Below is an excerpt from the most recent edition of WisBusiness Tuesday Trends.
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The full product includes several items in each of the rising, mixed and falling categories plus a look at upcoming business events across the state.
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RISING
Health technology: Two state health care pioneers announce lucrative developments over the past week. First, a report shows the Medical College of Wisconsin starting talks with other Milwaukee-area health leaders — Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Froedert Hospital and the Blood Center of Wisconsin — about the development of a public-private effort to expand DNA sequencing to more patients. The Medical College has hired two consulting firms and intends to seek investors for the proposed $60 million institute; MCOW officials say it hopes the center becomes a national leader in easing genetic sequencing — and sparks dramatic changes in the practices of all doctors. Then, Madison-based Cellular Dynamics International announces a contract worth up to $7 million over three years to provide stem cells and tissue cells to the National Institutes of Health Center for Regenerative Medicine. CDI officials say the contract will provide a ready supply of human cells and enable NIH researchers to accelerate their work.
MIXED
Economic optimism: The latest edition of the Wisconsin Economic Scorecard finds Wisconsin residents remain pessimistic about the current state economy, but a growing number feel the state is headed in the right direction. The number of people saying the state is headed in the right direction increased for the third consecutive quarter, up to 61.0 percent. That compares to 54.9 percent in July and 51.2 percent in March. However, of the 472 Wisconsin residents surveyed in late October, 53.4 percent rate the current economy as only “fair,” with 21.6 percent saying it is “poor.” Just 24.1 percent say the state economy is “good”, and less than 1 percent say the state economy is “excellent.” The poll — conducted quarterly by the UWM Center for Urban Initiatives and Research, in cooperation with WUWM radio and WisBusiness.com — also asked about state spending, finding that Wisconsin residents would prefer state revenues to be spent on additional funding for education over receiving tax cuts by a 2‐to‐1 margin — 56.9 percent to 27.3 percent.
See more from the scorecard:
http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=283165
FALLING
Oshkosh Corp.: The Fox Valley vehicle manufacturer says it saw an increased quarterly profit, affirmed projections for earnings increases in the next couple of years and rejected an “inadequate” and “opportunistic” takeover bid by stockholder and billionaire investor Carl Icahn. But that news is overshadowed by hundreds of job losses announced just a day earlier. The layoffs, set to take effect in January, will reduce its overall Oshkosh workforce from 4,500 to 4,000. Company officials attribute the decision to reduced spending by the federal Defense Department as the wars in the Middle East draw toward a close, and say they’re working with union leaders about potential early retirement packages to alleviate some of the losses. A spokesman also says things could still change depending on movement in the industry, but, at the moment, “there’s no huge contract in the near future” to impact the decision. Icahn, meanwhile, submits 13 names for shareholders to consider for positions on the company’s board of directors as his fight to gain control of Oshkosh Corp. continues.
