Tyson Inc. reports a drop in sales

Tyson Foods Inc., parent of Portland’s Tyson Mexican Original, reported quarterly sales this week that reflected a drop in U.S. demand for chicken.

The quarterly report sent share prices down nearly 7 percent, Reuters reported.

“Demand for chicken has eased in the United States as President Donald Trump’s trade wars resulted in lower exports of U.S. beef and pork to China and Mexico, boosting the domestic supply of the competing meats,” Reuters said.

Shipments of many U.S. agricultural products to China have dwindled as a result of the trade war.

“We are not currently shipping product to China — beef, pork or poultry,” chief executive officer Noel White said in a prepared statement. “So if there is any change, that would provide upside export potential for us.”



Experimenting

The website TechCrunch.com reported last week that Walmart plans to launch an “Intelligent Retail Lab” inside one of its stores in Levittown, New York.

“Walmart wants to use artificial intelligence to better identify when items are running low on stock so that it can proactively replenish the stock. Led by an internal team called Kepler, Walmart also envisions using the technology to identify spills, better understand when shopping carts are running low near the entrance and identify when items are on the wrong shelf,” the website said.



Bonuses cut

The Chicago Tribune reported this week that Walgreens is cutting its bonuses for store managers and other management employees.

The Tribune said the cuts could mean managers will lose out on thousands of dollars.

Earlier, Walgreens raised the minimum number of hours employees must work to qualify for paid time off from 20 hours per week to 30 hours per week.

The company has also reduced health-care insurance benefits for some of its retired employees.



Want probe

A cable industry trade group wants the U.S. Justice Department to look into alleged antitrust practices at Comcast, NBC News reported this week.

The American Cable Association, which represents small- to mid-sized cable systems across the U.S., sent a letter to the Justice Department on Monday asking it to look at Comcast's business practices. Comcast in turn said the allegations were without merit.

Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.



Poor quarter

Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd., parent company of MSSL Wiring Systems of Portland, posted a 14.9 percent drop in its second-quarter profit, largely due to higher expenses.

Net profit fell to $51.46 million in the second quarter that ended Sept. 30, from 4.36 billion rupees a year earlier, the company said.

Chairman Vivek Chaand Sehgal promised better numbers from the January quarter.

“The current quarter will be the last one where there will be a startup cost since we are filling up the order book with what the customers are asking us to do,” he said in a prepared statement.