My name is Dan Regovich and I am a recruiter that specializes in the Plastics Industry.
Bernanke: Economy could grow soon
Fed chief thinks there is a good chance for the economy to return to growth in near-term -- but the recovery could be slow due to continued high unemployment.
By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: August 21, 2009: 11:54 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the U.S. economy is about to start growing again, although he cautioned it will be a slow recovery with continued high unemployment in the near term.
Speaking at an annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wy., Bernanke echoed a statement made by the Fed earlier this month, saying that "economic activity appears to be leveling out, both in the United States and abroad."
Bernanke went a step further though, indicating that "prospects for a return to growth in the near term appear good."
But the central bank chief warned that problems remain in financial markets around the globe, and that with banks facing "substantial" additional losses ahead, businesses and consumers will continue to have trouble accessing credit.
"Because of these and other factors, the economic recovery is likely to be relatively slow at first, with unemployment declining only gradually from high levels," he cautioned.
Fed watchers said they were not surprised by Bernanke's somewhat cautious outlook. They said the Fed chairman doesn't want to be pushed into raising interest rates or pulling back on other stimulus the Fed has pumped into the economy over the past year.
"The challenge he has now is that if he times the exit strategy too early, you risk a new recession a year or more from now." said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of Economic Cycle Research Institute.
But Sung Won Sohn, economics professor at Cal State University Channel Islands, said he doesn't believe that Bernanke is playing an expectation game.
Sohn thinks Bernanke is truly worried about a weak recovery, despite some forecasts of strong gains ahead. He said the Fed chairman is right to be concerned since consumers have yet to really resume spending.
"You need consumers to go on a spending spree. Even if they wanted to, they can't because they can't get the credit,"
But Sohn said there is a risk in Bernanke being too cautious in talking about a recovery because it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
"Clearly business people would think twice about hiring people based on his view the recovery will be sluggish," he said.
Still, investors chose to focus on the positive part of his outlook. Stocks moved higher as Bernanke's remarks, along with a stronger than expected home sales report, fueled even more hopes that the economy has hit bottom. The Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 140 points in late-morning trading.
Defending the bailouts
Bernanke spent much of the speech reviewing the economic crisis that unfolded last September in the wake of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and near collapse of insurer AIG (AIG, Fortune 500).
He defended the actions of the Fed, Treasury Department and Congress, as well as major governments around the world, in their response to the crisis. He said those actions likely prevented the financial panic from plunging the world into a far more serious economic downturn, possibly even a depression.
"Without these speedy and forceful actions, last October's panic would likely have continued to intensify, more major financial firms would have failed, and the entire global financial system would have been at serious risk," he said.
He said the meltdown proved that there was the need for a new financial regulatory framework. But he cautioned that no matter what rules are put in place, the kind of intervention practiced by the Fed and other central banks may be necessary again at some point in the future.
"In a sufficiently severe panic, funding problems will almost certainly arise and are likely to spread in unexpected ways," he said. "Only central banks are well positioned to offset the ensuing sharp decline in liquidity and credit provision by the private sector. They must be prepared to do so."
Dan Regovich - Plastics Recruiter
AJ Augur Group, LLC
440-357-7600
www.ajaugur.com
dregovich@ajaugur.com
Formerly with RSI Recruiter Solutions International, VP Plastics & Filtration
Within the plastics industry, we service comanies with the following technologies: injection molding, blow molding, extrusion blow molding, injection blow molding, multilayer blow molding, thermoforming, cast extrusion, profile extrusion, extruded film, blown film, plastic film, rotational molding/rotomolding, plastic sheet, calendaring, casting, compression/transfer molding, foam molding, pultrusion, resin, color and compounding,
The primary end markets that these products go into: aerospace, agriculture, apparel/garment bagsappliances, automotive/transportation, beverage, building/construction, computers, consumer products, containers/closures, fencing, fiber optics, flooring, food service, grocery bags, electical/electronics, food pacakaging, household chemicals, household-care packaging, industrial, irrigation, labels, laminations, lawn & garden, marine, medical/pharmaceutical, municipal water & sewer, office products, personal-care packaging, plastic cups/lids, recreational, signage & displays, shrink film, stretch film, swimming pools/spas, tanks agricultural/industrial, telecommunications, toys, trash bags, vinyl siding, windows & doors, wire & cable
Types of Materials: ABS, Acetal, Acrylic, Fluoropolymers, HDPE, HMWHDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, Nylon, PC, PET, PETG, PEX, PLA, Post-Consumer Resin, PP, PPO/PPE, PS/EPS, PVC, PVDC, SAN/SMA, Thermosets, TPE
Dan Regovich Plastics Recruiter AJ Augur RSI
Friday, August 21, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Resin prices
My name is Dan Regovich and I am a recruiter that specializes in the Plastics Industry.
