Caterpillar, the maker of bulldozers and excavators, has posted surprisingly high third-quarter earnings that managed to beat analyst expectations and raised its full-year forecast to a level that beats the highest analyst prediction. The company has struggled immensely under the weight of the economic downturn and it believes that the third quarter marks the bottom of its own downturn.
Profit fell from $868 million, or $1.39 per share, last year to $404 million, or 64 cents per share, this year, according to a statement released today by the company. Caterpillar has undergone vigorous cost-cutting measures to battle decreasing revenues, slashing inventories …read more

Caterpillar, the heavy equipment manufacturer, announced that they are closing down a South African facility and moving their manufacturing elsewhere. In total, 193 workers at the facility in South Africa will be out of work due to this news. The facility is located in the city of Boksburg.
During these difficult economic times, Caterpillar has faced a lot of challenges. With a lack of money, individuals, companies and government agencies have slowed their construction projects. As a result, Caterpillar’s equipment hasn’t been in demand as much. As the economy turns around, many experts believe Caterpillar’s bottom line will improve.
For the 193 …read more

Caterpillar, the largest construction equipment company in the world, has unveiled a plan that will cut jobs in three states to help the company survive the worldwide financial mess. The total number of workers to be out of a job is reportedly between 2,400 and 2,500.
The reason Caterpillar is struggling is directly related to the poor economy. With less money floating around, construction has dried up throughout the globe.
In total, Caterpillar is expected to eliminate nearly 20,000 of their more than 110,000 employees. Pay cuts are also planned, with some executives losing up to 50% of their wages. Earlier in …read more

After five straight days of losses, the United States stock market finally broke that streak on Wednesday. Of the stocks that saw their prices move, approximately 75% of the stocks became more valuable. At the bell, the Dow Jones industrial average gained almost 150 points to finish at 6,875.84.
The other indexes also showed improvement. The S&P’s 500 gained 16.5 points to go back over 700 and finish at 712.9. Indexes for Nasdaq and the Russell 2000 also posted gains.
Most of the good news in the stock market is being attributed by market experts to the Chinese government. In China, it …read more