In brief: Boeing may push delivery of first 787 out to early 2011
SEATTLE – The first delivery of Boeing’s new 787 jetliner may slip into early 2011 because of inspections and instrument changes on the flight test aircraft, the head of the program said Thursday.
Scott Fancher, general manager of the program for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told reporters in a teleconference that Boeing still intends to deliver its first 787 to Japan’s ANA by the end of the year. He said that “as a cautionary note,” Boeing is warning that the delivery might be extended a few weeks into 2011.
Boeing has not specified when it expected the 787 testing program to end. While it aims for the first deliveries at the end of the year, testing on some components will continue beyond that.
Associated Press
Manufacturing output cools
as economic recovery falters
WASHINGTON – New evidence of a slowing economic rebound emerged Thursday in reports that manufacturing activity is slowing after helping drive the early stages of the recovery.
Factory output fell in June, according to a government report on industrial production. It was the sharpest monthly drop in a year. And two regional manufacturing indexes sank this month.
Production of automobiles, home-building materials and processed food all fell in June. The data sent stocks falling.
Federal Reserve officials took note of the weakening recovery when they met last month and lowered their forecast for economic growth, according to minutes released Wednesday.
Associated Press
Briefcase
From wire reports
• Google Inc.’s second-quarter earnings missed analysts’ target as higher expenses and the fallout from the European debt crisis dragged down the Internet search leader. The letdown announced Thursday stemmed from Google’s expanding payroll and a run-up in the U.S. dollar that has been driven by fears that the euro will crumble if governments in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy default on their perilously high debts.
• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. shrank its second-quarter loss on reviving sales of computers that use its chips and a wrenching effort to shed costs that’s lasted years. AMD would have made money were it not for a loss related to its investment in factories it used to own but were spun off into a separate company a year ago.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Thursday its second-quarter net income soared 77 percent to $4.8 billion as a slowdown in losses from failed loans helped offset a difficult spring in trading and investment banking. The strong results offered hope that loan losses at the nation’s big banks may have peaked in the first half of 2010, a critical step before banks can become stronger and boost lending to consumers and small businesses.
• The Carlyle Group has agreed to buy vitamin maker NBTY Inc. for $3.8 billion in cash in one of the largest private equity deals so far this year. NBTY makes nutritional supplements and vitamins under the brands Nature’s Bounty, Vitamin World and others. Its board has approved the deal. Carlyle, whose two largest partners are a major California retirement system and an investment company from Abu Dhabi, plans to pay $55 for each NBTY share. That’s 47 percent above the stock’s closing price on Wednesday.
• Market researcher NPD Group says U.S. retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories dropped to $1.1 billion in June, down 6 percent from a year earlier.
• The government says BP will be required to pay royalties for oil and gas collected from its blown-out deep-sea well in the Gulf of Mexico. BP has collected roughly 34.3 million gallons of oil and natural gas since May. Some of that has been burned off into the atmosphere. But the company also has sold some of the oil, which the government says should be subject to an 18.75 percent royalty.