FA Notes Tuesday October 25, 2011
MMM – “The business environment remains challenging, as the economic softening that we experienced late in the second quarter continued into the third,” said George W. Buckley, 3M chairman, president and chief executive officer. “While growth rates were good across much of our portfolio, LCD TV remained weak and momentum slowed in other parts of electronics following several quarters of very good growth. In addition, ongoing policy uncertainty and austerity are affecting growth in Western Europe, which reduced sales in the quarter. As is typical, we are seeing the impact of these changes earlier than most as our customers decrease production in order to lower their inventories. Conversely, we should benefit more quickly when those markets recover.”
"The quarter turned out to be a very different one than what we expected," 3M Chief Executive George Buckley told analysts on a conference call. "Cause No. 1 was worries about European sovereign debt and the European economy. Cause No. 2 was the rapid contraction of the electronics end markets."
MMM “Canary in coal mine about the economy?” Link
Notes from a session with Felix Zulauf. Link
A celebration of Steve’s life video. Link
Apple’s Jon Ive interview excerpts. Link
Barrons: Trouble at Fairholme. Crazy story how he hires a guy with no investment experience to be his #2. Link
More Jobs book excerpts. Link
DeMark on a SP500 bull-trap. Link
Fortune writer reminisces about Steve Jobs. Link