearings and comments before a final monograph can be published. As a result, many common pain relievers and cough medicines are still technically under review.
- The Associated Press
Gambling take falls in 2 Louisiana cities
BATON ROUGE - The gambling take in New Orleans and Baton Rouge dropped in January, but casino revenue in other markets increased.
Winnings at Harrah’s New Orleans, three area riverboat casinos and the slots at the Fair Grounds all fell in January. The take totaled nearly $50.2 million, down from $50.26 million in January 2013.
The Advocate reports the statewide casino take was $188.5 million in January, according to figures released Thursday by the Louisiana Gaming Control Board. That compares with nearly $185.2 million a year ago, a 1.8 percent increase.
The 14 riverboat casinos took nearly $131.5 million in January, 3.7 percent more than the $126.9 million taken by 13 casinos in January 2013. The Margaritaville Resort Casino in Bossier City, which opened in June, took in nearly $9.2 million during the month.
- The Associated Press
Business, Pages 28 on 02/22/2014