Layoffs begin at Carrier plant that drew Trump's criticism

More than 300 Carrier Corp. workers were being laid off Thursday from the company's Indianapolis factory as part of an outsourcing of jobs to Mexico that drew criticism last year from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. The nearly 340 workers clocked out after their final shifts at Carrier's gas furnace factory. Carrier announced in February 2016 that it would close the Indianapolis plant and cut about 1,400 production jobs in a move expected to save $65 million annually by moving furnace production to Mexico.

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  The company Donald Trump "saved" lays off more than 300 workers as he celebrates six months in office

  Newsweek
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  Carrier lays off first 300 employees on 6-month anniversary of Trump's presidency

  The Indianapolis Star

Starbucks Has a Disturbing Problem: Even Its Cheerleaders Must Admit This Is a Major Issue

If you listen to Starbucks (SBUX) execs, then everything at the coffee giant is amazing.  Do some work in Microsoft (MSFT) Excel (as the analysts at Credit Suisse did below on Wednesday), and a glaring issue comes to light. That is, for all its digital leadership and ability to crank out new, more expensive drinks, Starbucks sales are on a long-term downtrend. Seeing as employee hourly wages and benefit costs are on the rise, as are costs to open new locations, a stubborn downtrend in sales is very unwelcome. It's especially unwelcome as most on Wall Street remain obsessed with Starbucks' growth prospects -- they could be in for some unfortunate surprises on the bottom line over the next year

Walmart Making Move to Streamline In-Store Merchandisers

◊Walmart (WMT) is said to have announced a new merchandising service program internally that drops the number to five companies able to manage supplier displays and other services in over 4,600 U.S. stores, Talkbusiness.net reports. In-store merchandisers are a large group of mostly hourly contract workers that set up and check on supplier displays in Walmart stores. Recently more third party companies have popped up and the number of merchandisers in stores haven't been following consistent protocols. Walmart U.S. chief merchandising officer Steve Bratspies outlined new guidelines for the company's Merchandising Services Program in a July 18 memo to suppliers, Talk Business added. The new effort