Boeing loses $56 mln in fourth quarter

According to the fourth quarter financial report released by Boeing Wednesday, the revenues for the quarter declined 27 percent to 12.7 billion dollars, under the effects of the strike which reduced commercial airplane deliveries by approximately 70 units and revenues by an estimated 4.3 billion dollars.
For the full year of 2008, Boeing's net income fell 34 percent to 2.7 billion dollars, earnings per share was 3.71 dollars, and revenue fell 8 percent to 60.9 billion dollars. Boeing said the declining full-year results were impacted by the strike, the 747 charge and the litigation-related reserve.
Jim McNerney, Boeing's chairman, president and CEO, recognized the progress Boeing made last year was outweighed by the impact of the strike and performance on some key development programs.
"Our imperative going forward is improving execution where it needs to be improved, maintaining strong performance across all our production programs, and preserving our financial strength to grow in these challenging economic times." said McNerney.

China 4Q business climate index

The index ranges from zero to 200. A reading above 100 shows economic expansion, while a reading below 100 indicates contraction. The survey began in 1998.
The index for industry was 98.5, down 27.3 points quarter-on-quarter. The indices for wholesalers and retailers and property developers slid by 16.4 points and 17.2 points to 127.2 and 101.7, respectively.
The index for domestic publicly traded companies fell 39.4 points to 106.2 and the entrepreneurial confidence index sank 29.2 points to 94.6.
Renowned economist Cheng Siwei told a conference Thursday the economy grew about 8 percent during the fourth quarter of 2008, down from 9 percent in the third quarter and 10.4 percent in the first half.