News in brief

Walmart de Mexico

sales up for October

Walmart Inc.'s operations in Mexico saw October sales grow 4.5 percent compared with the same month in 2017. Sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, rose 3 percent in October, according to a news release from Walmart de Mexico.

Same-store sales are considered a key indicator of a retailer's health.

In Central America, which is part of Walmart de Mexico, total sales increased 1.4 percent, with same-store sales falling 2.3 percent after adjusting for changes in currency exchange rates.

Walmart de Mexico opened 11 stores in Mexico in October and has opened three more this month. In Central America, it opened one store each in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala in October.

As of Oct. 3, Walmart de Mexico had 2,409 stores in Mexico and 802 in Central America. The stores include a mix of supermarkets, Sam's Clubs, bodegas and discount stores.

-- Serenah McKay

Pesticide committee

to meet on dicamba

The state Plant Board's pesticide committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 26 to discuss dicamba's use in Arkansas in the next growing season.

The committee had been scheduled to meet Nov. 15, but that was canceled after the Plant Board voted 11-4 Monday to keep alive a request by 28 farmers to allow the herbicide's use across the top of cotton and soybeans through June 15 next year.

Dicamba has been linked to crop damage across Arkansas and other states, as well as damage to fruits and vegetables, pollinators, and shrubs and trees not tolerant of the herbicide. The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced Oct. 31 that it would allow dicamba's use through 2020, though states also can still make certain changes.

The full Plant Board will meet again Dec. 6.

-- Stephen Steed

In Arkansas Index,

8 stocks rise, 7 fall

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 1.29 to 439.42 Thursday.

Eight stocks gained ground while seven fell.

"Equities sold off in afternoon trading but closed off their lows following the decision by the Federal Reserve to leave benchmark interest rates unchanged but allowing for further gradual rate increases as the energy sector underperformed due to weak crude prices," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.

Total volume for the index was 19.2 million shares.

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

Business on 11/09/2018

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