Furnace safety

Furnace safety

COLUMBUS

Columbia Gas of Ohio reminds customers that furnaces need to be cleaned and checked by a certified professional and it’s important to replace furnace filters.

Columbia Gas offers several energy-efficiency programs for all income levels. These programs provide for a home-energy inspection or audit and safety checks of natural-gas appliances. The programs also provide additional incentives to implement recommendations made by the professional energy auditors. More information is available at www.columbiagasohio.com/ways-to-save.

Delphi pensions

WASHINGTON D.C.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a democrat from Cleveland, and U.S. Reps. Marcia Fudge of Cleveland, D-11th, Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, and Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, D-9th, have submitted a letter to Labor Department Secretary Thomas Perez urging him to “intervene and ensure that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.” makes a decision soon on the Delphi pensions for salaried retirees. U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, also signed the letter.

The lawmakers also asked for a response to this request within the month and for the department to provide their offices and the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association with monthly updates on progress made.

Brown testifies on foreign imports

WASHINGTON, D.C.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown testified before the International Trade Commission on unfair foreign imports Tuesday.

Brown, a Democrat from Cleveland, urged the commission to protect American steel manufacturers and mentioned JMC in Warren, TMK in Brookfield and Vallourec Star in Youngstown.

Brown’s testimony follows a ruling by the U.S. Department of Commerce to levy trade tariffs against nine countries, including South Korea, that have illegally dumped tubular goods in the U.S. market.

US stocks mostly down as investors digest earnings

The Federal Reserve’s latest take on the U.S. economy put many investors into sell mode Tuesday, sending stocks mostly lower after a brief upward turn early in the day.

Investors had plenty to consider, including a mostly encouraging batch of corporate earnings and economic data.

The major U.S. financial-market indexes were up slightly in premarket trading as JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Johnson & Johnson released quarterly results that exceeded Wall Street’s expectations.

Separate reports on U.S. retail sales and manufacturing growth also gave the market an early lift.

But stock indexes diverged shortly after the market opened, and then fully veered into the red about an hour into regular trading as investors began to tune into Janet Yellen, Federal Reserve chairwoman, delivering the Fed’s semi-annual economic report to Congress.

Staff/wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Aqua America, .61, 24.81 —.03

Avalon Holdings,4.30.12

Clear Channel, .61 22.59 —.19

Cortland Bancorp, 12.060.00

Farmers Nat., .127.66 —.04

First Energy, 2.20, 31.97.04

FirstMerit Corp., .64,19.51 .26

First Niles Financial, .32,9.000.00

FNB Corp., .48,12.64.13

General Motors,37.60—.10

General Electric, .76,26.63—.04

Huntington Bank, .20, 9.75.12

JP Morgan Chase, 1.52,58.251.96

Key Corp, .22,14.38.21

LaFarge, 21.36 —.39

Macy’s, 1.00, 56.75—1.08

Parker Hannifin, 1.80, 123.50.48

PNC, 1.76,88.191.07

RTI Intl. Metals,25.96—.07

Simon Prop. Grp.,4.60,170.08.67

Stoneridge 10.85 —.09

Talmer Bank, 14.18.27

United Community Fin. 3.94—.02

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