Top Story

• Hopes for U.S. rebound fade as global trade slips
  Key indicators signal a broad drop in the volume of global trade, undercutting the chances of exports giving the U.S. economic recovery a helping hand. The World Trade Organization forecasts a 2.5% growth in global trade this year, compared with 5% in 2011. The CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, an agency of the Dutch government, said global trade contracted in June and July. The Wall Street Journal (10/1)     

	Kawasaki Produces Lawncare's First SAE-Certified Engine In an industry-leading move, Kawasaki Engines are the first small engines power-rated per strict SAE J2723 specifications. The new Critical Power standard delivers at least 98% of rated output, ensuring optimum performance from critical lawncare equipment. Learn more here.

Industry Buzz

• Business evaporates for some plant nurseries
  The recession has hit the nursery industry hard and as many as 30% of nurseries in the U.S. have closed their doors over the past five years, according to Charlie Hall, a horticulture professor at Texas A&M University. Companies are struggling to keep their business afloat as the housing market wobbles, baby boomers move into condominiums and customers select hardscaping instead of plant materials. The Philadelphia Inquirer (9/30)     

• 4 tools that can ease the task of leaf collection
  Black & Decker's Blower/Vacuum Leaf Collection System makes is easy to collect leaves. It has a collector lid that can be placed over a trash barrel and a hose attachment that makes it work like a vacuum cleaner. Three other tools are mentioned in this article as well. The Repository (Canton, Ohio) (9/28)     

• Perfect timing is key to the successful use of a rototiller
  Rototilling breaks down the structure of the soil and does nothing to add value to the dirt, writes Tom Heald, managing partner of the Wyoming Plant Co. Instead of rototilling in the spring, Heald suggests doing it in the fall so the soil has a chance to recover. He also suggests irrigating it before tilling if it's dry and adding up to 4 inches of dead leaves before using the rototiller to add nutrients the soil needs. Star-Tribune (Casper, Wyo.) (9/30)     

• Other News

• Save those fallen leaves!
  The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) (9/30)     

Economic Indicators

• Index shows Japan's manufacturers turning more pessimistic
  The widely followed Tankan index, based on a quarterly survey of Japan's biggest manufacturers, shows that industrial executives anticipate a serious downturn. The index fell to a negative 3 in September, from negative 1 the previous quarter. Bloomberg (9/30)     

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by OPEI SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• Prep your mowers for winter (WEWS-TV (Cleveland))

• Walbro Engine Management becomes part of Carlyle Group (American City Business Journals)

• Durable-goods orders post largest decrease since recession (CNBC)

• Ariens among Wis. firms that found growth in global markets (The Post-Crescent (Appleton, Wis.))

• Want to gain leverage in a golf tournament? Use a lawn mower (The Wall Street Journal)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Inside & Out

• 3 tips to get your customers to read e-mail from you
  If your prospects ignore your e-mail marketing messages, try using graphics to add visual interest, writes Diahana Barnes of LearnEASE. It's also important to let some of your personality shine through in your messages, she writes. "[T]ry to design the email as closely as possible to the experience the individual would have if they were receiving it as a presentation in person." B2C Marketing Insider (9/25)     

• Keep it simple to foster strategic success
  Complexity is a sign of bad strategy, write Donald Sull and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt. A good strategy can be simmered down into basic rules that make execution more manageable. "Simple rules represent the beating heart of strategy. When applied to a critical bottleneck, carefully crafted, and used in a mindful manner, they can guide the activities that matter," they write. Harvard Business Review online/HBR Blog Network (9/27)     

Policy Update

• U.S. payroll-tax cut is expected to end before 2013
  A temporary payroll-tax cut adopted to boost U.S. economic recovery likely will be allowed to expire at year-end, regardless of the outcome of the presidential election. The White House isn't pushing for an extension; Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress it should end; and many Republicans opposed the measure when it passed last year. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (9/30)     

• How Obama and Romney say they'll handle government regulations
  Research shows that many small-business owners are worried about the potential impact of regulations imposed by the government. Since President Barack Obama took office, the health care overhaul and other pieces of legislation have added to the regulatory framework; however, Obama has also initiated a governmentwide review intended to identify potentially counterproductive rules. Meanwhile, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has said he would streamline the process for issuing oil-drilling permits and work to roll back regulations passed on Obama's watch. Entrepreneur online (9/25)     

SmartQuote

Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working." --Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist