Shepherd of Valley open house set

Shepherd of Valley open house set

POLAND

Shepherd of the Valley, 301 W. Western Reserve Road, will have an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday featuring independent-living condos. The public is invited to tour several homes and the assisted-living building.

Huntington, FirstMerit merger

COLUMBUS

Huntington Bancshares Inc. and FirstMerit Corp. jointly announced Tuesday the signing of a definitive merger agreement under which Ohio-based FirstMerit Corp., the parent company of FirstMerit Bank, will merge into Huntington in a stock-and-cash transaction. Based on the closing price of Huntington’s common shares Monday of $8.80, the total transaction value is about $3.4 billion, including outstanding options and other equity-linked securities.

Shareholders of FirstMerit will receive 1.72 shares of Huntington common stock and $5 in cash for each share of FirstMerit common stock. The per-share consideration is valued at $20.14 per share based on the closing price of Huntington common stock Monday.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Ford Ranger recall

DETROIT

Ford is recalling nearly 391,000 Ranger pickups because the driver’s air-bag inflators can explode with too much force and cause injuries.

The recall covers trucks from the 2004 through 2006 model years in the U.S. and Canada.

It comes just days after the government announced that a South Carolina man was killed when an inflator exploded in December. Joel Knight, 52, of Kershaw died when he was struck in the neck by metal shrapnel after his 2006 Ranger hit a cow in the road and struck a fence.

The government says automakers will recall an additional 5 million vehicles equipped with faulty inflators made by Takata Corp. of Japan. Some of the recalls are because of the crash that killed Knight, with the rest due to air bags failing in lab tests.

Stocks rise, driven by higher oil price

NEW YORK

U.S. stocks jumped Tuesday as the price of oil made another abrupt reversal, this time rising almost 4 percent after falling sharply the day before.

Energy stocks climbed along with the price of oil, and Chevron and Exxon Mobil made major gains. Strong fourth-quarter results from beleaguered wireless provider Sprint gave telecom stocks a boost. Quarterly earnings also sent several stocks higher, including Post-it Notes maker 3M, Procter & Gamble, which makes Crest toothpaste, and luxury handbag maker Coach.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 282.01 points, or 1.8 percent, to 16,167.23. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 26.55 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,903.63. The Nasdaq composite index added 49.18 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4,567.67.

Staff/wire reports