BUSINESS DIGEST || Pennex to expand

Pennex to expand

LEETONIA

Pennex Aluminum Co. announced a $33 million expansion of its Columbiana County extrusion facility that will add 170,000 square feet to its current facility.

Additions will include a new extrusion press line and specialized fabrication production center.

The project, which received a 45 percent six-year tax credit from Ohio, is expected to create 65 jobs and be up and running by the end of this year.

Bank, food bank team to fight hunger

WARREN

First Place Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley will kick off the second annual “Become a Soup Bowl Star” program in an effort to fight hunger in the Valley.

All First Bank locations will accept canned-soup donations from Monday through Jan. 31. Employees will then help box the soup for distribution at Second Harvest.

Last year, the partners collected 4,796 cans of soup.

United Way gets Bluegrass grant

SALEM

Bluegrass Pipeline awarded $42,000 in grants to agencies to fund projects in Ohio counties traversed by its pipeline, including one in Columbiana County.

The United Way of Northern Columbiana County received a grant to help fund its annual campaign. A Bluegrass press release did not disclose the amount that was given.

The proposed Bluegrass Pipeline would transport natural-gas liquids such as propane, butane, ethane and natural gasoline, which are used in home heating and cooking, motor fuels, plastics production and industrial energy.

The next deadline to apply for the grant program is Jan. 31. To apply, go to bluegrasspipeline.com/community-grants/.

Stock market slips

NEW YORK

The stock market stumbled Wednesday as investors waited for the government’s jobs report later this week and the beginning of quarterly earnings releases from corporate America.

Traders put aside a positive report that showed private employers created more jobs in December than economists had expected. The market had a muted reaction to the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s mid-December policy meeting.

Wednesday’s declines extend what has been a muddled start to 2014. Both the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index are down a little less than 1 percent after five days of trading.

Borrowing rises

WASHINGTON

Americans increased their borrowing in November, led by continued gains in auto and student loans.

The Federal Reserve said consumers increased their borrowing by $12.3 billion in November to a seasonally adjusted $3.09 trillion. That is a record level and follows an October increase of $17.9 billion.

Almost all of the November increase came from an $11.9 billion rise in borrowing for auto loans and student loans. Borrowing in the category that covers credit cards ticked up only $457.8 million after surging in October.

Vindicator staff/wire reports