Airbus A380 Cracks, Nokia Cuts Jobs: Hot Trends
NEW YORK (
) -- Popular searches on the Internet Wednesday include Airbus A380 as checks for wing cracks are set to be extended for the entire fleet.
European air safety officials are reportedly preparing to extend the checks after
Qantas Airways
grounded one of its planes upon finding it had 36 wing cracks. The plane had been encountering severe turbulence.
Airbus
hasn't commented on the extended checks.
The plans for further inspection come after an order by the European Aviation Safety Agency calling for wing crack checks on 20 A380 planes that were among the most traveled. That order, which was made on Jan. 20, will now be increased to cover the entire fleet of 68 planes. Airbus previously attributed the cracks to a manufacturing glitch and said short-term repairs will take five days per plane. Alternate materials and new assembly methods will be planned as long-term solutions.
Airbus is the largest manufacturer of passenger jets.
Nokia
(NOK) - Get Report
is trending after it announced it's shifting manufacturing operations to Asia and ending phone assembly operations in Europe.
The company said cell phone assembly in Europe will be halted by the end of this year, as it has shifted assembly to Asia in order to speed up the process and ultimately make the company more competitive. A majority of Nokia's suppliers are based in Asia.
Nokia said it plans to cut 4,000 more jobs at three plants in Mexico, Hungary and Finland, on top of the nearly 10,000 layoffs the company announced last year. The company said those factories wouldn't be closed.
Nissan
is another popular topic as the company could end up being the most profitable of Japan's big three automakers this year.
The company is on track to be the most profitable, with its net profit forecast at 290 billion yen ($3.77 billion) for the year ending in March, considerably higher than
Honda's
(HMC) - Get Report
215 billion yen forecast and
Toyota's
(TM) - Get Report
estimate of profit of 200 billion yen. The company reported quarterly profit that rose 3.2% on higher sales and also increased its annual profit forecast by more than a third.
The chatter on Main Street (a.k.a. Google, Yahoo! and other search sites) is always of interest to investors on Wall Street. Thus, each day, TheStreet compiles the stories that are trending on the Web, and highlights the news that could make stocks move.
-- Written by Brittany Umar
.
Brittany joined TheStreet.com TV in November 2006 after completing a degree in Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers College. Previously, Brittany interned at the local ABC affiliate in New York City WABC-TV 7 where she helped research and produce On Your Side, a popular consumer advocacy segment.
