A source today confirmed to us General Motors tomorrow is scheduled to announce a massive investment of $500-million in the city of St. Catharines, Ontario, in Canada, as part of a plan to produce a new vehicle transmission system.

The source provided the information on condition of anonymity, as they were not permitted to disclose the information.

The capital will be used to design and manufacture a new efficient transmission that would be used in select new GM models.

The announcement will be made tomorrow by GM at the plant, with a ceremony that will include GM Canada president Kevin Williams, and Industry Minister Tony Clement, among other officials.

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March 2010 marked the fourth consecutive gain in total sales in Canada, with a 2.1-percent gain to $37-billion, according to a report published today by Statistics Canada.

The highest gain in sales came from vehicle and vehicle part sales, seeing a 3.6-percent increase in the month. Gasoline stations also experienced an increase, netting a 2.3-percent game YoY in sales, marking 11 straight months in gains in that sector (table for all sectors).

All of the Canadian provinces experienced net gains in total sales, indicating the Canadian economy is beginning to pick up again as more people spend money more money.

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Both the U.S. Labor Department and Statistics Canada today published employment statistics for the month of April of both respective nations.

The Canadian economy added 109,000 new jobs in April 2010, marketing the largest monthly gain in jobs since the summer of 2002. Interestingly, more than 72,000 of those jobs were taken by men aged 25 and over. Part time positions added 65,000 jobs, while full time added fewer of 44,000 jobs

Canada’s aggregate unemployment rate also marginally declined to 8.1-percent from 8.2-percent.

The Canadian province of Ontario added the most jobs in the month with 41,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate in Ontario remained unchanged at 8.8-percent YoY.

Manitoba added the fewest jobs with 7,000 jobs added, bringing its unemployment rate down to 4.9-percent, which is the lowest unemployment rate in the country.

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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