WestRock To Close (CONT’D FROM PAGE 1 )
The company said that the mill would require “signifi- cant” capital investment to maintain and improve, but that fluff pulp production is not a priority in WestRock’s strategy to focus on higher-value markets. WestRock will divert the funds required to maintain the mill towards improving other key assets. In February this year, the company posted a 12.5 percent net sales growth of $551 million to $4.95 billion for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2022 (FY22), which ended on December 31. Sales of the company’s paper, corrugated packaging and consumer packaging segments rose by $262 million, $201 million and $76 million respectively during the quarter. NAM: Federal Reserve Signals 50-Basis-Point Hike At May Meeting In the minutes to the Federal Open Market Committee’s March 15–16 meeting, participants were determined to deal with inflation in the U.S. economy. While many mem- bers were prepared to increase the federal funds rate by 50 basis points at that meeting, the Russian invasion in Ukraine posed new uncertainties to the outlook, with the FOMC eventually opting to increase rates by just 25 basis points, now ranging from 25 to 50 basis points, according to Chad Moutray, Ph.D. and Chief Economist at the Nation- al Association of Manufacturers. (NAM) Nonetheless, the Federal Reserve seemed positioned to do more at an upcoming meeting, including the next one on May 3–4. From the minutes: “Many participants noted that one or more 50 basis point increases in the target range could be appropriate at future meetings, particularly if inflation pressures remained elevated or intensified.” Recent speeches from Chair Pro Tempore Jerome H. Powell and Gov. Lael Brainard (who is awaiting confirma- tion as vice chair), as well as the FOMC’s economic projec- tions, lend further credence to a 50-basis-point hike at the May meeting, with aggressive increases also coming later this year. Those projections predict a federal funds target of 175 to 200 basis points at year’s end. Bond markets have taken note, with yields soaring last week. For a sign of the real impact of this on everyday Americans, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for the week of March 31 was 4.67 percent, according to Fred- die Mac, the highest since the week of December 6, 2018. These rates are likely to move even higher over the com- ing weeks. Meanwhile, new orders for manufactured goods pulled back 0.5 percent from a record $544.7 billion in January to $542.0 billion in February. These data were pulled lower by declines in sales for motor vehicles and nondefense aircraft. Excluding transportation equipment, manufactur- ing orders rose 0.4 percent to a record $459.2 billion in February.
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Aprill 18, 2022
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