From Plastics News by Frank Esposito:
AKRON, OHIO (Aug. 6, 4 p.m. ET) — Average North American selling prices for solid polystyrene and ABS resin have bounded up since July 1, fueled by rapid rises in price for benzene feedstock.
Benzene — a key feedstock used in production of styrene monomer — closed at $2.92 per gallon in July, up almost 25 percent from June. August could bring more of the same, with benzene set to close at $3.65 per gallon, an increase of an additional 25 percent.
“Prices for benzene were so low at the beginning of the year that no one was making it on purpose, and that limited supplies,” said Greg Smith, a market analyst with the Resin Technology Inc. consulting firm in Fort Worth, Texas. “Several [benzene] plants were down because of lack of profitability.”
Regional prices for solid PS now are up an average of 16 cents — about 24 percent — since Jan. 1, according to the Plastics News resin pricing chart. By comparison, prices for the material had fallen about 40 percent in the last four months of 2008.
Slack demand and high pricing have led to the closing of almost one-fourth of overall North American PS capacity since 2005. Demand remained soft in the first four months of 2009, with overall PS sales falling 14 percent, according to the American Chemistry Council in Arlington, Va. Sales of PS into food packaging applications fell almost 17 percent during that period.
PS “has lost a lot of applications to polyethylene and polypropylene over the years,” according to RTI’s Smith. “Because it’s a heavier material, it’s got a higher cost per cubic inch,”
In ABS, feedstock pressures allowed producers to complete their first price hike of the year. Regional ABS prices had taken a tumble of almost 30 percent in late 2008.
“Demand seems to be improving month after month, but it’s still not where it was at this time last year,” an Ohio-based ABS executive said.
ACC no longer releases monthly sales totals for ABS. The last full-year data available showed North American ABS sales of about 1.3 billion pounds in 2007. Regional sales of the material had been almost 1.5 billion pounds as recently as 2002.
PS makers now are seeking increases of 5 cents per pound for Aug. 1, with makers of ABS attempting 7-cent price hikes by the end of August.
Also this week, Plastics News is correcting prices for expanded PS to show increases of roughly 20 percent that occurred in the first half of 2009. The increases were connected to feedstock moves, since regional EPS demand sank almost 27 percent in the first four months of 2009, according to ACC.
Dan Regovich - Plastics Recruiter
AJ Augur Group, LLC
440-357-7600
www.ajaugur.com
dregovich@ajaugur.com
Formerly with RSI Recruiter Solutions International, VP Plastics & Filtration
Within the plastics industry, we service comanies with the following technologies: injection molding, blow molding, extrusion blow molding, injection blow molding, multilayer blow molding, thermoforming, cast extrusion, profile extrusion, extruded film, blown film, plastic film, rotational molding/rotomolding, plastic sheet, calendaring, casting, compression/transfer molding, foam molding, pultrusion, resin, color and compounding,
The primary end markets that these products go into: aerospace, agriculture, apparel/garment bagsappliances, automotive/transportation, beverage, building/construction, computers, consumer products, containers/closures, fencing, fiber optics, flooring, food service, grocery bags, electical/electronics, food pacakaging, household chemicals, household-care packaging, industrial, irrigation, labels, laminations, lawn & garden, marine, medical/pharmaceutical, municipal water & sewer, office products, personal-care packaging, plastic cups/lids, recreational, signage & displays, shrink film, stretch film, swimming pools/spas, tanks agricultural/industrial, telecommunications, toys, trash bags, vinyl siding, windows & doors, wire & cable
Types of Materials: ABS, Acetal, Acrylic, Fluoropolymers, HDPE, HMWHDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, Nylon, PC, PET, PETG, PEX, PLA, Post-Consumer Resin, PP, PPO/PPE, PS/EPS, PVC, PVDC, SAN/SMA, Thermosets, TPE
plastics recruiter / headhunter
From Plastics News by Frank Esposito:
AKRON, OHIO (Aug. 6, 4 p.m. ET) — Average North American selling prices for solid polystyrene and ABS resin have bounded up since July 1, fueled by rapid rises in price for benzene feedstock.
