U.S. Manufacturing Growth Slows in April

Growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector slowed last month but better days may be ahead with oil prices rebounding and the dollar weakening.In its latest Report On Business, the Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index fell to 50.8% last month from 51.8% in March. Economists su...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 2, 2016

Labor Cost Benchmark Rises Only 0.6% in Q1

The broadest measure of U.S labor costs rose modestly in the first quarter as wages continued to show weak growth despite solid employment gains.The Labor Department reported Friday that the Employment Cost Index increased 0.6% after an unrevised 0.5% gain in the fourth quarter. From a year earli...

By Matthew Heller • April 29, 2016

Explore the Trendline➔

Tax policy shifts: What CFOs need to know to stay ahead

Discover how evolving tax policies are creating new opportunities and challenges for CFOs.

By CFO.com staff

Unlocking Hidden Value Through ‘Ubernomics’

Imagine that on Hilton’s next analyst conference call management announces plans to spend $170 billion over the next five years to add 12,000 hotels. This would be considered an impossible feat, given that it took Hilton nearly a century to reach its current base of 4,300 hotels and it only has a...

By Barbara Gray • April 25, 2016

Brazil’s Economy Seen Shrinking 3.8% This Year

Amid what could be Brazil’s worst recession in more than a century, economists are becoming more pessimistic about the country’s economic outlook.In its weekly survey of 100 economists, Brazil’s central bank found that gross domestic product is expected to shrink 3.8% this year, compared with exp...

By Matthew Heller • April 18, 2016

U.S. Industrial Output Drops 0.6% in March

In another sign that economic growth slowed in the first quarter, U.S. industrial production fell more than expected in March, showing a 0.6% drop for a second month in a row.For the first quarter as a whole, industrial production fell at an annual rate of 2.2%, the Federal Reserve said Friday. A...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 15, 2016

Fed Survey Shows Wages Picking up in U.S.

U.S. economic activity is continuing to expand, with wages picking up in almost all of the country as the labor market strengthens, the Federal Reserve reported on Wednesday.The wage growth and signs that the oil industry may be emerging from its decline were two of the bright spots in the Fed’s ...

By Matthew Heller • April 14, 2016

LISTEN: Battling the Slow-Growth Blues [Podcast]

Tom Conine, the Fairfield University finance professor, discusses the financial havoc that being in a slow-growth environment can cause, compromising everything from cash generation to credit lines, price-to-earnings ratio, shareholder return, and working capital.Conine, also president of financi...

By CFO Editorial Staff • April 11, 2016

Manufactured Goods Orders Fall in February

In another sign that U.S. economic growth slowed further in the first quarter, new orders for manufactured goods fell 1.7% to $454 billion in February.The decline reported Monday by the Commerce Department was the third in the last four months and reversed January’s downwardly revised 1.2% increa...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 4, 2016

March Jobs Report Shows ‘Best-Case Scenario’

U.S. employment and the proportion of Americans in the labor force both showed strong growth in March, confirming perceptions that the labor market is recovering steadily from the recession.Nonfarm payrolls rose by 215,000 last month, the Labor Department reported on Friday, capping the best two-...

By Matthew Heller • April 1, 2016

How to Make Use of All That Data You Have

Enterprises of all sizes today are deluged by data. EMC estimates that the amount of data worldwide is now doubling every two years. This rapid rate of expansion is expected to further accelerate as the Internet of Things drives exponential growth in data creation and storage.Michael Clark Busine...

By Michael Clark • March 30, 2016

Durable Goods Orders Fall, But Better News on Jobs

The strong dollar and low oil prices continue to drag on the economy, as new orders for durable U.S. manufactured goods fell 2.8% in February, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The news was offset by the Labor Department’s revised report on unemployment claims dating back to 2011.The decreas...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 24, 2016

New Home Sales Up 2% on Surge in the West

U.S. homebuyers in the West fueled a rebound in new home sales last month as other regions struggled with tight supply and high prices.Sales of new single-family houses rose 2% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 512,000, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. January’s sales pac...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 23, 2016

Existing Home Sales Fall 7.1% in February

Sales of existing homes in the United States fell more sharply than expected in February as rising prices and low supply cooled off the market after a strong start to the year.The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that sales dropped 7.1% from January to an annual rate of 5.08 milli...

