WSJ By The Numbers - Top 10 for Oct.24
Still
Built on the Homefront: With over 300,000 manufacturing facilities,
manufacturing represents only 17% of GDP in U.S., while it represents 41%
of GDP in China.
However U.S. still leads the world in terms of value of manufacturing goods with $1.79 trillion in 2005, followed by Japan ($0.99 trillion), China ($0.78 trillion) and Germany ($0.5 trillion). Others contribute $2.97 trillion for the world total of $7.03 trillion in manufacturing output.
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Wal-Mart Scales Back Expansion, Spending as Sales Growth Slows: Wal-Mart said it is reining in its expansion rate next year to 7.5% globally and 7% domestically. The company intends to open 625 to 660 stores in 2007, including 330 U.S. outlets. Wal-Mart currently operates nearly 4,000 stores in the U.S. and more than 2,700 abroad. Wal-Mart said it would slow next year's capital-spending growth sharply to between 2% to 4%. By contrast, it expects its capital expenditures to grow by 15% to 20% this year, putting the tab as high as $17.5 billion. |
$17.5B Wal-Mart Capex |
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Big Worries for Big Oil: Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP have reported combined earnings of about $25 billion in the second quarter; in the third quarter of last year, they earned about $25.4 billion. BP has said it expects to deliver about $65 billion to shareholders through 2008 if crude sticks at $60 a barrel and if U.S. natural-gas prices and refining margins stay lofty. |
$25B Big 3 Profits |
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Ford Posts $5.8 Billion Loss, Warns of More Woes: Ford estimated restructuring charges this year would total between $9.5 billion and $10.5 billion. That puts it on track this year to outpace GM's $10.6 billion loss in 2005. However with $23.6 billion in cash and equivalents, Ford isn't in imminent danger of a cash squeeze. |
$9.5B Ford Restructuring |
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Berkshire Might Be A Bargain at $100,000: Yesterday, Berkshire shares closed at a high of $100,000. The stock is up 5,555 times since May 10, 1965, the day Mr. Buffett took control of the former textile company and the stock closed at $18 a share. By contrast, the Dow Jones Industrials Average, which ended yesterday at a closing high of 12116.91, is up about 13 times since Mr. Buffett took over Berkshire. Berkshire is sitting on a huge pile of cash of about $42 billion as of the end of the second quarter and analyst estimates of Berkshire's full-year net income range from $7 billion to $8 billion. |
5,555 Times Stock Up |
| AT&T Posts 74% Increase in Profit: At AT&T, revenue jumped 52% to $15.64 billion in 3Q, not including the $5.7 billion in wireless revenue linked to the company's 60% stake in Cingular Wireless. Rival Verizon has been more aggressive in its rollout of fiber-optic cable to carry ultra-high-speed Internet and video, a project that is expected to cost $18 billion through 2010. | $18B Verizon |
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Excessive Internet Use Has Features In Common With Some Addictions: More than 1 in 20 U.S. adults questioned in a Stanford University national survey said their relationships have suffered from excessive use of the Internet. An additional 12% say they often stay online longer than they would like to; 14% say it is hard to stay offline for more than a few days. |
1
in 20 Net Addiction |
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WSJ By The Numbers - Metrics 2.0 |
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