Business

A recent Dun & Bradstreet report found that global businesses are less optimistic about the economy in Q1 as weak global economic growth, rising geopolitical risks, and trade policy uncertainties weigh on their minds.

The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said it decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 0.25% to 4.25%-to-4.5%. This was preceded by a September’s 0.5% reduction, to 4.75%-to-5%, which marked the first time there had been a rate cut in four years, with the last one coming in 2020, during the pandemic, as well as a 0.25% cut, to 4.5%-to-4.75% made in November.

Crowell & Moring law partner Stefan Meisner discussed the recent decision by the Federal Trade Commission to ban noncompete agreements.

Regardless of how many years of experience one has, managing supply chain and logistics operations through periods of risk and challenging times requires equal helpings of resourcefulness and resilience, among other key factors. That was a key theme in a session at this week’s SMC3 Connections conference in Orlando, Fla., which included Tom Nightingale, CEO, AFS Logistics, Tom Schmitt, President, CEO, and Director, Forward Air, and Brad Stewart, Treasurer and SVP-Investor Relations, Knight-Swift.

Despite crushing unemployment of more than 10 million Americans and historic unrest in wake of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce called the state of American business “resilient” in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, social unrest and distrust in U.S. institutions.

For May, the most recent month for which data is available, the SCI jumped to 5.6, following a 1.9 reading in April, which was almost a full point below March’s 2.8, and marked the highest reading in more than two tears, going back to August 2016.

Procurement professionals have been upping their game in recent years. Those skills are going to come in handy in the years to come.

More than 100,000 United States-based customers polled by express delivery and logistics services provider DHL offered up their insights for various business priorities for this year, including things like business priorities, the international trade relations outlook, the prime regions for international growth, and technology innovations, among others.