BUSINESS DIGEST ||

Fred’s to buy 865 Rite Aid stores

Youngstown

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Rite Aid Corp. announced Tuesday they have entered into an agreement to sell 865 Rite Aid stores and certain assets related to store operations to Fred’s Inc. for $950 million in an all-cash transaction.

The transaction is subject to Federal Trade Commission approval and the approval and completion of the pending acquisition of Rite Aid by Walgreens Boots Alliance.

If approved, the transaction would establish Fred’s Pharmacy as one of the largest drugstore chains in the U.S. with significant presence in areas such as the South and on the East and West coasts.

Specific locations of the stores to be closed will be announced upon FTC approval of the Walgreens Boots Alliance and Rite Aid merger.

Walgreens Boots Alliance expects the transaction to close early next year.

New Domino’s

BOARDMAN

Edward J. Lewis Inc., a real-estate brokerage firm in Youngstown, recently announced a new Domino’s franchise will open in the Presidential Square Plaza, 813 Boardman-Poland Road, Boardman.

The new store will be adjacent to Menchie’s and is tentatively scheduled to open the second week of January. Domino’s is a popular chain restaurant known for its pizza offerings.

Travel stocks rise as Dow inches closer to 20,000

NEW YORK

Big gains for banks and companies focused on travel helped propel U.S. stock indexes to record levels on Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average moved closer than ever to 20,000, but the symbolic threshold remained just out of reach.

Banks once again led the way Tuesday as bond yields and interest rates bounced higher.

Strong earnings from cruise line operator Carnival and gains for travel website TripAdvisor led consumer companies higher. Household goods makers fell after Cheerios maker General Mills cut its sales projections for the year, and energy companies fell for the second day in a row.

VW deal on diesel cars gives buyback option for some

SAN FRANCISCO

Volkswagen reached a $1 billion deal Tuesday that will give at least some owners of the remaining 80,000 diesel vehicles caught in the company’s emissions cheating scandal the option of a buyback and provide all of them with compensation on top of any repurchase or repairs.

The settlement with U.S. regulators and attorneys for owners of the 3-liter diesel cars will include a choice of a buyback for 20,000 vehicles, according to U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco.

Volkswagen believes it can bring the other 60,000 vehicles into compliance with pollution regulations and will not offer a buyback if that’s the case, Breyer said.

Staff/wire report

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Alcoa Inc., .1230.140.85

Aqua America, .71 30.270.00

Avalon Holdings,2.81-0.32Chemical Bank, .2723.34-0.36Community Health Sys. 5.51 -0.04

Cortland Bancorp, .2817.500.39

Farmers Nat., .1614.950.15

First Energy, 1.44 31.30-0.35

Fifth/Third, .5227.790.56

FirstMerit Corp.,21.610.37

First Niles Financial, .1210.000.00

FNB Corp., .4816.200.46

General Motors, 1.5236.610.21

General Electric, .9232.250.33

Huntington Bank, .28 13.360.27iHeartMedia Inc.,1.30-0.08JP Morgan Chase, 1.9286.531.10

Key Corp, .3418.460.29

LaFarge, .34-0.00Macy’s, 1.51 37.950.95

Parker Hannifin, 2.52 143.911.09

PNC, 2.20118.072.27Simon Prop. Grp., 6.60182.980.35

Stoneridge 18.190.26United Comm. Fin., .12 9.300.04

Selected prices from Tuesday’s 4 p.m. close.