Goldman Sachs, BOA to cut positions as bond sales slow

Bank of America and Goldman Sachs are among financial firms cutting more than 1,300 workers in an effort to trim expenses and match revenue as equity and bond trading slows.

Bank of America, the biggest U.S. bank, cut about 60 positions in its equity-sales and trading division this month, said two people with knowledge of the decision. Goldman Sachs, the fifth-biggest U.S. bank by assets, plans to eliminate 230 jobs in New York starting in September, according to a filing the firm submitted to the state’s Department of Labor.

The firms join Barclays and Credit Suisse, which are cutting investment-banking workers as they grapple with reduced revenue from buying and selling securities. Fixed-income trading revenue at U.S. banks probably dropped 30 percent in the second quarter from the previous three-month period, while equities trading fell 15 percent, Keith Horowitz, a Citigroup analyst, wrote in a report last week.

Eli Lilly relying on pipeline, China to combat patent loss

Eli Lilly and Co., only months away from losing patent protection for its top-selling drug, Zyprexa, told investors Thursday the keys to overcoming this and other patent losses lie in its labs and emerging markets like China.

The company has 33 potential drugs in mid- or late-stage testing in its development pipeline. Company leaders said during a webcast of a meeting with the investment community in New York City that while revenue may dip in the next few years, they expect some of these drugs to fuel growth after 2014.

They also expect strong growth from Japan, the company’s animal health business and countries like China, which has a growing middle class.

Lilly reiterated Thursday it has no plans for a large-scale deal or to diversify outside its core business. It also said it expects to maintain its dividend “at least at its current level.”

Lockheed Martin to lay off another 1,500 workers

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin plans to cut 1,500 additional jobs, saying Thursday that it needs to reduce costs at a time when the Pentagon has pared back spending.

The announcement of job cuts within its airplane-making business arrives just two weeks after the company announced 1,200 job cuts in its space systems equipment division. Lockheed Martin employs about 126,000 people worldwide.

National budgetary pressures have prompted the Obama administration and Congress to pare back defense spending.

A House panel this month approved a defense spending bill that puts limits on the number of U.S. dollars going into Iraq and Afghanistan.

That is $9 billion less than President Barack Obama requested.

Lockheed Martin Corp. said many of the aeronautics cuts will fall among higher-paid workers at its biggest facilities in Fort Worth, Marietta, Ga., and Palmdale, Calif.

Judge rejects Boeing request to dismiss NLRB lawsuit

A federal judge on Thursday denied Boeing Co.’s request to toss out a government lawsuit that claims the company illegally retaliated against unionized workers by moving some work from Washington state to South Carolina.

The ruling by Administrative Law Judge Clifford Anderson is an early victory for the National Labor Relations Board, which has been widely criticized by Republicans and business groups for bringing the case.

The NLRB alleges that Boeing violated labor laws by opening a new production line for its 787 airplane in South Carolina. The agency claims Boeing opened the new plant to punish Washington state workers for past strikes and wants the company to return the work to Washington.

Boeing denies the charges, saying it opened the South Carolina plant for valid economic reasons. A hearing on the case, which could take months to resolve, began in Seattle on June 14.