SURVEY
Company CEOs foresee no pickup in hiring
Two-thirds of chief executives of the largest U.S. companies say they don’t plan to increase hiring or will cut staff in the next six months, mainly because of sluggish growth in the United States and financial turmoil in Europe.
The Business Roundtable said Wednesday that about one-third of its member CEOs expect to add employees and spend more on large equipment in the next six months. More than 40 percent plan to keep their work forces steady. About a quarter expect to cut jobs.
The group predicted in its quarterly outlook survey that the economy will expand 2 percent next year. That’s not enough to produce job growth. Instead, existing employees will be expected to handle any increased business.
New and smaller companies, more than the big multinationals surveyed by the roundtable, tend to drive job creation, particularly in economic recoveries. Businesses with fewer than 500 employees have created about 65 percent of jobs in the past 20 years.
SKI RESORTS
Warm temps thwart resorts’ snow-making
CONCORD, N.H. | Ski-area operators across the Northeast are dreaming of a white Christmas but seeing red as temperatures hover higher than optimal snow-making levels.
Northeast ski resorts generally try to open by Thanksgiving, but warmer-than-usual nighttime temperatures are delaying some openings, setting up less-than-ideal conditions on the few trails that are open and leading to canceled or postponed races and worrying business owners dependent on the shushing of skis and snowboards.
As of Wednesday, 16 of northern New England’s 52 ski areas were open - two in Maine, six in New Hampshire and eight in Vermont.
In Pennsylvania, only one of the state’s 24 ski areas had opened as of Tuesday. In upstate New York, the ski areas that are open have very limited terrain.
EUROPE
Euro under pressure as summit optimism fades
FRANKFURT, GERMANY | Investors have soured on the latest attempt to resolve the European debt crisis.
Stocks tumbled around the world, the euro slid to an 11-month low (to below $1.30 Wednesday) and borrowing costs spiked for heavily indebted Italy. The markets’ jitters reflect rising doubts about the deal European Union leaders reached at a summit Friday in Brussels.
The agreement requires the 17 countries that use the euro and nine other EU countries to balance their budgets and gives the International Monetary Fund up to $264 billion to help countries with high debt loads.
But there’s growing disappointment that the new EU treaty doesn’t reduce existing government debt levels; doesn’t do much to promote the long-term growth that would shrink those burdens; and doesn’t provide enough money to reassure financial markets that Italy and Spain won’t default on their debts.
It was also unclear how the treaty would be enforced and whether some of the countries that signed on might end up dropping out because of resistance to budget cuts back home. Britain has refused to sign the treaty.
GREECE
Job cuts sought after targets missed
ATHENS | Greece’s rescue creditors Wednesday pressed the debt-shackled country to fire excess public servants and further scale back workers’ pay rights.
The International Monetary Fund’s top official in Greece warned the government it would not escape high budget deficits unless it switches efforts to spending cuts, arguing that the country’s taxpayers had reached the limit.
“There are no more low-hanging fruits,” Poul Thomsen told a financial conference in Athens. “We have clearly reached the limit of what can be achieved through raising taxes. … Lesson: We have to move the expenditure side.”
Mr. Thomsen urged the government to “move aggressively” to reduce the size of the public sector.
“We are also warning that unless there is an acceleration of reform in the public sector, the deficit will get stuck at around 10 percent,” he said.
“Greece might have to accept involuntary redundancies … and address the legacy of too high and inflexible wages,” he said. “I cannot see how fiscal recovery can proceed without addressing these taboos.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.