United Parcel Service (UPS) Inc. today announced specific plans as part of its cost-cutting initiative that is set to take effect this April. UPS also increased its forecast of expected earnings for Q4 2009, and said it expects to now beat analyst expectations of $0.63 per share. The company is now expecting EPS to be in the range of $0.73-$0.75, significantly up from analyst expectations of $0.58-$0.65 per share for Q4 2009.

The company announced today it would cut up to 1,800 jobs as part of a broader cost-cutting restructuring plan.

The company confirmed today the job-cuts would come from management and administrative roles at the firm across the United States.

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President Obama today just wrapped up a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington urging the federal government to do more to help smaller businesses to help create jobs.

Obama’s new proposal aims at investing $50 billion for infrastructure, the removal of capital-gains taxes on new investments for up to a year, more investments in clean energy, and likely most importantly, a tax break for small businesses. The main hope, besides getting firms to increase capital spending, is to get small businesses to hire more people as U.S. unemployment remains above 10-percent.

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The U.S. Labour Department has released new nationwide unemployment figures for June 2009.

According to the report, 467,000 jobs were lost in U.S. in June 2009, with the jobs lost across major industry sectors, including in manufacturing, professional, and industrial industries. Of the June total, 9 million were people who wanted full-time work but simply could not find.

The job losses in June brought the total number of people unemployed in the U.S. to 14.7 million, up from 14.5 million the month before, pushing the U.S. unemployment rate to 9.5 percent, the highest in 26 years.

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Apple Computers has showed interest in building a massive $1 billion data center in North Carolina.

Today, the North Carolina House voted in favor (81 to 31) of a bill that would grant up to $46 million to Apple in tax breaks over the next ten years.

The bill includes various provisions for Apple to get the breaks. Apple would have to provide health insurance, give up other state benefits, and would have to build the facility in one of the poorest counties. Additionally, Apple would have to also reach its $1 billion investment within nine years.

North Carolina in the past has changed existing laws to provide cash incentives to companies making significant investments.

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ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson, 57, earned $23.9 million in 2008 from the company, according to regulatory filings today.

Tillerson income stems from $17.6 million in stock options, $1.9 million base salary, $122,000 for home security, $57,000 for a driver, $446,828 in perks, among other income.

ExxonMobil continues to do very well. In 2008, the company recorded a record profit of $45.2 billion, up from a previous record profit of $40.6 billion in 2007.

Montreal-based airplane and rail maker Bombardier has announced it will cut 3,000 (10% of its total worldwide headcount). jobs from its aerospace division. The jobs cuts will affect workers in Toronto, Montreal, Mexico, Ireland, and the U.S.

Bombardier sales of airplanes have fallen significantly given lower demand as a result of the global financial crisis. Bombardier reported it delivered 349 planes last fiscal year, down from 361 delivered planes the year before.

Bombardier CEO Pierre Beaudoin said today, “We believe we are well positioned to face this difficult economic environment with a strong balance sheet, high level of liquidity,”

Despite the new job cuts, Bombardier is still actively hiring for other aircraft divisions such as the CSeries division.

More recently, Bombardier’s biggest competitor Boeing announced 10,000 job cuts. Competitor Cessna Aircraft also recently announced 2,000 more job cuts.

German sports carmaker Porsche has made EUR 6.8 billion by buying long Volkswagen options. The money was made in only six months ended Jan 31, 2009.

Porsche went long in VW while others shorted the company, including German billionaire Adolf Merckle, 74, who lost $400 million by shorting the VW shares, who later apparently committed suicide by stepping into the path of a train in his home town of Blaubeurennear in southwestern Germany. Read the full story

IBM has just announced plans to cut 5,000 U.S. based jobs as the company moves to cut costs during this tuff economic time. The jobs will probably be transferred to India. IBM continues to shift its workforce to foreign nations, with its total 400,000 strong workforce accounting for more than 71% of foreign workers.

Luxury New York-based jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co has posted earnings as of the quarter-ended January 31, 2009.

The company reported that sales were down 20% to $841.2 million from $1.05 billion. Net income for the quarter was down to $31.1 million ($0.25 per share) from $127.4 million ($0.96 per share) a year ago in the same period. Same store sales were down 23% over last year. Read the full story

Struggling German carmaker Opel is widely rumored to be preparing to close plants in Germany as a move to cut costs during this tuff economic time. Der Spiegel, a German magazine, previously reported Opel was considering closing two plants in Germany and another in Belgium, in total affecting 11,000 jobs. The magazine also notes another possible alternative being evaluated which includes cutting 3,500 jobs and lowering wages for workers across the company.