In 1937, Erenpreiss shifted his operations to an enormous purpose-built factory, amid forecasts that there would be five times as many bicycles in Riga by 1990.
Weaker than forecast factory output in Germany and China sent the oil price below $100 on Tuesday and raised expectations that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates at its monthly meeting next month.
But as conditions worsen, as many economists and governments are forecasting, factory and construction workers, waiters in the fancy restaurants of Bangkok and the chambermaids in Jakarta's hotels will have little choice but to return to their villages if they lose their jobs.
It has special data systems installed in each of its factories to monitor weather forecasts.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast that factory orders would slip 0.1 percent in November from a previously reported 0.9 percent decline in October.
TAKEMITSU TAKIZAKI Japan $1.5 billion u Age: 54 Takizaki's Keyence, a maker of factory automation equipment, is forecasting a 31% gain in group net profit next year to about $150 million.
Factory orders in May were forecast to rise 0.9percentt, according to the median estimate of 65 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
In the United States, other reports showed a decline in existing home sales in May and a rise in first-time jobless claims that was worse than forecast, while regional factory activity contracted.
Other reports include the Chicago purchasing managers index for March (Monday), the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index for March and February construction spending (Tuesday), the Automatic Data Processing payrolls forecast, and February factory orders (Wednesday) and the I.S.M. service index (Thursday).
Valeo of France, one of Europe's biggest auto parts makers, said today that it would eliminate about 1,000 jobs in the next six months at factories in North America because its forecasts for the global automobile market predicted a slowdown in the European market.
