The long awaited economic recovery is finally under way. However it’s a slow, gradual and hardly noticeable process that tolls high on consumers’ confidence and leaves them in depressing situation. Unemployment rate is still hovering around 9 percent and consumers are still lacking job security. However, they have somehow started spending again- not as much as they used to do, but still the change in their spending pattern has been noticed.
However things are not that rough and tough for the big American corporations as they are for the consumers. The Fortune 500 companies have cut their costs so fast and so perfectly that their earnings rocketed even in a small economic recovery. The companies listed on Fortune 500 list exhibited an unprecedented comeback mainly due to cost cutting-especially labor costs. Millions of layoffs got good fortune to the big giants of business. In 2009, the Fortune 500 companies earnings soared from $90 billion to 391 billion, a 355% billion increase that’s the second highest in the last 56 years. For 2009, return on sales of the Fortune 500 companies increased from less than 1 percent to 4 percent which is quite close to the 4.7 percent historical average. Wall Marts is ranked first among the Fortune 500 companies, whereas the former No.1 Exxon Mobil holds the second position this year.
