Home BancShares to tell '17 earnings
Home BancShares Inc., parent company of Centennial Bank branches in four states, will release earnings for the fourth quarter and all of 2017 before markets open today.
Management for the Conway bank will discuss the financial results on a conference call at 1 p.m. today.
To access the call, dial (877) 508-9586 and ask for the Home BancShares conference call.
-- David Smith
Consumer watchdog put under review
WASHINGTON -- Mick Mulvaney once called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau a "joke ... in a sad, sick kind of way."
Now, as its acting director, he's in a position to change it.
On Wednesday, Mulvaney announced he was launching a review of the entire operation of the consumer watchdog agency created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
The bureau has provided Americans with billions of dollars in refunds and debt relief, often at banks' expense. Republicans and many financial firms have complained that it has been too aggressive.
"In this new year, and under new leadership, it is natural for the bureau to critically examine its policies and practices to ensure they align with the bureau's statutory mandate," said Mulvaney, a former Republican congressman who was appointed acting director by President Donald Trump in November.
The review will seek comment on its enforcement of consumer protection laws; drafting of regulations; oversight of financial firms; monitoring of the marketplace; and public education.
-- Los Angeles Times
Investors bet on grids' risk of Net attacks
The world's power plants and transmission lines are more linked to one another and controlled by means of the Internet than ever before. And in that, Wall Street sees a business opportunity.
Investors including banks and venture capital firms more than doubled their financing last year to private companies focused on developing cybersecurity solutions for power-grid operators, utilities and other industrial businesses, a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis shows. The $1.7 billion of funding since 2010 is a bet that the industry's rush into the Internet-of-things era will raise the risk of cyberattacks on grids and demand for services that fight them.
Fundraising by cybersecurity companies focused on the industrial sector rose to almost $700 million last year from just $5 million in 2010, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis of financing data from CB Insights. By one cybersecurity firm's count, at least one threat to industrial operations occurs somewhere in the world every day. The U.S. Energy Department warned in a report last year that the electricity system "faces imminent danger" from cyberattacks, and hackers were said to have breached at least a dozen U.S. power plants.
-- Bloomberg News
Group points to riches in Europe's dumps
BERLIN -- Researchers have completed the first survey of valuable materials they say are waiting to be mined from Europe's vast landfills and scrapyards.
A group of 17 organizations on Wednesday launched an online database for 'urban mining' detailing precious raw materials slumbering in discarded batteries, electronics and cars across the continent.
The project aims to highlight where billions of dollars worth of aluminum, copper and gold could be retrieved each year.
The group, which includes the United Nations University, said vehicles are an increasingly rich source of raw materials including lithium -- from electric cars -- steel and magnesium.
Smartphones, meanwhile, have concentrations of gold that are more than 25 times as high as the richest underground ores and are far easier to extract.
-- The Associated Press
Fall of U.K.'s Carillion casts pall on jobs
LONDON -- The fate of thousands of workers hung in the balance Wednesday after the collapse of Carillion, a major construction and services company that has a vast network of subcontractors and reaches deep into many facets of British life.
Work has slowed on a range of Carillion projects, and some subcontractors, unsure whether they will be paid or continue working, have begun curtailing assignments. The cracks appearing in Carillion's sprawling network of services to the public and private sectors amplified fears that its failure could lead to the downfall of other companies that relied on it, putting tens of thousands of people out of work.
The demise of Carillion, which entered liquidation Monday, poses a political as well as economic challenge to the Conservative Party government of Prime Minister Theresa May, which declined to bail out the company. Even after it became clear last year that the company was in trouble, the government continued to award Carillion major contracts0
Carillion, with about 20,000 employees in Britain, touched myriad sectors of British life, as well as operating overseas. It managed or co-managed major, unfinished construction projects for the government. Carillion also helped operate an array of government services, including running prisons, delivering school lunches and maintaining schools and courthouses.
-- The New York Times
Dizzy bitcoin falls below $10,000 briefly
NEW YORK -- The volatility of the digital currency markets was on display again Wednesday as bitcoin briefly fell below $10,000 before rebounding back above $11,000 in the U.S. afternoon.
With the drop below $10,000, bitcoin had lost about half its value since hitting a high above $19,000 in mid-December. Other digital currencies bounced around as well.
Bitcoin has slumped 20 percent this week as traders worry that regulators in South Korea will crack down on trading of digital currencies. The price of bitcoin fell as much as 20 percent Wednesday, but later recovered and was nearly flat at $11,058.47 around 5:50 p.m.
The price of one bitcoin went from $1,000 at the beginning of last year to nearly $20,000 in mid-December. The latest plunge brings the price back to where it was in early December.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 01/18/2018