Honeywell International said Monday that it welcomes the anticipated defense cuts slated for January 2, and has already incorporated sequestration into its public planning. Unlike other CEOs from the defense industry that have been vocally opposing the cuts, Honeywell’s Mike Madsen said the company wasn’t fighting the cuts because “they need to occur.”
Madsen told The Wall Street Journal that Honeywell is expecting 80 percent of the sequester cuts to take effect, a view that also contrasts with the majority of business leaders who have expressed confidence that the cuts will be avoided.
“We recognize these cuts are going to happen," Madsen said. - Read more at The Wall Street Journal
MOODY’S DOWNGRADES FRANCE Frankfurt am Main, November 19, 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded France's government bond rating by one notch to Aa1 from Aaa. The outlook remains negative.
Today's rating action follows Moody's decision on 23 July 2012 to change to negative the outlooks on the Aaa ratings of Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. At the time, Moody's also announced that it would assess France's Aaa sovereign rating and its outlook, which had been changed to negative on 13 February 2012, to determine the impact of the elevated risk of a Greek exit from the euro area, the growing likelihood of collective support for other euro area sovereigns and stalled economic growth. Today's rating action concludes this assessment. - Read more at Business Insider
FITCH: GRIM OUTLOOK FOR THE FISCAL CLIFF Piling onto the heap of grim economic forecasts amid the looming fiscal cliff, the Fitch Rating agency warned on Monday that if Congress and the White House fail to cut a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, it would likely trigger a second recession, shoot the unemployment rate up to 10 percent and cause a 2 percent decline in gross domestic product.
Since the consequences are so great, the rating agency said that it expects Washington to reach a deal and avoid the cliff before the end of the year. “Given the far-reaching effects of the fiscal cliff, it is not expected that Congress will allow these tax and spending cuts to take effect,” Michel McDermott, Fitch managing director and head of the U.S. transportation team. - Read more at Reuters
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