By Matthew Heller • March 22, 2016

LISTEN: The CFO and The Cloud-Storage Business Case

How can companies prepare to switch from traditional data storage to outsourced cloud storage? What should be their key concerns and areas of focus? Jimit Arora, vice president at Everest Group, offers some insight for companies looking to embark on or deepen their relationship with the cloud.

By CFO Editorial Staff • March 21, 2016

Activists at the Gate

Activist investors are bigger and hungrier than ever. Here’s how to keep them at bay.

By Edward Teach • March 17, 2016

Not Just Another Jewelry Company

“Diamonds are a girl’s best friend,” says Jayne Fitzpatrick-Conway, the CFO of Alex and Ani, a supplier and seller of bangle bracelets, when asked about her favorite kind of jewelry.Indeed, Fitzpatrick-Conway, a Harvard MBA with a consulting background at Bain and Co., admits to having a particul...

By David Katz • March 17, 2016

U.S. Industrial Output Falls 0.5% in February

U.S. industrial production fell in February as significant declines in the mining and utilities sectors offset a second straight increase in manufacturing.Output dropped 0.5% last month after increasing a revised 0.8% in January,  the Federal Reserve said Wednesday. Economists surveyed by the Wal...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 16, 2016

LivingSocial Lays Off 280 in Shift From Daily Deals

LivingSocial said Wednesday it would cut half of its workforce as it shifts away from its money-losing daily deals business toward card-linked products.The company is laying off 160 employees at both its Washington, D.C. headquarters and remote locations, and over the next two months will shutter...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 16, 2016

MF Global Investors Settle Fraud Claims for $29M

MF Global Holdings investors have reached a a $29.8 million settlement with five financial institutions that underwrote the sale of its bonds, apparently concluding more than four years of litigation over the 2011 collapse of the futures brokerage.The settlement in the securities class action bri...

By Matthew Heller • March 15, 2016

U.S. Consumers Expect 2.7% Rise in Inflation

U.S. consumers’ expectations for inflation increased in February, with a particularly sharp rebound in gas prices expected over the next year, according to a new survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.Consumers polled for the February 2016 Survey of Consumer Expectations on average expect...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 14, 2016

Oil Prices May Have Bottomed Out, IEA Says

The worst-case scenarios for oil prices may not materialize after all, as OPEC production fell in February and Iran did not pump as much new oil into the market as expected, the International Energy Agency said on Friday.Prices have risen to more than $40 a barrel in recent days, up more than 40%...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 11, 2016

U.S. Wholesale Stocks Climb 0.3% in January

U.S. wholesale inventories rose unexpectedly in January as sales tumbled, suggesting that inventory overhang will continue to be a drag on economic growth.The Commerce Department said Wednesday that wholesale stocks increased 0.3% after being unchanged in December. Economists polled by Reuters ha...

By Matthew Heller • March 9, 2016

Red Skies and Blue Oceans

The results of the Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook survey for the first quarter of 2016 bring to mind the cautionary saying, “Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.” Finance and corporate executives in the survey are anxiously scanning the horizon for any signs of the red ...

By David W. Owens • March 9, 2016

U.S. Beats Expectations With 242,000 Job Gain

While other countries may be showing signs of a real slowdown, the U.S. continues to add jobs, with better-than expected gains in February.Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 242,000 in February, and the unemployment rate held at 4.9%, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists on ave...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 4, 2016

Three Reasons to Shed Your Idle Assets

It’s psychologically difficult for management to sell idle assets. Senior executives often rationalize the decision to hold onto assets well beyond their productive usefulness with seemingly valid reasons. But upon further review, often these are merely excuses.Three particularly counterproductiv...

By Marwaan Karame • March 1, 2016