Panasonic Pins Hopes On Home Appliances

Struggling with deep losses from its flagship television-set business, Panasonic Corp. is pinning its hopes on a less glamorous segment of consumer electronics: refrigerators and washing machines.

Such home appliances, or socalled white goods, represent one of Panasonic’s few steadily profitable operations, and the company is now trying to make this business more competitive world-wide, a senior executive of the company’s home appliances unit said Friday.

Panasonic’s renewed focus on white goods is an indication of the tough situation the Japanese company faces.

Best known among consumers for its flat-panel TV sets, Panasonic is now searching for new sources of growth as it forecasts a record ¥ 780 billion ($ 9.49 billion) net loss for this fiscal year. The company expects its fourth straight fiscal year of losses from its TV business, while its chip business also is in the red.

Seeking to cash in on growing demand for green technology, the company bought Sanyo Electric Co. in 2009 to focus on rechargeable batteries and solar panels, but those businesses are now facing fierce competition from South Korean and Chinese rivals.

Unlike the market for TV sets, though, local needs for specific features in home appliances are often different from country to country, said Mr. Kikuchi, the unit’s vice president For years, Panasonic’s locally hired researchers at eight different overseas locations have been studying consumer lifestyles and needs.

In China and other Asian markets, Panasonic’s white goods have already gained a fairly solid presence after many years of research into specific local needs, Mr. Kikuchi said.But the company doesn’t have a similarly deep understanding of consumers in developed markets outside Japan, such as the U.S. and Europe.

The Wall Street Journal March 2012

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New Jobless Claims Hit Four- Year Low Point

The number of people filing new applications for jobless benefits dropped to the lowest level in four years, easing fears that recent gains in the U.S. job market might prove unsustainable, though a broader gauge of claims continued to suggest that improvement is slowing.

New claims for unemployment insurance fell by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000 last week, the government said Thursday, the lowest level since March 2008. But a less volatile measure, the four-week moving average of claims, remained around the 355,000 level where it has been for the past four weeks.

The latest reports suggest companies are slowing layoffs and looking to expand and hire, but not as fervently as earlier this year. Employers added 227,000 new jobs in February, but the unemployment rate remains high, at 8.3%.

“With claims hitting a new low for the expansion, we’re feeling better that the job market is continuing to improve,” said Robert Mellman, an economist at J.P. Morgan.

The job market has strengthened markedly in recent months, adding fuel to the U.S. economic recovery. But other parts of the economy, such as consumer spending, remain sluggish. Economists have worried a mild winter in the U.S. has propped up recent job growth, and that rising gasoline prices could soon weigh on consumers and businesses. So far, the four- week moving average of claims is down about 5,000 from the corresponding week in February, suggesting a sturdier job market.

But this gauge also has stalled over the past month, suggesting favorable weather is now having less of an effect or that fuel prices are starting to hit. A separate report Thursday from the Conference Board showed that an index of forward- looking economic indicators posted its fifth increase in a row last month, rising 0.7%— the fastest rate of improvement since March 2011. Eight of the 10 indicators in report increased; the biggest negative indicator was “consumer expectations.”

The Wall Street Journal March 2012

Translate the text into Russian: № 16