Spain predicts economy to grow 2.5%
MADRID — The Spanish economy will grow at an average annual rate of 2.5 percent over the next four years— one of the strongest in the European Union — and will create some 2 million jobs, the country’s caretaker government predicted Friday.
Presenting the 2016-2019 Stability Program sent to European Union authorities, acting Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said the growth predictions were in line with Spain’s plans to bring its budget deficit below the EU ceiling of 3 percent next year, a year later than planned. It envisages a deficit of 1.6 percent in 2019.
The program comes as Spain gears up to hold fresh elections June 26 after no party was able to muster enough support to form a government following an inconclusive election Dec. 20.
Saenz de Santamaria’s conservative Popular Party won the elections but lost the absolute majority it had held in Parliament since 2011.
She said the job creation would leave Spain with an unemployment rate of 13 percent in 2019, down from a current 21 percent, the EU’s second-highest after Greece.
— The Associated Press
Chevron posts 1Q loss, its first since ’92
Chevron Corp. reported a loss that was double analysts’ estimates amid an oil-market collapse that’s sparked currency crises, corporate bankruptcies, credit downgrades and hundreds of thousands of layoffs across the industry.
Chevron’s loss was $725 million, or 39 cents a share, from a profit of $2.6 billion, or $1.37 a year earlier, the San Ramon, Calif.-based company said in a statement on Friday. The result was worse than the average 19-cent loss expected by 19 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Sales dropped by almost a third to $23.6 billion.
The last time the world’s third-largest oil explorer by market value posted a first-quarter loss was 1992, when crude traded for about $18 a barrel. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Watson has cut one of every 10 jobs, lowered production targets and written off some discoveries that would cost too much to bring to fruition.
“I would just view it as a one-quarter disappointment,” Brian Youngberg, an analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis who rates the shares a buy and owns none, said Friday in a phone interview.
Chevron shares fell 22 cents to close Friday at $102.18.
— The Associated Press
Newell Brands says 1Q income $40.5M
ATLANTA — Newell Brands Inc. on Friday reported first-quarter net income of $40.5 million.
The Atlanta-based company and owner of Rubbermaid, Sharpie and Paper Mate, said it had profit of 15 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 40 cents per share.
The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 36 cents per share.
The consumer products company posted revenue of $1.31 billion in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.28 billion.
Newell Brands expects full-year earnings in the range of $2.75 to $2.90 per share.
Newell Brands shares rose $2.12, or 4.9 percent, to close Friday at $45.54. The stock has risen 11 percent in the last 12 months.
Airline CEO’s job status now ‘at will’
American Airlines Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker ended his contract with the world’s biggest carrier on Thursday, switching his employment status to “at will” to match that of the company’s 100,000 workers.
The move was disclosed by American in a U.S. regulatory filing Friday and in a letter from Parker to the carrier’s employees. It means he isn’t guaranteed a set level of compensation and benefits, nor is he protected from a change in control at the company or covered by severance provisions, according to the filing. The change occurred at Parker’s request.
“To be crystal clear, just because I don’t have a contract doesn’t mean I intend to leave American soon,” Parker said in the letter. “Rather, it is just another way of demonstrating how much I enjoy what I do, my excitement about our future.”
“Nothing about having a contract felt like a shared commitment to working together,” he wrote. The employment agreement provided protection “against a number of things I don’t think I should be protected against,” including being fired or if unhappy shareholders gained control of the airline’s board.