Distributor
Industrial distributor MSC Industrial Direct Co. Inc., Melville, New York, reported sales for its fiscal second quarter ended February 29 of $786.1 million, a decrease of 4.5% from the prior-year period. Profit for the quarter was $55.5 million, down 18.9% from the same quarter a year ago. More.
Fastenal Co., Winona, Minnesota, reported first-quarter sales of $1.4 billion, a 4.4% increase over the same period a year ago. Earnings for the quarter rose 4.4% to $202.6 million. More.
Beacon Inc., Herndon, Virginia, has named Frank A. Lonegro as executive vice president and chief financial officer. He will join Beacon on April 20, 2020 and assume his role as CFO on or about May 15, 2020. More.
Pentair plc, London, UK, has made three appointments to its executive leadership team, naming Bob Fishman as executive vice president, CFO and CAO and Mario D’Ovidio as executive vice president and president of the consumer solutions segment. Jerome Pedretti has been promoted to executive vice president and president of the industrial & flow technologies segment. Each will report to John Stauch, Pentair president and CEO. More.
Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) has begun a Weekly Pulse Survey to gauge the impact of COVID-19 and how members’ businesses change week by week. More.
Economic
Led by declines in production- and employment-related indicators, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) fell to –4.19 in March from +0.06 in February. All four broad categories of indicators used to construct the index made negative contributions in March, and three of the four categories decreased from February. The index’s three-month moving average, CFNAI-MA3, decreased to –1.47 in March from –0.20 in February. Following a period of economic expansion, an increasing likelihood of a recession has historically been associated with a CFNAI-MA3 value below –0.70. More.
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers declined 0.4% in March on a seasonally adjusted basis, the largest monthly decline since January 2015, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 1.5% before seasonal adjustment. More.
Manufacturer
Emerson, St. Louis, Missouri, reported second quarter sales of $4.2 billion, down 9% compared with the year-ago period. The company reported net earnings of $524 million, down slightly over the same period in 2019. More.
Kimberly-Clark Corp., Dallas, Texas, reported first-quarter sales of $5 billion, an 8% increase compared with the first quarter of 2018. Organic sales increased 11%. The company reported first-quarter net income of $675 million, up 45% over the same period in 2019. More.