Benzene — a key feedstock used in production of styrene monomer — closed at $2.92 per gallon in July, up almost 25 percent from June. August could bring more of the same, with benzene set to close at $3.65 per gallon, an increase of an additional 25 percent.
“Prices for benzene were so low at the beginning of the year that no one was making it on purpose, and that limited supplies,” said Greg Smith, a market analyst with the Resin Technology Inc. consulting firm in Fort Worth, Texas. “Several [benzene] plants were down because of lack of profitability.”
Regional prices for solid PS now are up an average of 16 cents — about 24 percent — since Jan. 1, according to the Plastics News resin pricing chart. By comparison, prices for the material had fallen about 40 percent in the last four months of 2008.
Slack demand and high pricing have led to the closing of almost one-fourth of overall North American PS capacity since 2005. Demand remained soft in the first four months of 2009, with overall PS sales falling 14 percent, according to the American Chemistry Council in Arlington, Va. Sales of PS into food packaging applications fell almost 17 percent during that period.
PS “has lost a lot of applications to polyethylene and polypropylene over the years,” according to RTI’s Smith. “Because it’s a heavier material, it’s got a higher cost per cubic inch,”
In ABS, feedstock pressures allowed producers to complete their first price hike of the year. Regional ABS prices had taken a tumble of almost 30 percent in late 2008.
“Demand seems to be improving month after month, but it’s still not where it was at this time last year,” an Ohio-based ABS executive said.
ACC no longer releases monthly sales totals for ABS. The last full-year data available showed North American ABS sales of about 1.3 billion pounds in 2007. Regional sales of the material had been almost 1.5 billion pounds as recently as 2002.
PS makers now are seeking increases of 5 cents per pound for Aug. 1, with makers of ABS attempting 7-cent price hikes by the end of August.
Also this week, Plastics News is correcting prices for expanded PS to show increases of roughly 20 percent that occurred in the first half of 2009. The increases were connected to feedstock moves, since regional EPS demand sank almost 27 percent in the first four months of 2009, according to ACC.
Dan Regovich - Plastics Recruiter
AJ Augur Group, LLC
440-357-7600
www.ajaugur.com
dregovich@ajaugur.com
Formerly with RSI Recruiter Solutions International, VP Plastics & Filtration
Within the plastics industry, we service comanies with the following technologies: injection molding, blow molding, extrusion blow molding, injection blow molding, multilayer blow molding, thermoforming, cast extrusion, profile extrusion, extruded film, blown film, plastic film, rotational molding/rotomolding, plastic sheet, calendaring, casting, compression/transfer molding, foam molding, pultrusion, resin, color and compounding,
The primary end markets that these products go into: aerospace, agriculture, apparel/garment bagsappliances, automotive/transportation, beverage, building/construction, computers, consumer products, containers/closures, fencing, fiber optics, flooring, food service, grocery bags, electical/electronics, food pacakaging, household chemicals, household-care packaging, industrial, irrigation, labels, laminations, lawn & garden, marine, medical/pharmaceutical, municipal water & sewer, office products, personal-care packaging, plastic cups/lids, recreational, signage & displays, shrink film, stretch film, swimming pools/spas, tanks agricultural/industrial, telecommunications, toys, trash bags, vinyl siding, windows & doors, wire & cable
Types of Materials: ABS, Acetal, Acrylic, Fluoropolymers, HDPE, HMWHDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, Nylon, PC, PET, PETG, PEX, PLA, Post-Consumer Resin, PP, PPO/PPE, PS/EPS, PVC, PVDC, SAN/SMA, Thermosets, TPE
plastics recruiter / headhunter
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Jobs Recovery: Wait Till Next Year
My name is Dan Regovich and I am a recruiter that specializes in the Plastics Industry.
From CNNMoney.com by Emily Maltby:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The days of cataclysmic layoffs may be waning, but companies are still cutting every position they can spare. Employment at America's small businesses, those with less than 50 employees, dropped by another 138,000 workers in July, according to estimates released Wednesday by payroll processor ADP (ADP, Fortune 500).
July's report marks the 18th straight month of declining small business employment. The rate of decline has slowed, and economists see an end ahead, but workers are in for a few more months of turmoil before hiring picks up.
