QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Consumers believe the economy has improved, but they do not foresee it gaining considerable momentum in the months ahead.”
Lynn Franco, Conference Board director of economic indicators Article, 1D
Director of LR Port Authority to retire
Paul Latture, executive director of the Little Rock Port Authority, said Tuesday that he plans to retire this summer.
Latture, 67, who has held the position since 1999, will retire June 30. He said the agency plans to hire a new executive director by June.
Latture said now was a good time to leave the agency.
“I am well past the age when one should” retire, he said, adding that “between wanting to beat a golf ball to death and opening the new office building, it seemed like a good time for a transition.”
The Little Rock Port Authority plans to move into a new office building during the summer, Latture said.
UA taps 7 cities for sustainability effort
The Applied Sustainability Center at the University of Arkansas’ Sam M. Walton College of Business has picked seven Arkansas cities to participate in the second year of its Sustainable Energy Scorecards and Education for Municipalities program: Eureka Springs, Rogers, Bryant, Hot Springs, Monticello, Mountain Home and Russellville.
The Arkansas Community Foundation awarded a two year grant totaling $250,000 for the program as part of the foundation’s Sustainable Energy Initiative.
“The cities participating in the program will benefit from learning about the municipal policy innovations and the success stories of other cities nationally and through their attendance at the Sustainable Energy Academy this summer at the University of Arkansas,” Michele Halsell, managing director of the center, said in a news release from the university.
Lidoderm lawsuit nets state $147,448
The Arkansas Medicaid Program will receive $147,448 from a settlement with Endo Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Endo Health Solutions, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Tuesday.
The agreement, which resolved allegations that Endo engaged in unlawful marketing practices related to the pain reliever Lidoderm, was reached with the federal government and several states, including Arkansas.
Endo was accused of illegally promoting Lidoderm for treatment of lower-back pain or chronic pain, thereby causing false claims to be submitted to Medicaid between March 1999 and December 2007. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved the drug only for treatment of pain associated with post-herpetic neuralgia, which is a complication of shingles.
Under the agreement, Endo will pay $172.9 million to the states and federal government, as well as a $20 million criminal fine, the attorney general’s office said.
JPMorgan to shed 8,000 jobs in 2014
JPMorgan Chase plans to eliminate 8,000 jobs this year as its mortgage business shrinks and the giant bank aims to control costs at its branches.
About half of those job cuts had already been announced. JPMorgan Chase now plans to cut more jobs as it tries to reduce $2 billion in consumer banking expenses by the end of 2016.
The new job cuts announced Tuesday include reductions in the bank’s mortgage and retail banking businesses. The bank also cut 16,500 jobs last year in those areas.
The 8,000 layoffs this year are equivalent to about 3 percent of JPMorgan’s workforce of 251,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. also says it will add about 3,000 jobs in other areas this year.
For years, low interest rates caused a boom in mortgage refinancing. But interest rates began rising midway through last year, and now fewer Americans are refinancing. JPMorgan and other big banks reported double-digit declines in their mortgage business at the end of last year.
Tesla shares soar 14% on bullish view
Tesla Motors Inc., the maker of electric cars, exceeded $30 billion in market valuation after Morgan Stanley more than doubled its projected price for the stock, saying the company may disrupt the auto and energy industries.
The shares rose $30.35, or 14 percent, to close Tuesday at $248 and earlier traded at a record high of $250.30. Tesla, which last week forecast a more than 55 percent increase in deliveries of its Model S sedans this year, is up more than sevenfold in the past 12 months. The company’s market value of $30.5 billion is more than half that of General Motors Co.’s.
Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk plans to provide details on a proposed “gigafactory” to produce lithium-ion batteries needed to make more affordable vehicles, he told Bloomberg TV last week. Lower battery costs could help the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company almost double its share of the global car market to about 1 percent and also affect the power industry, Adam Jonas, a Morgan Stanley analyst, wrote in a note.
“If it can be a leader in commercializing battery packs, investors may never look at Tesla the same way again, Jonas said. “If Tesla can become the world’s low-cost producer in energy storage, we see significant [ability] for Tesla to disrupt adjacent industries.”
Stein Mart plans 10 openings in 2014
Stein Mart Inc., the discount apparel and accessories chain, will open 10 stores this year, including two in locations previously occupied by bankrupt retailer Loehmann’s Holdings Inc.
Stein Mart will open at the former Loehmann’s branches in Miami and Washington, D.C., on May 15. The 10 new sites take the total store count to more than 270, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Stein Mart said Tuesday in a statement.
The Loehmann’s locations’ “demographics are in the sweet spot of our customer base,” said Jay Stein, chairman and chief executive officer of Stein Mart. “Miami and the suburbs of Washington - you couldn’t pick two better cities to operate in.”
Stein, who resumed the CEO job on a permanent basis in 2013 after stepping down in 2001, is expanding the store count after seven straight quarters of revenue gains.
Stein said the retailer, located mainly in outdoor shopping centers and strip malls, also is expanding its collection of home goods. Sales at stores open at least a year increased 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter, Stein Mart said in a statement Feb. 6.
Stein Mart shares rose 19 cents, or 1.5 percent, to close Tuesday at $13.09.
- Bloomberg News
Business, Pages 26 on 02/26/2014