REGION

REGION

Companies to merge

KITTANNING, Pa. (AP) — The parent companies of Farmers National Bank and Merchants National Bank of Kittanning will merge next year, according to officials of Merchants Bancorp of Pennsylvania Inc. and F&A Financial Corp. The merged bank will be called Farmers & Merchants Bank of Western Pennsylvania.

Merchants Bank has been in business for 110 years and Farmers Bank for 123 years. Together, the banks have seven branches in Armstrong County, all of which will remain open after the March 31 merger. A new branch will open in Leechburg.

Ice arena is up for sale

CORAOPOLIS, Pa. (AP) — The Airport Ice Arena in Moon Township is for sale. The asking price for the 12-year-old arena is $4.5 million, but the price would increase to $5.2 million if the new owner wants to continue using the site as an ice rink, owner Jim Lignelli said. The higher price is to cover special features, such as the Zamboni machine that resurfaces the ice and the liquor license.

The property’s zoning also allows it to be used as office space, township officials said. Lignelli said he has a buyer interested in maintaining the property as an ice rink.

NATION

Wall Street happenings

Wall Street accelerated its sell-off Wednesday amid building unease about the wilting mortgage market and the broader economy triggered selling among nervous investors ahead of the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is down for the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 211.10, or 1.62 percent, to 12,799.04. The S&P 500 index fell 22.93, or 1.59 percent, to 1,416.77. The Nasdaq composite index fell 34.66, or 1.33 percent, to 2,562.15.

For the week: The Dow is down 377.75, or 2.87 percent.

Vindicator staff/wire reports