Cooper Bussmann is simplifying the search for the right fuse and fuse block replacement with its new FuseFinder mobile application.

General Cable, Highland Heights, Ky., joined IDEA’s Platinum Band, the top level of IDEA’s Band of Excellence Program, which recognizes manufacturers for providing exceptional marketing support to trading partners by providing rich product data to IDEA’s Industry Data Warehouse (IDW).

NAED is throwing its support behind the reintroduced Shaheen-Portman Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act (ESIC).

Buckles-Smith, San Jose., Calif., has acquired Plough Electric Supply, San Francisco.

Madison names new reps in Southern California and Pennsylvania-Delaware markets.

New officers at the North Central Electrical Manufacturers Club, new regional sales managers at Wheatland Tube and NICOR Lighting, a new CFO for Ideal Industries and David Gabriel of Sonepar joins the board at KapStone Paper and Packaging.

While housing starts declined 16.5% in April, the U.S. Census Department said building permits in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,017,000, 14.3% above the revised March rate of 890,000 and 35.8% above the April 2012 estimate of 749,000. Meanwhile the PMI slipped a little and the Conference Board's indicators looked pretty good.

Electrical Marketing’s Electrical Price Index (EPI) continued its trend of little or no change in April.

The U.S. Census Department announced last week that privately-owned housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 853,000, 16.5% percent below the revised March estimate of 1,021,000, but 13.1% above the April 2012 rate of 754,000. Single-family housing starts in April were at a rate of 610,000, 2.1% below the revised March figure of 623,000. The April rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 234,000.

Electronics giant Toshiba Corp., Tokyo, Japan, is pushing further into the LED lighting market. LED lighting manufacturer Bridgelux, Livermore, Calif., agreed to sell its gallium-nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) technology and related assets to Toshiba in a deal that also calls for the companies to strengthen and extend their strategic technology collaboration through an expanded licensing and manufacturing partnership.

GE Lighting, East Cleveland, Ohio, has worked with HVAC manufacturer Trane, St. Paul, Minn., to develop a new way for commercial building owners and managers to apply advanced control strategies for lighting, heating and cooling operations.

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The global economic outlook remains lackluster, with real GDP growth predicted at only 2.5% in 2013 and then gradually accelerating to 3.5% in 2014. The sustained weak growth is the result of deleveraging (including very tight fiscal policies) and political uncertainties in the United States and Europe.

North America’s largest electrical distributors are adapting to radical changes in their customers’ purchasing habits, according to responses to Electrical Wholesaling magazine’s annual Top 200 survey.

Kriz-Davis Co., Grand Island, Neb., plans to acquire the Russell Belden Electric Co. (RBE), Joplin, Mo. The acquisition will expand the Kriz-Davis footprint from 13 to 17 locations, broadening the company’s presence in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.