BUSINESS BRIEFS
US industrial production up 3%; factory output up 3.4%
American industry continued to regain ground lost in the coronavirus recession last month, but production remains well below where it was before the pandemic struck.
The Federal Reserve reported Friday that industrial production – including output at factories, mines and utilities – climbed 3% in July after surging 5.7% in June. Still, production remains 8.4% below its level in February, before the outbreak began to spread rapidly in the United States.
Factory output rose 3.4% last month, pulled higher by a 28.3% gain in production of cars, trucks and auto parts.
Mining production ticked up 0.8%, snapping five straight months of decreases, and utility output climbed 3.3% as hot weather forced many Americans to turn on the air conditioner.
Industry was running at 70.6% of capacity, up from its April low of 64.2% but well below its long-term (1972-2019) average 79.8%.
Wayfair pulls towel depicting deity after Hindus object
Online home goods retailer Wayfair has pulled a beach towel depicting the Hindu deity Lord Ganesha, according to a Hindu organization that raised objections.
Rajan Zed, president of Universal Society of Hinduism, said in a statement Thursday that the Boston-based company had apologized and removed the towel from its website within an hour of the organization's raising concerns.
Zed called the “Hindu Elephant Beach Towel,” which retailed for about $26, “highly inappropriate” and thanked Wayfair for understanding the Hindu community's concerns.
He said the company “should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, and ridiculing entire communities” and suggested it and other companies send their senior executives for training in religious and cultural sensitivity.
Lord Ganesha is worshipped by Hindus as a god of wisdom and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking, according to Zed.
Trade group report: Gambling economy hit hard by coronavirus
The coronavirus and efforts to fight it have hit U.S. casinos and legal gambling businesses hard, leading to a nearly 79% drop in commercial gambling revenue for the second quarter of 2020, the industry's trade association reported Thursday.
The quarterly report shows severe damage to the $261 billion U.S. casino industry.
Slot machines and table games revenue flattened, the report said, after casinos around the U.S. closed in March. But the association in June reported that 2019 had been a record year for revenue in the U.S commercial gambling industry, and American Gaming Association President and CEO Bill Miller said he was optimistic the industry will recover.
“While April and May both experienced year-over-year (revenue) declines north of 90%, June saw nearly 300 commercial casinos reopen,” he said in a statement.
“More than 85% of U.S. casinos are now open,” Miller added.
Only sports betting and igaming showed growth in the first half of 2020 compared with 2019, according to the report.
Foxconn’s $100 million pledge to university largely unmet
The University of Wisconsin-madison has received less than 1% of the money that Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group pledged to it two years ago amid the electronics giant’s expansion plans in Wisconsin.
In August 2018, Foxconn committed $100 million to the university to help fund an engineering building and for company-related research.
It gave the school $700,000 in the first year of a 5-year agreement and records show the school has received no additional money over the past year.
“Uw-madison continues to maintain open lines of communication with Foxconn representatives,” university spokesman John Lucas said.
“Although Foxconn is in the best position to explain its plans, the university understands that changes in the firm’s executive leadership, business goals and impact of the pandemic have resulted in shifting priorities.”
Last year, company founder Terry Gou resigned to pursue political office. And his special assistant, Louis Woo, stepped down for personal reasons.