Word: slowdown
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Tied to Japan. Rates have collapsed because there is a surplus of ships on the world's trade routes. And the surplus underscores the fact that the international shipping business is inextricably tied to the fortunes of Japan, which now faces a slowdown in its economic boom. At the heart of the problem are the Japanese steel mills. Japan is the world's third largest producer of steel, but virtually all of its iron ore and coal must be shipped in from mineral-rich countries abroad...
What nobody foresaw was that, largely because of a slowdown in capital spending and a rise in interest rates, Japanese steelmen would suddenly encounter rough weather. In January, they revised their forecasts: no increase in production for either fiscal 1971 or 1972. Almost immediately, the shipping companies were left with millions of tons of excess ships that they had chartered, and freight rates plummeted. To cut their losses, companies offered to recharter their vessels to other shipping firms at bargain-basement prices. One company in a large Japanese commercial group, for example, chartered a 54,000-ton bulk carrier late...
...form of price increases. A special difficulty is the ability of giant companies in concentrated markets to maintain or even to increase prices despite falling demand. That ability is one reason the Nixon Administration still has not made the gains against inflation that it expected by engineering the business slowdown of 1970. Many big corporations set prices calculated to give them a fixed profit return on investment; if sales drop, they often increase prices in order to hit the profit target...
With roads washed out, bogging down allied and Communist troops alike, and with low ceilings grounding helicopters and jets much of the time, the monsoon has traditionally brought a welcome respite to Indochina's battlefields. On the U.S. side, a slowdown in activity was already evident at the beginning of the month as the withdrawal proceeded; in the week ending June 5, American fatalities fell to 19, the lowest seven-day toll since October 1965. Yet U.S. officials in Saigon are particularly concerned as the monsoon season begins this year. In selected areas, Communist troops are not only maintaining...
...bedroom suite. Says John Mados, director of Helmsley's hotel operations: "You won't find any men with funny hats and name badges in my lobby." The snob appeal may pay off: hotels charging $30-and-up per night have suffered less from the slowdown than those with more economical room rates...