News in brief

For Yule, Wal-Mart

plans to hire 60,000

An executive with Wal-Mart U.S. said Thursday that the retailer plans to hire an additional 60,000 employees across the country this Christmas season and that current workers would have the opportunity to work more hours. The seasonal hiring will be roughly 10 percent more than what the company took on last year.

"We know this is the busiest time of year for our stores, and we are going to make sure we are delivering for our associates and customers," said Gisel Ruiz, chief operating officer for Wal-Mart U.S.

In addition, stores will have the maximum number of checkout lanes manned during the the peak shopping hours -- noon until 6 p.m. -- on Black Friday and weekends leading up to Christmas.

Several major U.S. retail and transportation companies, including UPS, FedEx and Kohl's, have announced increases this week in the number of temporary workers they plan to hire for Christmas based on optimism about consumer spending and a strengthening economy.

-- Cyd King

Workforce meeting

set next week in LR

The Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce Foundation will host a conference next week to discuss improving the state's workforce, the agency said Thursday.

The conference, titled Jobs Now -- Arkansas Works When We Do, will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, according to the news release.

The conference is being held to "capitalize on previous meetings and events with manufacturing company human resource managers, general managers, Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe and members of the Governor's Workforce Cabinet," the news release states.

The conference will focus on the manufacturing, construction, trucking and agriculture industries, said Andrew Parker, director of governmental affairs for the chamber.

-- Jessica Seaman

13 issues advance

as index gains 2.88

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 2.88 to 354.42 Thursday.

Thirteen stocks advanced and four declined.

ArcBest rose 4.9 percent in heavy trading.

Bank of the Ozarks climbed 2.4 percent on average volume.

Simmons First National was up 2.2 percent in light trading.

Murphy Oil had the biggest loss, falling 1 percent on low volume.

Total volume of the index was 15.4 million shares.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business on 09/19/2014

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