Dow buys rival; Company has Marlboro plant.
Byline: David Runk DETROIT - Dow Chemical Co. has agreed to buy rival Rohm and Haas Co. for more than $15 billion in cash in a deal that Dow hopes will fuel its growth in a more lucrative wing of the chemical-making business. "The addition...

Company Watch - Spring Airlines.
Mar 17, 2008 Shanghai-based Spring Airlines posted a record net profit of CNY70 million ($9.8 million) in 2007, more than double the previous year's result. Operating revenue rose to CNY1.23 billion, but industry analysts credited effective cost control for the profit result. According to CAAC statistics, Spring's...

Down But Not Out.
Down But Not Out By Lynne Viccaro While the kitchen and bath market remains fundamentally healthy, 2008 is expected to remain essentially flat before a palpable housing recovery begins late this year, industry analysts predict. While there's no question that the extended housing...

Gas prices near record high.
Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard Oregon gas prices reached $3.36 per gallon this week, just a nickel shy of the state's record high, set last May. Prices may hit $4 a gallon by summer, analysts say. "It looks pretty scary at this point," Marie Dodds,...

Airline Finance News - North America.
Apr 14, 2008 The Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC) reported sales of $7.5 billion for March 2008, an almost two percent decrease compared to March 2007. Total transactions also declined nine percent to 13,828,713 from the same time last year and ARC reports a 3.4 percent decline in...

Airline Finance News - North America.
May 5, 2008 US Senate, which earlier this week appeared on the verge of finally passing a long-stalled FAA reauthorization bill, failed to agree on both procedural rules for the proposed legislation's floor debate and whether amendments regarding airline pension plans should be included. Aviation Subcommittee Chairman...

Airline Finance News - Asia / Pacific.
Apr 21, 2008 Chinese airlines are increasingly involved in conflicts with their pilots, who are eagerly poached by private airlines such as budget carrier Spring Airlines as the industry grapples with a pilot shortage and an air travel boom. Many big carriers demand sizeable payments from pilots...

Reinsurance prices in the first quarter continue to slide: prices fall by as much as 15 percent to 20 percent in some markets.
Pricing declines continued to affect the reinsurance industry in the first quarter of 2008, as soft pricing and the lack of big, expensive catastrophes meant few large claims, according to a quarterly survey of reinsurance buyers done by Willis Group. "Closing out the first quarter of 2008,...

Is the large-joint business booming - or boomers? The possibility of an explosion of potential patients bodes well for orthopedic manufacturers.
Baby boomers. We hear about them all the time lately, and for good reason. This group, born between 1946 and 1964, is a powerful demographic. Their numbers and actions have shaped the second half of the 20th century and continue have a transformational effect well into the 21st. These...

Demand for reconstruction devices to keep climbing.
Look for the orthopedic reconstruction market to reach $14.5 billion in the next two years as America s baby boomers reach retirement age and the number of people with degenerative joint diseases continues to rise. That projection forms the basis of a 362-page report released in April...