href=”/issues/1_1/breaking-news/5969-1.html”>More
The Conference Board Employment Trends Index declined further in November. The index fell to 102.9, down 1.6 percent from the October revised figure of 104.5, and down over 13 percent from a year ago. More
Manufacturing contracted in November for the fourth consecutive month, according to the latest Manufacturing Institute for Supply Management Report On Business. New orders have contracted for 12 consecutive months, and are at the lowest level since June 1980 when the index registered 24.2 percent. Order backlogs have fallen to the lowest level since ISM began tracking the Backlog of Orders Index in January 1993. More
New orders for manufactured durable goods in October decreased $12.7 billion or 6.2 percent to $193.0 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced. This was the largest percentage decrease in new orders since October 2006 and followed two consecutive monthly decreases including a 0.2 percent September decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 4.4 percent. More
Preliminary Estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis show the GDP decreased 0.5 percent in the third quarter. The decrease in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected negative contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), residential fixed investment, and equipment and software that were partly offset by positive contributions from federal government spending, private inventory investment, exports, nonresidential structures, and state and local government spending. More

The U.S. manufacturing recession continued unabated, intensifying in the third quarter, and is now part of a global downturn, according to the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPIQuarterly Industrial Outlook -Third Quarter 2008, a report that analyzes 27 major industries. On an annual basis, MAPI forecasts a decline in the industrial sector this year and next before showing some marginal improvement in 2010. Manufacturing production is expected to fall 1.4% in 2008 and decline 4.2% in 2009, preceding 0.9% growth in 2010. Manufacturing industrial production, measured on a quarter-to-quarter basis, declined at a 7.8% annual rate in third quarter 2008 after falling at a 4% annual rate in the second quarter. More

Praxair, Danbury, CT, will be laying off 1,600 employees and closing underperforming and non-core product lines and businesses in response to a substantial decline in demand for the fourth quarter. The company saw a fall-off in demand in November and is expecting additional customer plant closings in December. More
Applied Industrial Technologies, Cleveland, OH, has acquired Cincinnati Transmission Company, a single location, regional distributor of power transmission and motion control products as well as gearbox repair solutions in Cincinnati, OH. More
NESCO-Needham Electric Supply, Canton, MA, has acquired Gettens Electric Supply Co., Inc., Fitchburg, MA. Gettens Electric Supply will continue to operate under its name as “A Division of NESCO, Needham Electric Supply.”More
Manufacturer EnPro Industries, Charlotte, NC, has acquired three companies for its Compressor Products International (CPI) business. The acquired businesses are Horizon Compressor Services Inc., Houston, TX; RAM Air, Inc., New Smyrna Beach, FL; and C&P Services (Northern) Limited, Warrington, UK. The acquired businesses provide components and aftermarket services for reciprocating compressors to customers in the petroleum, natural gas, PET bottle molding and chemical processing industries in the United States and England. More
Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc., Peabody, MA, reported sales for the fiscal 2008 ended Sept. 30 were up 8.4 percent to $1.78 billion, thanks to acquisitions and an increase of 1.3 percent in organic sales. The distributor’s 2008 profit was $40.3 million compared to $25.3 million in 2007. More
Airgas, Inc., Radnor, PA, has acquired California-based Gordon Woods Industrial Welding Supply, Inc., Accu Air Gases &Equipment, LP and Summit Gas &Gear, LP. All three businesses are now part of the Airgas West regional company.

In a separate transaction, Airgas has acquired TexAir Welding Supply, Ltd., an industrial gas and welding supply distributor with $5 million in annual revenues through branch locations in Henderson, Longview and Mount Pleasant, TX.  The company will be integrated into Airgas Mid South. More

Parker Hannifin, Cleveland, OH, manufacturer in motion and control technologies, has acquired Detroit Plasticos e Metais S/A, a Brazilian manufacturer of high performance fittings, valves, manifolds, and thermoplastic tubing. More
Avnet, Inc., Phoenix, has agreed to acquire Nippon Denso Industry Co., Ltd. of Japan, a value-added distributor of electronic components, through its subsidiary, Avnet Japan Co., Ltd. More
Swedish manufacturer Sandvik Group announced efforts to reduce overcapacity and increase productivity at many of its facilities. The measures include lay-offs of 1,500 people, termination of temporary contracts, and the closure of a production unit in Perth, Australia. The process is expected to be completed during the first six months of 2009. More

National distributor sales of HVACR products for October were down 0.8 percent from a year ago, according to the Monthly Targeted and Regional Economic News for Distribution Strategies Report, produced by Heating, Airconditioning and Refirigeration Distributors International. Canada experienced the best performance for October with sales up 9.4 percent, while the Western region was down 11.1 percent.