Large US manufacturers could unleash a wave of bad news in coming weeks after two of the biggest diversified companies in the sector lowered their profit forecasts on Monday, underlining the depth of the problems facing the industry.
3M, one of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, said it was cutting its earnings forecast for this year by about 6 per cent and issued guidance for next year well below expectations, while Illinois Tool Works, the engineering group, slashed its fourth-quarter earnings outlook by about 40 per cent.