"The labor market, like the overall economy, shows signs of beginning to stabilize," said Chris Varvares, president of Macroeconomic Advisers, ADP's partner research firm. "Our expectation is that job losses will dwindle toward zero by year end."
Small business employment is a closely watched indicator because small companies tend to be more responsive than larger ones to economic changes. They're typically the first to hire again when spending picks back up.
Dorothy Gonzalez, owner of A-Plus Counters in Clearwater, Fla., has seen that dynamic play out in her own business. By April of this year, she had already made massive cuts to her payroll, scaling her staff of 60 down to 12. Though the worst of her layoffs are past, she's still cutting. In the past few months, Gonzalez has had to let three more employees go.
"More retail people are coming in, but in the new construction market, we haven't seen any response yet," said Gonzalez, whose company manufactures countertops. "Our major plan is to adjust to what the economy is, through competitive pricing. But everyone's bidding, trying to get the job, and even if consumers are spending, they're not overspending."
Looking for a reprieve, Gonzalez applied last month at her bank for an America's Recovery Capital (ARC) loan. Backed by the Small Business Administration, ARC loans are a stimulus measure that lets business owners take out small, interest-free loans to temporarily make payments on other debt. Gonzalez says the ARC loan would help stabilize her business by covering payments on commercial vehicle loans, freeing up that cash for other purposes.
Small companies -- and their workers -- have been hit by an economic double whammy. As the recession cut into their sales, the bank loans and credit lines that some companies relied on to weather slow periods have been disappearing. As a result, many small firms are falling behind on debts or going under.
In a recent study of businesses with annual revenue below $10 million, credit-rating agency Experian found that 24% have suffered a negative financial event within the past two years, such as a collection notice, tax lien or significantly overdue (more than three months late) debt payment. The situation creates a chicken-and-egg problem: As default rates climb, banks pull back on their small business lending, but without those credit lines, more companies teetering on the brink are pushed over.
Breaking that cycle could help speed up the recession's end.
"One of the things we know is that access to credit has been difficult to small businesses," said Varvares of Macroeconomic Advisers. "As credit becomes available, we may see a more rapid rate of recovery."
An ARC loan would certainly help A-Plus Counters recover faster, but even without it, Gonzalez is cautiously optimistic that her company -- and its workers -- have been through the worst.
"If business keeps going the way it has recently, I don't anticipate having to scale back more," she said. "But what we always have to do is look at the overall business and [pick out] the employees that have the skills and abilities that we simply can't lose."
Dan Regovich - Plastics Recruiter
AJ Augur Group, LLC
440-357-7600
www.ajaugur.com
dregovich@ajaugur.com
Formerly with RSI Recruiter Solutions International, VP Plastics & Filtration
Within the plastics industry, we service comanies with the following technologies: injection molding, blow molding, extrusion blow molding, injection blow molding, multilayer blow molding, thermoforming, cast extrusion, profile extrusion, extruded film, blown film, plastic film, rotational molding/rotomolding, plastic sheet, calendaring, casting, compression/transfer molding, foam molding, pultrusion, resin, color and compounding,
The primary end markets that these products go into: aerospace, agriculture, apparel/garment bagsappliances, automotive/transportation, beverage, building/construction, computers, consumer products, containers/closures, fencing, fiber optics, flooring, food service, grocery bags, electical/electronics, food pacakaging, household chemicals, household-care packaging, industrial, irrigation, labels, laminations, lawn & garden, marine, medical/pharmaceutical, municipal water & sewer, office products, personal-care packaging, plastic cups/lids, recreational, signage & displays, shrink film, stretch film, swimming pools/spas, tanks agricultural/industrial, telecommunications, toys, trash bags, vinyl siding, windows & doors, wire & cable
Tyeps of Materials: ABS, Acetal, Acrylic, Fluoropolymers, HDPE, HMWHDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, Nylon, PC, PET, PETG, PEX, PLA, Post-Consumer Resin, PP, PPO/PPE, PS/EPS, PVC, PVDC, SAN/SMA, Thermosets, TPE
Plastics Recruiter / Headhunter
From CNNMoney.com by Emily Maltby:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The days of cataclysmic layoffs may be waning, but companies are still cutting every position they can spare. Employment at America's small businesses, those with less than 50 employees, dropped by another 138,000 workers in July, according to estimates released Wednesday by payroll processor ADP (ADP, Fortune 500).
