BUSINESS DIGEST || Drilling permits

Drilling permits

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources issued 13 drilling permits last week. One of the permits was issued to Chesapeake Exploration LLC in Columbiana County. Overall, there are 1,837 permits with 1,382 wells drilled that have 818 of them producing.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Hilcorp Energy Co. was issued five drilling permits last week in Mercer County.

CEOs: Trade would increase US hiring

WASHINGTON

Top business executives are pressing Congress to give President Barack Obama greater authority to negotiate international trade deals, citing the potential for increased hiring in the United States and greater competitiveness for their companies overseas.

In a report Tuesday by the lobbying group Business Roundtable, the CEOs say their expectations for the economy have improved but that business needs more confidence to increase hiring.

The group’s survey of 120 executives found that more than half of the CEOs — 54 percent — said trade would allow them to boost their employment in the United States.

Target plans $2B in cost-cutting moves

NEW YORK

Target Corp. plans $2 billion in cost cuts over the next two years through corporate restructuring and other improvements.

The goal: to make the Minneapolis-based discounter more agile to compete in an increasingly competitive landscape and appeal to shoppers who are buying and researching on their mobile devices.

As part of the restructuring plans, Target plans to eliminate several thousand positions primarily at its corporate headquarters — which employs 13,000 workers — over the next two years and establish centralized teams based on specialized expertise.

Target also plans to invest between $2 billion and $2.2 billion in capital expenditures for the current fiscal year. That’s in line with what it spent a few years ago, but this year, about half, or $1 billion, will be spent on technology.

The new focus will help spur Target’s online-sales growth of 40 percent as well as help fuel a total projected sales growth of 2 to 3 percent this year.

JPMorgan to pay $50M to homeowners

NEW YORK

The U.S. Department of Justice says JPMorgan Chase will pay $50 million to 25,000 homeowners for failing to properly review payment-change notices sent to homeowners who were in bankruptcy.

The Justice Department says JPMorgan Chase acknowledged it filed about 25,000 payment-change notices that were sent to homeowners without a proper review. They were signed in the names of employees who no longer worked for the company or who hadn’t reviewed the filings to check their accuracy.

Vindicator staff/wire reports