BUSINESS NEWS FEBRUARY 17TH, 2016
U.S. ECONOMY BOOSTED BY STRONG INDUSTRIAL SHOWING
Earlier this year, the Fed hiked interest rates, in a show of confidence that the U.S. economy was performing well. This picture has been further bolstered by strong industrial and manufacturing output. Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Pennsylvania says that manufacturing is beginning to rebound and housing is “hardly weak”, both of which are indicative of a well performing economy. Last month, industrial production showed an increase of 0.9% and manufacturing jumped 0.5%.
NIKE DROPS PACQUIAO AFTER HOMOPHOBIC COMMENTS
Manny Pacquiao had his sponsorship from Nike revoked after the star boxer said gay couples were “worse than animals”. Pacquiao made the statements during his campaign for a spot on the Philippine Senate. Nike released a statement Wednesday, calling his comments “abhorrent” and saying that they “oppose discrimination of any kind”. For a long time, Nike has shown support for gay rights, promoting a “BeTrue” campaign to this end. Pacquiao has apologized for his comments, saying that he was still against same sex marriage, but did not condemn the LGBT community.
BUFFETT INVESTING HEAVILY IN OIL
Business tycoon Warren Buffett has long since been one of the most calculating minds in the business world. His motto, “Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful”, seems to have paid off for him yet again. This year has been a tumultuous one for crude oil stocks, warding many investors off. However, Buffett bought a large stake in Kinder Morgan, an oil company. That stock shot up 10% on Wednesday. Despite oil plummeting to below $30 a barrel, Buffett believes that some companies still stand to gain.
JOE BARTON: OPEC IS DEAD
A Texas Congressman has said that OPEC has been rendered useless in the field of determining oil prices. Since the United States has started exporting oil, Barton says, OPEC and Russia “literally don’t know what to do”. Despite lower oil prices, the U.S. produced an average of 9.3 million barrels a day in November 2015. Barton forecasts that this number will increase to up to 20 million a day, a result of the United States’ ability to ship oil to overseas markets. According to Barton, Russia, China and Saudi Arabia will not be able to keep up with the pace of production that the U.S. has. He predicts that the U.S. economy will flourish.