LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We’re just not going to be able to duplicate the growth we saw in the first quarter.”
Ryan Sweet,
a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc.
Article, 1DUSA Truck first-quarter loss rises 79%
USA Truck Inc. of Van Buren on Thursday widened a first-quarter net loss and said its performance was hurt, in part, by idled trucks.
The carrier reported a net loss of $4.87 million, or 47 cents per share, for the quarter that ended March 31, a 79 percent increase over the net loss of $2.72 million, or 26 cents per share, for the same year-ago period.
USA Truck missed the average net loss estimate of 38 cents per share from three analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
The trucker reported total revenue of $123.67 million, a small decrease from the $124.04 million in the first quarter of 2011.
“Our overall financial performance remained approximately the same as the third and fourth quarters of 2011,” the carrier said in a news release.
Net losses were reported in both of those quarters.
Revenue was hurt by “unmanned” tractors. As many as 200 trucks were idled during March.
Drop seen in state’s milk production
Arkansas dairy farmers produced less milk from January through March than in the corresponding 2011 period, according to data released Thursday by the National Agricultural Statistical Service.
The Arkansas Milk Production Report showed 38 million pounds of milk were produced by 11,000 cows during the first quarter, a 3 percent decrease compared with 39 million pounds produced by 12,000 cows.
Dick Bell, Arkansas’ secretary of agriculture, said in a previous interview that production numbers, in part, reflected good weather conditions and the figure for the month of March alone had been the best for a month since May 2010.
“That was nice to see since dairy farmers have struggled for some time,” he said, referring to drought.
Nationally, production figures registered gains at 51 billion pounds of milk produced by 9.23 million dairy cows.
30-year mortgage climbs to 3.9%
NEW YORK - Mortgage rates in the U.S. rose for the first time in four weeks, increasing borrowing costs as demand for housing is slow to recover.
The average rate for a 30-year mortgage climbed to 3.9 percent in the week that ended Thursday from 3.88 percent, Freddie Mac said in a statement. The average 15-year rate rose to 3.13 percent from 3.11 percent, the lowest in the McLean, Va.-based mortgage-finance company’s records.
While the housing market is improving by some measures, weak job growth and stricter lending standards are weighing on a recovery.
Homeowners are taking advantage of low borrowing costs to reduce their monthly payments. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index of refinancing applications surged 14 percent in the period ended April 13, the Washington-based group reported Wednesday. The purchasing gauge fell 11 percent.
Treasury yields down on Europe fear
Treasury 10-year note yields traded below 2 percent for a fifth day on concern the European debt crisis may worsen and as U.S. jobless claims were higher than forecast last week, stoking demand for the safest assets.
The U.S. 10-year note has stayed within seven basis points of 2 percent for almost two weeks in the longest stretch below the level since February. Yields increased at French and Spanish bond auctions, underlining concern that Europe’s debt crisis is far from over. The U.S. is scheduled to sell $16 billion in inflation-linked securities, and the Federal Reserve plans to buy up to $2 billion in Treasuries.
“Fixed-income investors are not ignoring the fact that, over the last three weeks, economic data has been worsening,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at the broker-dealer BTIG LLC in New York. “Europe is obviously an important portion of the story.”
Treasuries have fluctuated between gains and losses each day this week. They rose Wednesday as concern about Europe’s debt crisis boosted demand for the safest assets.
Business, Pages 26 on 04/20/2012