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RISING

Defense contractors: State manufacturers contracting with defense agencies have reason for optimism this week. First, Oshkosh Corp. gets a boost from the White House as it’s one of 24 American companies chosen for the Obama administration’s first Cabinet-level trade mission to China and Indonesia. The mission — part of an effort to double U.S. exports within five years — brings Oshkosh to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Jakarta. Meanwhile, the president of Marinette Marine says that if his company receives a $500 million Navy contract for Littoral Combat Ships, shipping workers from the Gulf Coast will be streaming into Northeast Wisconsin to get work. Richard McCreary said his company’s workforce could rise from 950 to more than 2,000 in the next few years, paying anywhere from $10 an hour for apprentices to nearly $40 an hour for journeymen in skilled trades. The state has prepared a $49 million incentive package to help win the contract.

MIXED

Banks: Wisconsin’s banking sector appears healthier in the first quarter of the of the year, with one in seven state banks reporting losses according to the latest numbers from the FDIC. That compares to one of every three banks reporting losses in the previous quarter. Of the state’s 281 banks, 42 reported a loss, including a $111.6 million loss for M&I Bank, the state’s largest. M&I is also highlighted by the latest Weiss Ratings list of U.S. banks as one of the largest 20 banks still vulnerable to financial difficulties or potential failure. The Weiss analysis shows 97 vulnerable Wisconsin banks, with most of southeastern Wisconsin’s most prominent banks receiving a grade of “D+” or worse. Thirty Wisconsin banks were listed as strong in the Weiss Ratings, including Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company and Waukesha State Bank.

FALLING

Ginseng: Wisconsin’s ginseng producers continue to cope with the fallout from a snowstorm earlier this month that could devastate their crops. The state agriculture department approves a crisis exemption allowing farmers to use a pesticide to help protect damaged plants, while Gov. Jim Doyle expands his initial request to the USDA for a Marathon County disaster declaration to neighboring Lincoln and Langlade counties. The declaration would clear the way for emergency loans and crop insurance payments. Wisconsin produces 95 percent of the country’s ginseng crop, and the bulk of it is grown in those three counties. The crop was worth $10 million dollars in 2007, but growers expect losses from the storm to last for the next four to five years — the amount of time its takes ginseng to mature after planting.