Cerni Motors’ 50th

Cerni Motors’ 50th

AUSTINTOWN

Cerni Motors is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a Business After Hours event with the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. The event will be Thursday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Cerni Motors, 5751 Cerni Place in Austintown.

Cerni Motors was founded by brothers John and Charlie Cerni. Their first dealership opened 50 years ago and was a GMC truck franchise on Parkman Road Northwest in Warren. The operation outgrew that location, and by the mid-1960s, the brothers had built a new building on U.S. Route 422 in Niles. Around that time, they became affiliated with International Trucks and remain an International dealership.

Groupon stock falls

LOS ANGELES

Groupon’s stock was 27 percent cheaper Tuesday, but that doesn’t make it a bargain.

Its stock fell to an all-time low as analysts slashed targets and ratings on the online-deals company after it reported its first quarter-to-quarter decline in gross billings, a measure of how much money Groupon collects from customers.

Groupon blamed the weak economy in Europe and unfavorable currency-exchange rates.

But analysts pointed to a more troubling possibility: online-deals fatigue.

Groupon Inc. pioneered the online daily-deals market, which offers subscribers deep discounts on everything from spa sessions to tequila tastings. Although it has raced to build market share, similar businesses are easy to set up. The model sparked a flood of copycats, including LivingSocial, Google Offers, Travelzoo, DealOn and SocialBuy.

Official: British bank settles Iran probe

ALBANY, N.Y.

New York’s financial regulator said Tuesday that his agency has reached a $340 million settlement with Standard Chartered Bank to resolve an investigation into whether the British bank schemed with the Iranian government to launder $250 billion from 2001 to 2007.

The bank will pay the civil penalty to the state and will strengthen oversight of overseas transactions, said Benjamin Lawsky, New York superintendent of financial services.

Standard Chartered spokeswoman Julie Gibson noted the New York announcement set out the terms of an agreement, including payment of $340 million, and a formal agreement is expected soon.

Europe on edge of recession

LONDON

Europe is edging closer to recession, dragged down by the crippling debt problems of the 17 countries that use the euro, official figures showed Tuesday.

Eurostat, Europe’s statistics agency, revealed that the economies of both the eurozone and the European Union, which has 27 countries, shrank by a quarterly rate of 0.2 percent in the second quarter of the year. In the first quarter, output for both regions was flat. A recession officially is defined as two-straight quarters of falling output.

Vindicator staff/wire reports