A survey by the U.S. Federal Reserve, released Wednesday, found that weak consumer spending, slow job growth and tight credit are restraining growth into the second half of the year.

Growth slowed in eight of the Fed’s 12 bank regions in June and early July, the report found, compared with the spring. That marked the worst showing this year.

The Fed’s survey found that factory output weakened in some areas. That’s likely to heighten concerns that manufacturing, one of the economy’s few bright spots over the past two years, is sputtering.

Further such evidence came in a separate report Wednesday from the U.S. Commerce Department, which found that businesses reduced orders for airplanes, autos, heavy machinery and other long-lasting manufactured goods in June.

Orders for durable goods fell 2.1 percent, the department said. It was the second drop in three months.

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Brazilian petrochemical producer Braskem (NYSE: BAK) announced Wednesday (Jul 27) it has acquired the polypropylene (PP) unit of Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) for US$323mn, making it the largest PP producer in the US.

The agreement involves two plants in the US, in Texas state’s Freeport and Seadrift, with combined production capacity of 505,000t/y; and two in Germany, in northern cities Wesseling and Schkopau, with a total 545,000t/y production capacity.

The US plants will boost Braskem’s PP production capacity in the country by 50%, to 1.43Mt.

At a press conference, CEO Carlos Fadigas said that including synergies from the transaction, which he estimated to have a net present value of US$140mn, the multiple paid for the business was 3.6 times Ebitda.

As a result of the transaction, Braskem will go from being the world’s eighth largest producer of thermoplastic resins to between the fourth and sixth largest, Fadigas added.

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Steve Hilton, one of David Cameron’s closet advisers, has raised eyebrows among members of the coalition by suggesting the UK should ditch maternity leave and scarp consumer rights laws in a bid to kick-start the economy.

The policy guru, who masterminded Mr Cameron’s poorly received “Big Society” idea, also suggested the UK government should ignore European labour regulations on temporary workers and abolish all Jobcentres.

Speaking to the Financial Times, an insider explained Mr Hilton’s thoughts on maternity leave laws: “Steve thinks that they are the biggest obstacle to women finding work, because companies know they are required by law to offer maternity leave.

“He also wanted to suspend all consumer rights legislation for nine months to see what would happen. Some of his i

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They seem crazy, but are they insane? I don’t think so. And investors don’t think so either … at least not yet.

The Asian markets are barely red tonight, with the Nikkei off 0.6%.

From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures: the S&P 500 is off about 11 points, and Dow futures are off about 105 points.

A couple of articles, but nothing new …

From the WaPo: Debt-limit talks at a standstill as parallel strategies take shape in House, Senate

From the WSJ: Gridlock for Debt Talks

Yesterday: Schedule for Week of July 24th

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A new “Vitality Index” shows Memphis has among the strongest vital signs of cities across the nation.

It also indicates the old Memphis self-loathing may be giving way to self-loving.

Creative Cities International, a New York-based consulting organization that values local culture in urban planning, looked at a balanced mix (for geography and size) of 35 U.S. cities and ranked Memphis 18th.

The city’s position may seem middle of the road, but Memphis ranked ahead of places such as Dallas (19th), Denver (24th), Portland, Ore.

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