8 startups to get $50,000, mentorships
Eight startup companies will come to Arkansas next month to participate in a health care business accelerator program.
The startups participating in HubX-LifeSciences, the accelerator program, will receive $50,000 in seed investment each along with mentorship and assistance during a 13-week period, the announcement said.
The companies participating are: Aces Health based in Atlanta; Admetsys based in Boston; Callie Solutions based in Philadelphia; Chrona based in St. Louis; Linehealth based in Boston and Portugal; Practech based in San Francisco and Saudi Arabia; Rubitection based in Pittsburgh; and Vital Metrix based in Huntsville, Ala.
HubX-LifeSciences is a privately funded and industry-specific accelerator program in Arkansas. It is being offered by Baptist Health, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub.
The program was started to support and help the development of new startup companies with innovation solutions to improve how health care is offered in Arkansas, the news release said.
-- Jessica Seaman
41 counties eligible for USDA flood aid
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 13 counties in Arkansas as primary disaster areas because of damages and losses caused by excessive rain, flash flooding, and flooding Nov. 1, 2015 through Jan. 12, 2016. The counties are: Cleburne, Conway, Crittenden, Cross, Faulkner, Izard, Miller, Perry, Pope, Sebastian, Stone, Woodruff, and Yell.
Aid also is available to counties contiguous to the disaster designees. Those counties are: Baxter, Crawford, Franklin, Fulton, Garland, Hempstead, Independence, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Lee, Little River, Logan, Lonoke, Mississippi, Monroe, Montgomery, Newton, Poinsett, Prairie, Pulaski, St. Francis, Saline, Scott, Searcy, Sharp, Van Buren, and White.
Farmers in these counties are eligible for low interest emergency loans from USDA's Farm Service Agency, provided eligibility requirements are met.
-- Stephen Steed
Global jitters send mortgage rates up
WASHINGTON -- Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week for the first time in two months as global economic anxiety and market turbulence eased.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.64 percent from 3.62 percent last week. The benchmark rate remains below the 3.75 percent level it marked a year ago.
The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages edged up to 2.94 percent from 2.93 percent last week
Economists saw some positive signs in new data. The U.S. stock market started recouping losses from a brutal start to the year and ended last Friday with a second straight weekly gain. That brought a break in the recent trend of U.S. government bond prices being catapulted higher as investors sought safety.
To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., surveys lenders across the country at the beginning of each week. The average doesn't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.
The average fees for a 30-year mortgage declined to 0.5 point from 0.6 point last week. The fee for a 15-year loan was unchanged at 0.5 point.
-- The Associated Press
Russian gas firm gets $2.2B from China
MOSCOW -- The Bank of China will give Gazprom a $2.2 billion, five-year loan, the Russian state-run energy company's largest loan agreement from a single credit institution.
In a Thursday news release, Gazprom said this is the company's first loan deal with the Bank of China.
Driven by China's growing energy needs, the government has been investing tens of billions of dollars abroad to help other countries develop their natural gas resources that can then be exported to China.
In May 2014, the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation signed a $400 billion contract to buy natural gas from Gazprom over 30 years.
Gazprom, the state gas monopoly, has been hard hit by Western sanctions, which tightened the terms and restrictions on loans from Western lenders to the company.
-- The Associated Press
Dow expects sales to farmers to drop
Dow Chemical Co. said low commodity prices and currency fluctuations will continue to hurt sales to farmers this year, echoing the outlooks of Monsanto Co. and DuPont Co.
Agriculture industry revenue may contract 3 percent to 5 percent, said Tim Hassinger, president of Dow AgroSciences, a unit of Midland, Mich.-based Dow. He spoke during a presentation Thursday at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Agriculture Conference.
Monsanto, which is eliminating 16 percent of its workforce, reduced its full-year forecast on Wednesday and said the company might not reach a 2019 profit goal on time because of pressure from weak agriculture markets. DuPont in a presentation Thursday said the agriculture sector remains "challenged" as farmer incomes continue to trend down.
Dow agreed in December to merge with DuPont and form the world's largest agriculture business.
-- Bloomberg News
Farmworkers sue city over protest rules
PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A U.S. farmworkers coalition is suing Palm Beach, alleging that the town's ordinances effectively bar the group from its constitutional right to hold a protest near the home of a billionaire fast-food executive.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers wants a federal judge to allow a demonstration March 12 near the home of Wendy's Co. board Chairman Nelson Peltz. At issue is the company's refusal to pay a penny-per-pound fee for its tomatoes to supplement some farmworkers' wages.
The coalition says that while Palm Beach's ordinances expressly permit demonstrations, others that prohibit banners and amplified speech are in effect a ban.
Palm Beach officials said they will allow the demonstration if the coalition follows town rules.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 03/04/2016