Nissan plans global job cuts
Japanese automaker Nissan has doubled its prior target for job reductions and is now planning to cut about 20,000 workers worldwide, as the industry responds to uncertainties generated by heightened trade tariffs.
Executives of Nissan, which has posted slowing sales and profits for several months, said this week it was raising its planned layoffs from a previously announced 9,000 positions, as it seeks to reduce costs. The Yokohama, Japan-based company is responding to new U.S.-imposed tariffs and faces rising competition worldwide for its electric vehicles in particular, especially from Chinese firms.
Nissan employs more than 130,000 globally; specific locations for layoffs have not been identified. The automaker employs about 15,000 workers in the U.S., primarily at three auto plants in Tennessee and Mississippi, and has North American headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee.
Nissan officials said last month that the company plans to “max out” production at its largest U.S. plant, in Smyrna, Tennessee, among other efforts to respond to U.S.-imposed tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts.
Tariffs were a factor as U.S. new-vehicle prices for April rose 2.5% from March, data firm Cox Automotive reported this week. That was more than double the usual 1.1% increase for those two months during the past few years.
Real estate groups back federal tax proposals
Real estate organizations are among business groups supporting details in a tax law overhaul now being weighed by Congress, including those to preserve the mortgage interest deduction and encourage capital investment in properties by small companies.
Based on the draft text released this week for a nearly 400-page bill under review by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, the National Association of Realtors said proposed provisions would bring “significant wins for the real estate sector.”
An NAR statement said the bill in its current form would secure the trade group’s top five tax priorities, including protection of the mortgage interest deduction, strengthened deductions for state and local tax payments, and other deductions geared to small businesses. The group said the legislation could also help increase American homeownership access by preserving current lowered individual tax rates and increasing the child tax credit.
The National Association of Home Builders said this week that it sent a letter to the House committee lauding provisions allowing businesses to deduct property taxes paid to state or local governments in full. The National Federation of Independent Business said small-business tax cuts in the bill would encourage new capital investments and help owners provide greater healthcare benefits to employees.
Small-business confidence slips
Optimism among U.S. small-business owners continues to decline amid economic uncertainty, as fewer plan to increase investments in their operations in coming months, according to the latest monthly survey by the National Federation of Independent Business.
The trade group’s latest outlook index posted at 95.8 for April, the second straight month below the 51-year average of 98, with numbers below 100 generally indicating negative future prospects based on several metrics. The Washington, D.C.-based group has tracked small-business optimism and related survey subjects since 1973.
“While owners are still trying to fill a high number of current job openings, their outlook on business conditions is less supportive of future business investments,” NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said in a statement this week.
The latest survey found that just 15% of respondents expect better business conditions in the months ahead, down 6 percentage points from March and the lowest reading since October. Eighteen percent plan capital outlays in the next six months, down 3 percentage points from March.