Bloody Monday

[NIGHTS OF BAGHDAD]

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/26/news/econo..._cuts/index.htm

Bloody Monday: More than 50,000 jobs lost
Six companies announce massive job cuts in a scary start to the week.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The final week of January began with a bloodbath for the job market, as more than 50,000 more cuts were announced on Monday alone.

At least six companies from manufacturing and service industries announced cost-cutting initiatives that included slashing thousands of jobs.

About 170,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year, according to company reports. Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost over 2008, the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945.

"It's all about the consumer, and the consumer's been hit hard," said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics. "It's a vicious circle as weakness begets layoffs, which beget more spending weakness."

Construction machinery manufacturer Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500) said Monday it will cut 20,000 jobs amid a "very challenging global business environment." The company had already planned to cut 15,000 workers since the fourth quarter of 2008, but added another 5,000, bringing the total to 20,000.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S, Fortune 500) will cut a total of about 8,000 jobs by March 31, the company said in a release. The telecommunications company's plan is to reduce internal and external labor costs by about $1.2 billion on an annual basis.

Home Depot (HD, Fortune 500), the world's largest home improvement retailer, announced Monday it will eliminate its EXPO design center business and cut 7,000 associates, or approximately 2% of the company's total workforce. The company blamed a lack of demand for big ticket design and decor projects.

Dutch financial group ING said Monday it will take a 2008 loss of $1.3 billion and cut 7,000 jobs. The company could not comment on where the cuts would take place. ING employs around 130,000 people across 50 countries.

Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500) said in an earnings report it would cut 10% of its staff of 81,900 and close five of its manufacturing plants. The drugmaker recently announced that it was cutting up to 8% of its research staff, or up to 800 jobs. The company already cut 4,700 jobs in 2008.

Deere& Co. (DE, Fortune 500) , the world's top farm-equipment maker, said it would cut nearly 700 jobs between factories in Brazil and Iowa.

The job cuts across sectors didn't surprise Brusca, as nearly all are weak, he said.

"The services sector is shedding jobs at a horrific pace, because that's where most of the jobs are," Brusca said. "When the consumer is in tough shape it's hard for business to do well, because it all depends on consumption or investments."
Continuing the scary trend

The cuts mark a horrific start to the week, and a brutal start to 2009. In the previous week, around 40,000 cuts were announced across multiple industries.

Wednesday, in particular, was littered with a slew of job cuts: BHP Billiton, Clear Channel Communications, Intel, Rohm and Haas Co., UAL Corp. and Williams-Sonoma all announced job cuts totaling over 27,000 positions.

Also last week, Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. Entertainment said it would cut about 800 jobs, or 10% of its worldwide staff in the upcoming weeks, while Microsoft unveiled its plan to cut up to 5,000 jobs - 5.5% of its global workforce.
Outlook: A recovery in sight?

Brusca said he agreed with many economists' predictions that the recession will end after the second quarter of 2009. Americans might feel the job market start to bounce back a bit sooner than expected, he said.

"These recessions are like geometry," Brusca said. "It looks like we'll have a V-shaped cycle, in that we're going into this with very sharp losses. This intense-phase recession will probably recover fairly quickly, with the job market coming out it at the same angle it came in."

In the short term, the economy and the job market are in trouble, Brusca said. But "it doesn't look like the bottom is falling out of the economy," he said.

And there's a silver lining to the gloomy clouds over America's economy.

"The good news is it's so bad right now that we will have a definite, noticeable recovery when it comes," Brusca said. "We're getting a lot of adjustment out of the way early."

[Bulldog_916]

Yea, I feel pretty bad for people that are with CAT or HD or Pfizer. It's getting tougher and tougher to live out here. California is slowly coming back because our housing market bottomed over the fall. We went down first, now we're starting to come back first. With home prices so low, people are looking for bargains and finding them. Patience is going to be the operative word here. We may not see a noticeable come back country-wide until early 2010. Just hang in there.

[Bye bye now have fun]

looks like i wont be graduating anytime soon. i still need an internship to graduate

[Giant Ninja Robot]

fuck.

I'm selfishly hoping that my job is kept and I can afford a house at these rockbottom prices before the market creeps back up.

Man how can you not feel horrible for all these people? These aren't minimum wage jobs being lost these are people with a specific skill set in many cases that might not get them very far elsewhere.

[Bulldog_916]

fuck.

I'm selfishly hoping that my job is kept and I can afford a house at these rockbottom prices before the market creeps back up.

Man how can you not feel horrible for all these people? These aren't minimum wage jobs being lost these are people with a specific skill set in many cases that might not get them very far elsewhere.

Housing prices arent going anywhere near the levels they were before. There are an abundance of homes out there. It's going to go back to being a bedrock investment. If you get one, expect to be in it at least 5 years. If you buy your home at $130,000, the most adjustment you'll see is either due to inflation or due to your improvements of the property and the property conditions around it. But yes, they will settle into a range of pricing. Dont expect an easy down payment either, make sure you have 20% of the house's value initially, then set aside another 10% for an emergency fund so you can make some mortgage payments if you lose your job. That's been the advice I've been hearing all around.

[NIGHTS OF BAGHDAD]

fuck.

I'm selfishly hoping that my job is kept and I can afford a house at these rockbottom prices before the market creeps back up.

Man how can you not feel horrible for all these people? These aren't minimum wage jobs being lost these are people with a specific skill set in many cases that might not get them very far elsewhere.

there is nothing wrong with putting your family and yourself first..ya it sucks people lost there jobs and cant pay for there homes..but those of us who stay on top of things should reward ourselves..im thinking of moving myself to take advantages of these prices..over in a neighborhood called algonquin for a 3500 sqft home would have costed about $400,000+ now you can get one for around $275,000 i think i would be stupid not to take advantage of this when my home is worth $490,000 even in this down economy..again im not heartless, i make my donations to both humans and animals..but i feel i should reward myself for keeping my nose above water in these trying times..so dont feel bad man..go for it and take care of yours..cause no one else will..