Eckert’s retirement

Eckert’s retirement

boardman

Eckert’s Interiors will have a retirement sale beginning Thursday. Store owners announced its closing last month and have compiled the remaining merchandise for a final sale, which will continue through the end of the year. Eckert’s has been in the Mahoning Valley for 98 years.

2-year lease signed

youngstown

Comprehensive Logistics, a Youngstown-based provider of engineered logistics services for complex supply chains, recently signed a two-year lease for a 220,000-square-foot facility in Kansas City, Mo. The space, which features 14 dock doors and is expandable, will be used to receive, store, sort and repack parts for more than 130 global suppliers. Comprehensive Logistics ships repacked parts to the General Motors assembly plant in Fairfax, Kan., where they are used to build the Chevrolet Malibu and the Buick LaCrosse vehicle models. Comprehensive Logistics also sequences door-pad components in Kansas City to support GM’s just-in-time production requirements.

FirstEnergy dividend

akron

The board of directors of FirstEnergy Corp. announced Tuesday that the company will issue an unchanged quarterly dividend of 55 cents per share of outstanding common stock. The dividend will be payable Dec. 1 to shareholders of record as of Nov. 5.

Fed moves closer to act to help economy

washington

The Federal Reserve, meeting for the last time before an election that hinges on the weak economy, edged closer Tuesday to jumping in to help and suggested it’s more worried about prices falling than rising.

The central bank gathered as new figures showed some improvement in home construction. But those same figures showed the pace of building would have to double to contribute much to job growth, underscoring the dire state of the housing market.

The Fed announced no new steps. It signaled that for now it will stand back and see whether the economy can heal on its own.

The Fed did say it was “prepared to provide additional accommodation,” where before it said it would “employ its tools as necessary.”

Vindicator staff/wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Aqua America, .62, 20.65 —.13

Avalon Holdings,2.66—.14

Clear Channel, 1.75 57.24 —.37

Cortland Bancorp, 5.25.00

Delphi Automotive, .22 .00

Farmers Nat., .12, 3.70 .15

First Energy, $2.20, 36.42—.30

FirstMerit Corp., .64,17.76 —.18

First Niles Financial,7.50.00

First Place Fin., 3.30.03

FNB Corp., .48,8.53—.15

General Electric, .48,16.52—.03

Motors Liquidation, .38.01

Huntington Bank, .04, 5.92—.08

JP Morgan Chase, .20,40.59—.60

Key Corp, .04,8.16—.20

LaFarge, 14.08 .28

Macy’s, .20, 21.99—.14

Parker Hannifin, 1.08, 69.46—.38

PNC, .40,52.55—1.43

RTI Intl. Metals,29.40—.24

Rural/Metro, 8.68 —.07

Simon Prop. Grp.,$2.40,96.28—.96

Stoneridge 9.85 —.08

United Community Fin. 1.21.02

Selected prices at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Provided by Stifel Nicolaus. Not to be construed as an offer or recommendation to buy or sell any security.