USA Truck investors
back Schenker deal
The vast majority of shareholders approved of the acquisition of Van Buren-based USA Truck by a German logistics company, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The deal whereby DB Schenker of Essen, Germany, would buy USA Truck was made public in June and is valued at $435 million -- including assumed cash and debt. The acquisition is expected to close Thursday, according to the filing.
There were 6.46 million votes supporting the deal, with 10,311 against and 2,042 abstaining, according to the filing, with about 72% of outstanding shares entitled to vote participating. In late June the company said the acquisition was unanimously approved by USA Truck's board of directors.
The companies said the intent is to take USA private after the deal is complete.
The shares closed Tuesday at $31.70.
-- John Magsam
August power bills
jump 15.8% over '21
August electricity bills for U.S. consumers jumped the most since 1981, gaining 15.8% from the same period a year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Natural gas bills, which crept back up last month after dipping in July, surged 33% from the same month last year, labor data released Tuesday showed. Broader energy costs slipped for a second consecutive month because of lower gasoline and fuel oil prices. Even with that drop, total energy costs were still about 24% above August 2021 levels.
Electricity costs are relentlessly climbing because prices for the two biggest power-plant fuels -- natural gas and coal -- have surged in the past year as the U.S. economy rebounds from the pandemic and as Russia's war in Ukraine triggered an energy crisis in Europe. Another factor is the summer heat across most of the lower 48 states. Americans likely used a record amount of power in the third quarter, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration projections.
Electricity price futures for this winter have increased fourfold from last year, with prices averaging near $200 a megawatt-hour. Natural gas futures for the upcoming winter are more than double current prices.
-- Bloomberg News (TNS)
Index left at 790.92
after shedding 27.63
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Tuesday at 790.92, down 27.63
"Stocks fell sharply on Tuesday reversing almost all of the recent rally after a larger than expected inflation report for August slammed investor optimism for cooling prices and a less aggressive Federal Reserve," said Chris Harkins, managing director at Raymond James & Associates.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.