Business

Another Progress Energy executive is out at Duke Energy in the latest personnel shuffle of the merged companies.  A Duke Energy spokesman says changes required in a settlement with North Carolina utility regulators sparked a "domino effect."  

Seven top executives are shifting titles and roles in what resembles a game of musical chairs.

The Charlotte business community gathered Monday for a diagnostic take on the U.S. economy from the city's top industries. Executives of Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Duke Energy, Nucor and Premier health care alliance offered a grim picture of slow growth and high unemployment. 

If the U.S. economy had a life coach, every pep-talk these days would be along the lines of "Look pal, you gotta 'Fake it 'til you make it.' Confidence breeds success.  All this worry is bringing you down."

The U.S. government and the nuclear industry are betting on new, much smaller nuclear reactors that can be mass produced in factories, and shipped around the world. 

"We are trying to jumpstart a new U.S. industry," says Assistant Secretary of Energy Pete Lyons. "That’s my goal: A U.S. industry, U.S. jobs, clean energy."

Last month the Department of Energy partnered with Charlotte-based nuclear company Babcock & Wilcox to finish development, in a deal that could total over $400 million. But critics worry that the model for the new reactor is flawed at its core.

To "eat local" typically means dining on fresh produce, meat and dairy from nearby farms. But WFAE's Julie Rose discovered another way to "eat local" that is a thriving industry in the Charlotte region.

The Charlotte Regional Partnership estimates there are more than 200 companies processing food locally with some 15,000 employees and $5 billion in yearly sales.

Let's dine on the fruits of their labor.

First to the meat counter. Perdue and Tyson have huge poultry processing plants in our region.

Mecklenburg County is adding 18 new building inspectors, in response to an expected surge in construction, but that has not necessarily led to a surge in construction jobs.

Mecklenburg Code Enforcement Director Jim Bartl says his office has been steadily getting busier. By spring, he expects to be so busy that his office will need the new staff.

“What we’ve been observing, which is a trend for 21 months especially on the commercial side, is a slow climb out of the depths of the recession,” Bartl says.

Super stores, including Walmart, K-Mart, and Target opened on the night before Black Friday this year. At the Target near Uptown, Juanita Stinson sketched out her shopping plan.

"I don’t plan on getting home 'til seven in the morning or later," Stinson says. "Go to sleep, get up around 3 in the afternoon, hit it again."

But, some people don’t approve of Black Friday’s encroachment into the holiday.

If you’re a coffee drinker, there’s a good chance you’ve had a cup of S&D Coffee and don’t know it. The Concord-based company supplies McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, Circle K, and Krispy Kreme, among others, with coffee, tea, and creamers. S&D has over 600 employees in the state and now plans to add another 200 to that count.

In the late 1990s, there were what were called "Crystal Meetings". Top executives from ten Asian-based tech companies met in hotels and bars in Taiwan to set the price of LCD screens.  In other words, price-fixing.

Duke Energy says earnings in the third quarter rose 26%, primarily because it was the first full quarter to include Progress Energy.  That figure slightly exceeded analyst expectations, but questions remain about challenges Duke Energy faces going forward.

The list includes:

Duke Energy says earnings in the third quarter rose 26%, primarily because it was the first full quarter to include Progress Energy.  That figure slightly exceeded analyst expectations, but questions remain about challenges Duke Energy faces going forward.

The list includes:

Chiquita Brands International announced a $67 million third-quarter loss Wednesday, but the company's new CEO Ed Lonergan  said that was better than he expected in a year beset with relocation expenses and volatility in European markets.  It was Lonergan's first earnings announcement since being hired last month to replace Fernando Aguirre. 

If you’re applying for a job with a construction company and say you can lift 100 pounds, you better make sure you can do it comfortably. One Kannapolis employer is now using a new fitness exam for prospective hires aimed at reducing worker’s compensations claims.

At the Northeast Rehab center in Concord, physical therapist Sandie Warantz is showing off one of the first things someone applying for a position with the Wayne Brothers construction company might have to do.

When Bank of America announces quarterly earnings this week, foreclosures and defaulting loans will once again be a key part of the equation.

The Charlotte bank has spent four years wading through a sea of troubled mortgages it took on with the 2008 acquisition of Countrywide. Along the way it's become a favorite target of vitriol - often landing on lists of "most hated institutions" in America. 

But recently, WFAE's Julie Rose discovered some of the people on the front lines of the foreclosure crisis are softening toward Bank of America. 

The new CEO charged with restoring Chiquita's profits is on the job now and busy introducing himself to the company's 20,000 employees.

Just before speaking with WFAE, he met with an auditorium full of Chiquita employees clad in blue and yellow shirts. Lonergan was impressed.

"That's a really interesting thing for me, because I came here because I have passion for the legacy of this brand and the future potential that it has," says Lonergan. "I also came here because every person I met wears that passion on their sleeve, literally."

Fifteen feet doesn’t sound like a lot, unless you’re pulling a 50-ton airplane. And that’s exactly what teams lined up to do at the U.S. airways hangar in Charlotte this morning. They weren’t there just to show off which team had the largest biceps. The goal was to raise money for United Way of Central Carolinas.

There were 26 teams of 20 employees, but Freight Flyers was the most anticipated team. After all, they’re the defending champs.

Getting a mortgage modified should be significantly easier as of today - assuming five of the nation's largest lenders deliver on promises they made in a $25 billion settlement signed six months ago.

Today is the deadline for Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Ally Financial to implement hundreds of improvements to customer service for home loans.

The North Carolina Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against three mortgage loan modification companies on Friday. Two of the three companies are based in Charlotte.

According to the lawsuit, one of the companies, Community Mortgage Assistance Program, charged customers up to $1,500 in advance. 

Koy Chiu is executive director of the company. On her website, Chiu advertises: “TIRED OF MODIFICATION SCAMS?! KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! SAVE YOUR HOME TODAY!”.

Headlines Thursday were full of news that Bank of America will cut 16,000 jobs by the end of the year. But the headlines can be misleading.

These layoff reports give the impression that every few months there's another major bloodletting at Bank of America. In fact, this latest 16,000 number - and others we've heard in recent months - are all part of the same job cuts announcement Bank of America made last September -  30,000 jobs it said it would cut.

At that time, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan described a plan to get the bloated bank back to its fighting weight.

Almost all North Carolina counties have a lower unemployment rate than they did a year ago. But the latest job numbers show that the state’s economic recovery is much more concentrated than that.

Here’s a simple theory to explain job growth: do you live near an interstate?

"Most of the improvements in the state’s unemployment rate are coming along the I-40 and the I-85, I-95 corridors," said Allan Freyer, an analyst for the N.C. Budget and Tax Center.

Freyer said big cities off the interstates are the only places really recovering in North Carolina. 

The merger between Duke and Progress Energy is still under investigation by state regulators, but that hasn't stopped the companies from moving ahead with the marriage.

They're actually obligated to start generating significant savings for customers right off the bat. Much of those savings originate in a heavily-secured room full of computer screens at Duke's Uptown headquarters.

As marriages go, Duke and Progress are a blended family in the Carolinas, not unlike the Brady Bunch.

Layoffs and cost-cutting are underway at one of the most recent marquee companies to relocate to Charlotte. Chiquita Brands International announced a restructuring plan last week that will cut 300 jobs in the coming months, including 15 here in Charlotte. . . and that CEO Fernando Aguirre is on his way out.

It was a disappointing surprise for the Charlotte business community, but not for Aguirre.

He was pleased to see banana pudding on the menu for business leaders at a Rotary club lunch yesterday

Duke CEO Jim Rogers again took questions from regulators today - this time in Florida, where the company now has a presence thanks to its merger with Progress Energy.