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Caterpillar picks up $641M defense contract

Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. said Monday that received a contract worth up to $641 million to build earth-moving tractor scrapers for the Defense Department.

It’s the largest single award from the department that the Peoria-based company has received, the company said in a statement. Get the full story »

GM to put $483M into Tennessee engine plant

General Motors Co. will invest $483 million in its Tennessee plant and call back 483 workers to ramp up production of 4-cylinder Ecotec engines, the company said Friday.

The deal, however, is contingent on GM securing state and local incentives. Get the full story »

Illinois Tool Works affirms third-quarter forecasts

Illinois Tool Works Inc. affirmed its forecast for third-quarter and full-year earnings on Friday.

The company said it expected to report a third-quarter profit of 72 cents to 84 cents a share from continuing operations.

For the full year, ITW said it expected to report earnings of $2.82 to $3.08 a share from continuing operations. Get the full story »

Caterpillar sales accelerate across the globe

Caterpillar says its machine sales in August leaped 37 percent worldwide in August, led by surging sales in Latin and North America.

Boeing adds orders for 20 new planes

Boeing Co. says it booked orders for 20 new aircraft in the last week, although it lost a few, too. The new orders include 15 new 737s. That jet is a workhorse and it dominates Boeing’s order book. Customers also ordered five new 777s, a larger plane often used on longer flights. None of the customers were identified.

Chicago headquarters cited in Boeing WTO loss

Boeing Co. received billions of dollars in illegal government subsidies, including $25 million in incentives that Illinois provided the plane maker to relocate its world headquarters to Chicago in 2001, a panel of the World Trade Organization determined.

The WTO report is confidential and was released to U.S. and European trade officials Wednesday. It is the first ruling in the second of dueling trade cases filed by the U.S. and European Union against each other last decade alleging that aircraft manufacturers had received unfair government support. Get the full story »

Boeing spaceship seats up for sale

Boeing  has lined up a space tourism company to sell seats on the spaceship it wants to build to fly to the International Space Station.

Boeing says it has a deal with Space Adventures to market seats on the flights. Space Adventures currently sells seats on trips to the space station aboard the Russian-built Soyuz spaceship.

EADS open to adjusting U.S. tanker bid

European aerospace group EADS is open to adjusting the price of its refueling aircraft bid if the Air Force asks for final proposal changes, but will still see significant profit from the bid, the company’s U.S. chairman said on Tuesday.

The Air Force has been evaluating rival bids from EADS and Boeing in a competition valued at up to $50 billion, since July, with an eye to awarding a contract this fall. Get the full story »

Boeing says 787 fatigue testing has begun

Boeing Co. said on Monday that it has begun long-term fatigue testing on its new 787, a three-year program meant to simulate the stresses of years of flying.

Harley workers OK pay freeze, job cuts

The Harley- Davidson factory in Tomahawk, Wis., that makes Harley sidecars, windshields and other bike parts and accessories. (Rick Barrett/MCT)

Harley-Davidson workers in northern Wisconsin have approved a labor contract that freezes pay and cuts about 75 jobs at their plant while saving hundreds of other jobs.

Union president Frank Garrou says almost 300 workers at the plant in Tomahawk approved the deal Monday by a margin of about 70 percent to 30 percent. Get the full story »

Smartphones, tablets to drive robust LCD growth

Rapid demand for smartphones and tablet computers this year is expected to cause the global market for small and midsize liquid crystal displays to expand at its fastest pace in three years, according to iSuppli.

The research firm said global shipments of thin-film transistor panels,  advanced types of displays used in sophisticated mobile devices including smartphones and tablet PCs, are set to rise 28 percent. That would be the highest level of growth for the market since 2007, when shipments jumped 50 percent. Get the full story »

Oil spill drives Grainger August sales up 20%

W.W. Grainger Inc.’s August daily sales rose 20 percent as it continued to benefit from the oil spill clean up in the Gulf of Mexico, but the industrial distributor said sales for the first week of September were slowing sequentially. Get the full story »

Air China buys four Boeing planes for $1.2 billion

Air China Ltd. said it has agreed to buy four 777-300ER aircraft from Boeing for a total basic price of $1.15 billion to expand fleet capacity. Get the full story »

Gardner Denver moving HQ to Philadelphia

Machinery maker Gardner Denver Inc. on Wednesday said it will move its headquarters to the Philadelphia area to make the company easier for international customers to reach. Gardner Denver did not specify where in the region it will be headquartered, or when the move might take place. A representative could not be immediately reached for further details. Get the full story »

Boeing subsidiary wins appeal over CIA flights

A Boeing Co. subsidiary prevailed on Wednesday against a lawsuit alleging it had helped the CIA illegally transport prisoners to secret facilities overseas, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco dismissed the lawsuit against Jeppesen Dataplan Inc, finding that rules protecting state secrets made it impossible for the litigation to proceed. The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in the case on behalf of Jeppesen. Get the full story »