Commodity prices are falling and given the global economic crisis, aluminum, gold, diamond and copper miner Rio Tinto has announced it will cut 14,000 jobs (13% of its workforce). Expense cuts don’t stop there; Rio Tinto said it would also cut capital expenditure by $4 billion in 2009. The company is continuing to struggle with $40 billion in debt and unfavourable market prices. Rio Tinto also recently fought off a hostile takeover by BHP Billiton for $66 billion, which drove Rio Tinto’s stock price down significantly. Rno Tinto also acquired Alcan last year for $38 billion with mainly debt.

In other news, SFK has announced it will cut 6% of its workforce in the US and Europe as a direct result of the financial crisis. SFK sales is expected to decline by 15% in Q4.