ManpowerGroup News Release (07/20/12)

ManpowerGroup today reported that net earnings per diluted share for the three months ended June 30, 2012, were 51 cents, compared with 87 cents in the prior-year period. Net earnings in the second quarter were $41.0 million, compared with $72.7 million a year earlier. Revenues for the second quarter were $5.2 billion, a decrease of 8% from the year-earlier period, or a decrease of 1% in constant currency. U.S. revenues in the second quarter declined 3.6%, from $791.6 billion in 2011 to $763.2 million this year; profits declined 71.6%, from $27.2 million last year to $7.7 million in this year’s second quarter. Included in the current year second quarter results are a reorganization charge of $18.7 million and legal settlement costs of $10.0 million.

ManpowerGroup chairman and chief executive officer Jeffrey A. Joerres says, “We are anticipating the third quarter of 2012 diluted earnings per share to be in the range of 64 to 72 cents.”

Conference Board News Release (07/19/12)

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the U.S. declined 0.3% in June to 95.6 (2004 = 100), following a 0.4% increase in May and a 0.1% decline in April. “The U.S. economy is growing very slowly,” says Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein. “The CEI basically reflects this steady but soft pace of overall economic activity. The LEI is pointing to no strengthening over the next few months, as the economy continues to sail through strong headwinds domestically and internationally.”

Reuters (07/19/12) Lucia Mutikani

The U.S. economy continued to contract in the third quarter as factory output in the mid-Atlantic region fell to a 1.4% annual rate in the second quarter after a brisk 9.8% pace in the first three months of the year and new claims for unemployment benefits climbed last week. “The data confirm that the economy has cooled off pretty considerably late in the second quarter and early in the third quarter from the pace we saw earlier in the year,” said RBS economist Omair Sharif. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said its business activity index for the mid-Atlantic region posted a reading of minus 12.9 in July, compared with minus 16.6 in June. A reading below zero indicates contraction in output in factories in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware.