Farm Bureau leader
elected to 10th term
Randy Veach of Manila was elected Friday to his 10th term as president of the Arkansas Farm Bureau during the group's closing day of its 83rd annual convention.
Rich Hillman of Carlisle also was elected to his 10th term as vice president.
Both are farmers.
Delegates also re-elected Joe Christian, a Jonesboro farmer, as secretary-treasurer.
Board members for the next two years are: Sherry Felts of Joiner; Jon Carroll of Moro; Gene Pharr of Lincoln; Bruce Jackson of Lockesburg; Joe Thrash of Houston; Mike Freeze of Little Rock; and Terry Laster of Strong. Jeremy Miller of Huntsville was elected to fill the one-year unexpired term of the late Leo Sutterfield.
The Farm Bureau has more than 190,000 member-families in the state.
-- Stephen Steed
Wal-Mart e-sales up
19% for Cyber Week
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s online sales increased 19 percent compared with last year over a weeklong Thanksgiving shopping period, according to data from Slice Intelligence.
The research firm declared the Bentonville company one of the "big winners" for online sales during Cyber Week -- which runs the Tuesday before Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday -- in a blog post Thursday. According to Slice Intelligence data, Wal-Mart's online sales jumped 39 percent on Black Friday and 6 percent on Cyber Monday.
But Wal-Mart's overall rise of 19 percent wasn't the largest increase among big retailers from a year ago. Target Corp. online sales jumped 44 percent compared to last year over Cyber Week, while Best Buy's increased 25 percent and Amazon.com sales grew 20 percent, according to Slice Intelligence.
The firm collects its data from e-receipts and said there was an 18 percent growth in overall online revenue during the Thanksgiving shopping period. Slice Intelligence said "no one can touch Amazon" in terms of volume with online sales nearly four times those of Best Buy, its closest Cyber Week competitor.
-- Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas Index dips
3.01, ends at 402.72
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 3.01 to 402.72 Friday.
Nine stocks rose, and nine stocks fell as markets reacted defensively to news in Washington related to the federal investigation of Russia's influence on U.S. elections.
Murphy Oil Corp. shares rose 4.6 percent.
Dillard's shares fell 4.5 percent.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 12/02/2017