Company won’t turn a profit: Steel manufacturer Nucor Corp. revised its first-quarter forecast and now expects a loss rather than a profit, saying demand from its customers has eroded more than expected and overall product pricing dropped. The Charlotte, N.C.-based manufacturer said it expects to report a first-quarter loss in the range of 55 cents to 65 cents a share. Nucor previously said the results would be marginally better than the fourth quarter when it reported earnings of 34 cents a share, but it did not issue numerical first-quarter guidance. Nucor is considering a site in southeastern Louisiana, along with one in Brazil, to build a $2 billion pig iron plant.
Smoke ’em if you can afford ’em: State Rep. Karen Carter Peterson says she’ll file legislation to raise the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1. That would raise the tax to $1.36 per pack. Peterson, D-New Orleans, says the extra revenue would reduce the state budget deficit and cut health costs by making smoking less popular. Louisiana currently ranks 45th for cigarette taxes.
Oversupply of gas, scaled back vacation plans to keep costs down: Gas prices are expected to stay low this summer, thanks to an oversupply of fuel and consumers scaling back vacation plans in the face of the national recession, the Houston Chronicle reports. Analysts are split over how low prices will stay; the Oil Price Information Service in New Jersey estimates that a slight seasonal uptick will cause prices to hit an average $2.25 a gallon nationally during the summer, while IHS-Global Insight expects the national average will remain around $1.75 next month as crude oil prices continue to fall. Read the story here.