July's report marks the 18th straight month of declining small business employment. The rate of decline has slowed, and economists see an end ahead, but workers are in for a few more months of turmoil before hiring picks up.
"The labor market, like the overall economy, shows signs of beginning to stabilize," said Chris Varvares, president of Macroeconomic Advisers, ADP's partner research firm. "Our expectation is that job losses will dwindle toward zero by year end."
Small business employment is a closely watched indicator because small companies tend to be more responsive than larger ones to economic changes. They're typically the first to hire again when spending picks back up.
Dorothy Gonzalez, owner of A-Plus Counters in Clearwater, Fla., has seen that dynamic play out in her own business. By April of this year, she had already made massive cuts to her payroll, scaling her staff of 60 down to 12. Though the worst of her layoffs are past, she's still cutting. In the past few months, Gonzalez has had to let three more employees go.
"More retail people are coming in, but in the new construction market, we haven't seen any response yet," said Gonzalez, whose company manufactures countertops. "Our major plan is to adjust to what the economy is, through competitive pricing. But everyone's bidding, trying to get the job, and even if consumers are spending, they're not overspending."
Looking for a reprieve, Gonzalez applied last month at her bank for an America's Recovery Capital (ARC) loan. Backed by the Small Business Administration, ARC loans are a stimulus measure that lets business owners take out small, interest-free loans to temporarily make payments on other debt. Gonzalez says the ARC loan would help stabilize her business by covering payments on commercial vehicle loans, freeing up that cash for other purposes.
Small companies -- and their workers -- have been hit by an economic double whammy. As the recession cut into their sales, the bank loans and credit lines that some companies relied on to weather slow periods have been disappearing. As a result, many small firms are falling behind on debts or going under.
In a recent study of businesses with annual revenue below $10 million, credit-rating agency Experian found that 24% have suffered a negative financial event within the past two years, such as a collection notice, tax lien or significantly overdue (more than three months late) debt payment. The situation creates a chicken-and-egg problem: As default rates climb, banks pull back on their small business lending, but without those credit lines, more companies teetering on the brink are pushed over.
Breaking that cycle could help speed up the recession's end.
"One of the things we know is that access to credit has been difficult to small businesses," said Varvares of Macroeconomic Advisers. "As credit becomes available, we may see a more rapid rate of recovery."
An ARC loan would certainly help A-Plus Counters recover faster, but even without it, Gonzalez is cautiously optimistic that her company -- and its workers -- have been through the worst.
"If business keeps going the way it has recently, I don't anticipate having to scale back more," she said. "But what we always have to do is look at the overall business and [pick out] the employees that have the skills and abilities that we simply can't lose."
Dan Regovich - Plastics Recruiter
AJ Augur Group, LLC
440-357-7600
www.ajaugur.com
dregovich@ajaugur.com
Formerly with RSI Recruiter Solutions International, VP Plastics & Filtration
Within the plastics industry, we service comanies with the following technologies: injection molding, blow molding, extrusion blow molding, injection blow molding, multilayer blow molding, thermoforming, cast extrusion, profile extrusion, extruded film, blown film, plastic film, rotational molding/rotomolding, plastic sheet, calendaring, casting, compression/transfer molding, foam molding, pultrusion, resin, color and compounding,
The primary end markets that these products go into: aerospace, agriculture, apparel/garment bagsappliances, automotive/transportation, beverage, building/construction, computers, consumer products, containers/closures, fencing, fiber optics, flooring, food service, grocery bags, electical/electronics, food pacakaging, household chemicals, household-care packaging, industrial, irrigation, labels, laminations, lawn & garden, marine, medical/pharmaceutical, municipal water & sewer, office products, personal-care packaging, plastic cups/lids, recreational, signage & displays, shrink film, stretch film, swimming pools/spas, tanks agricultural/industrial, telecommunications, toys, trash bags, vinyl siding, windows & doors, wire & cable
Tyeps of Materials: ABS, Acetal, Acrylic, Fluoropolymers, HDPE, HMWHDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, Nylon, PC, PET, PETG, PEX, PLA, Post-Consumer Resin, PP, PPO/PPE, PS/EPS, PVC, PVDC, SAN/SMA, Thermosets, TPE
Plastics Recruiter / Headhunter
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