No Rush to Hire Even as Profits Soar
Wall Street Journal/Feb 7
With 73% of the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index by market value having reported fourth-quarter results, earnings are up 28% from a year earlier and sales are up 7.7%. But the contrast between profit and job growth remains a big hurdle for companies hoping to keep expanding their business.
Corporate profits surge
Deloitte/Feb 3
Corporate profits surged in 2010, according to analysis of fourth quarter 2010 company results by Deloitte, the business advisory firm. The results were stronger than expected with 69% of company results exceeding market forecasts, indicating a positive outlook for companies going into 2011. The 187 US companies that reported fourth quarter results posted an average growth in net income or profits of 45% over the last year. The 34 European companies in the study, most of them based in Continental Europe, have seen profits rise on average by 25% over the last year.