Business

No green in corp. earnings

It’s earnings season on Wall Street, and there is little to cheer about. Many of America’s most beloved companies have been shocking investors with worse-than-expected results over the past three months.

From IBM to McDonald’s to Apple, the numbers came up short. All told, with more than half of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported their earnings, more than a third flat-out disappointed. More troubling still, more than 60 percent of all companies are reporting weaker-than-expected sales, the worst showing since the dark days of 2009.

Little wonder, then, that the mood in the corner office is gloomy.

The Business Roundtable, a group of blue-chip company CEOs, reports that sentiment is as bleak as it has been in three years, the type of mood that typically dampens hiring and capital investment. And that dour mood is starting to have an impact.

Indeed, a perusal of the headlines last week showed the malaise.

Among the companies announcing big layoffs last week was Dow Chemical — a favorite of the Obama administration. Last year its CEO, Andrew Liveris, was appointed to head Obama’s Advanced Marketing Partnership.

What a difference a year makes. In a press release last week, Dow announced that it will be cutting about 2,400 jobs or 5 percent of its work force, and will be closing 20 plants — among them a plant in Midland, Mich., that manufactures lithium batteries for electric cars. It’s a plant that was announced with much fanfare by the president 18 months ago, a plant made possible by generous tax incentives including $40 million in tax credits from Michigan. One little problem: No one wants to buy electric cars.

And Dow is not the only company seeing red ink from its green endeavors. Chemical giant DuPont also announced 1,500 layoffs as it reported dismal results, due in part to slow demand for its solar-energy products.

Four years and scores of promises about “green jobs” later, the hope has faded and the layoffs have begun. Don’t be surprised if more are on the way.

These “21st century” jobs, trumpeted by the White House and underwritten by billions in tax dollars, will be the first to go — especially as it becomes ever more clear that the numbers just don’t add up.

terrykkeenan@gmail.com