Fight for Hires Pits Company Against Company: Brooke Sutherland

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It’s been a busy week for earnings, but with Friday (finally) upon us, two trends are clear: shortages and rising costs.

Ford Motor Co. said that the widely documented semiconductor scarcity would force it to produce 1.1 million fewer cars than it would like to this year, shaving about $2.5 billion off its 2021 earnings. Construction and mining equipment companies Caterpillar Inc. and Komatsu Ltd. — which have been investing in increasingly high-tech, digitally connected machinery — warned the chip shortage may affect them, too, potentially kneecapping a ...