News Briefs - Aug. 9
The Latest Headlines:
- UAW to Vote on Caterpillar’s Contract on Aug. 15
- Wholesale Inventories Rise 1.1% in June
- Economists Lower 3Q Growth Estimates
- Fed Expected to Raise Interest Rates on Tuesday
- Tolls on Pennsylvania Turnpike Increase
- Wholesale Inventories Rise 1.1% in June
UAW to Vote on Caterpillar’s Contract on Aug. 15
The United Auto Workers said its members would vote on diesel engine maker Caterpillar Inc.'s latest contract proposal on Aug. 15."This latest offer will have a devastating impact on thousands of Caterpillar retirees on fixed incomes who cannot afford hundreds of dollars a month in health care coverage co-pays, deductibles and premiums," Dennis Williams, director of UAW Region 4, where most of Caterpillar’s facilities are located, said in a statement.
Last week, Caterpillar gave the UAW its "last, best and final" contract offer as the union held off a scheduled strike. About 9,000 workers in Illinois, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Tennessee had threatened to strike if a new contract was not reached. (Click here for previous coverage.)
Wholesale Inventories Rise 1.1% in June
Inventories at U.S. wholesalers rose 1.1% in June, while wholesale sales failed to increase for the first time in more than a year, the Commerce Department said Monday.June's increase, which brought the value of goods at distributors, warehouses and terminals to $309.5 billion, followed a gain of 1.4% the month before. Sales were unchanged after rising for 12 straight months.
Commerce said wholesalers had enough supply to last 1.15 months at the current sales pace, the highest inventory-to-sales ratio since 1.16 in February, after stockpiles dropped to a record low of 1.12 months' worth in April.
Wholesalers account for about one-fourth of all business inventories. Retailers and factories make up the rest. Transport Topics
Economists Lower 3Q Growth Estimates
Economists reduced their forecasts for U.S. economic growth for the third quarter to a 3.9% annual rate from the 4.2% clip predicted a month ago, Bloomberg reported.The Bloomberg survey found concerns are growing that record oil prices and slow job gains would limit consumers' ability to spend.
The monthly survey was taken July 30 through last Friday, giving respondents time to change forecasts after the July employment report. (Click here for coverage of that report.)
For the year, the economy is forecast to grow 4.4%, a tenth of a percentage point less than what was estimated in the June survey. Transport Topics
Fed Expected to Raise Interest Rates on Tuesday
Despite recent sluggish economic news, economists expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates on Tuesday by a quarter-point to 1.5%, news services reported.The central bank's Open Market Committee voted June 30 to raise rates to 1.25% from 1%, the first increase since mid-2000. The Fed has said it planned to raise rates in a measured fashion to bring them back to a more neutral level, USA Today reported.
The overnight bank-lending rate, also known as the federal funds rate, is the interest banks charge each other on overnight loans and the Fed's main lever for influencing the economy. Low rates can spur consumer and capital spending, which can help the economy and the trucking industry.
Economists also said that unless economic data improves, the Fed could skip another rate increase at its Sept. 21 meeting, USA Today said. Transport Topics
Tolls on Pennsylvania Turnpike Increase
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission said it increased tolls Aug. 1 for the first time in 13 years.The toll for Class 8 trucks rose 12.6 cents a mile to 41.9 cents. The average for all commercial vehicles rose 5.3 cents a mile.
Jim Runk, president of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, told Transport Topics the state trucking group was continuing to seek increased discounts for commercial traffic.
The increase is supposed to raise $1.1 billion to help replace aging bridges, tunnels and interchanges along the 470-mile highway system, officials said.
