Preservation program grants available
The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program is accepting applications for Main Street Arkansas "Slipcover" Removal and Downtown Revitalization Grant programs through Aug. 11.
The slipcover grants help finance removal of false facades from historic Main Street Arkansas buildings.
Revitalization grants cover rehabilitation work, parks, streetscapes and other design-related projects.
Grants will be matched on a 1-2 basis, with up to 50 percent of the match in in-kind services.
Guidelines and applications may be obtained by writing the Historic Preservation Program, AHPP Grants, 1500 Tower Building, 323 Center St., Little Rock, Ark., 72201 or by emailing joia@arkansasheritage.org.
-- Jack Weatherly
24/7 Argentina debt talks ordered in N.Y.
NEW YORK -- A federal judge in New York on Tuesday ordered around-the-clock negotiations aimed at averting a second debt default by Argentina in 13 years.
The order from Judge Thomas Griesa added to the drama surrounding next Wednesday's deadline for Argentina to pay some $1.5 billion owed U.S. bondholders.
The bondholders are U.S. hedge funds that rejected Argentina's restructuring offer after its record $100 billion default in 2001.
Griesa has blocked U.S. banks from letting Argentina pay the vast majority of its bondholders who accepted lower-valued bonds unless it pays the U.S. hedge funds.
Argentina's economy minister earlier this month participated in negotiations with a court-appointed mediator.
The plaintiffs in the court action are led by New York billionaire Paul Singer's NML Capital Ltd.
-- The Associated Press
Empire State Building IPO suit tossed
NEW YORK -- A judge said thousands of one-time investors in the Empire State Building can't sue over their claims they were shortchanged by the deal that turned the iconic skyscraper into a public stock.
A state judge in Manhattan dismissed the investors' lawsuit in a ruling made public Monday.
The judge said terms of a $55 million settlement last year barred the lawsuit over the October public offering that ushered the tower into the New York Stock Exchange.
Lawyers for both sides declined to comment Tuesday.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of roughly 3,000 people who held Empire State Building shares that were sold privately in 1961. It said the managing owners spurned better, all-cash offers for the skyscraper to package it with lesser-known properties and create a stock.
-- The Associated Press
Goodwill probing possible data breach
NEW YORK -- Nonprofit organization Goodwill Industries Inc. is working with federal officials to investigate a possible security breach.
The Rockville, Md.-based organization said late Monday that it was contacted Friday by a payment card industry fraud investigative unit and federal authorities who said payment card numbers may have been stolen from some U.S. stores. Goodwill said it is working with credit-card-makers, the Secret Service and fraud investigators to figure out if a breach occurred, but so far none has been discovered.
Goodwill operates more than 2,900 stores and takes in annual retail sales of $3.79 billion. It sells donated merchandise to fund job programs.
Because the company's stores are operated by about 165 regional headquarters around the country, there is no centralized database of all of its customers' credit card information. That could limit a breach, if one occurred, to certain Goodwill locations.
The investigation follows a spate of high-profile data breaches at Target, Neiman Marcus and other retailers.
-- The Associated Press
Gas prices in U.S. dip to 4-month low
Retail gasoline prices in the U.S. are at the lowest level in almost four months as refineries increased production to cash in on cheaper domestic oil, offering relief to consumers, who saw their costs rise last month.
Pump prices averaged $3.593 a gallon Monday, down 4.2 cents from the previous week and the lowest since March 31, data posted on the Energy Information Administration's website show. Gasoline was 2.4 percent below 2013 levels.
In Arkansas, the average price Monday was $3.37 a gallon, according to AAA, down from $3.50 a month ago.
Drivers are seeing relief at the pumps as U.S. refiners process a record amount of oil, reversing an increase in June that boosted U.S. consumer prices. A production boom from U.S. shale formations and Canadian oil sands pushed some domestic crudes down last month to multiyear seasonal lows versus foreign grades. Oil futures in New York and London have retreated as output in Iraq has been unaffected so far by unrest there.
"Refineries are running really smoothly right now, and they're making lots of gasoline," said Michael Green, a spokesman for Heathrow, Fla.-based AAA.
Refineries in the U.S. processed 16.6 million barrels a day in the week ended July 11, the most in Energy Information Administration data going back to 1989, and plants operated at 93.8 percent of capacity, the highest level since August 2005.
-- Bloomberg News
Saudi shares jump to six-year high
Saudi shares climbed to a six-year high after the country's market regulator said it would open the Arab world's biggest bourse to international investors by the middle of 2015. MSCI Inc. said the exchange may be classified as emerging markets by 2017 at the earliest.
The Tadawul All Share Index rose 2.8 percent to 10,025.14 at the close in Riyadh, the highest finish since May 2008. Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world's biggest petrochemicals producer, led the gains with a 6.7 percent advance. Etihad Etisalat Co. added 5.1 percent, while Al Rajhi Bank climbed 2.2 percent.
"International investors have been eager to accumulate blue-chip stocks in Saudi for the longest time," Tariq Qaqish, head of asset management at Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based Al Mal Capital PSC, said by email. Many of the companies have a "solid track record," he said.
Saudi Arabia's Cabinet on Tuesday authorized overseas financial institutions to trade equities in the Tadawul and gave the Capital Market Authority scope to determine the timing, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
The move is "one of the most important moments in the history of Saudi financial markets," Mohammad Al Tuwaijri, chief executive officer of HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd., said by email.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 07/23/2014