BUSINESS DIGEST ||
Huntington ranking
COLUMBUS
Huntington Bank has claimed the top ranking for overall customer satisfaction in the 2017 J.D. Power U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study as highest ranked in both the North Central and Mid-Atlantic regions for the fifth-consecutive year.
Huntington customers reported greater overall satisfaction over any other bank customers surveyed within the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and New York, and the District of Columbia.
Workforce bill
COLUMBUS
Ohio Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, has introduced Senate Bill 140, a workforce-development bill that will help train skilled workers and provide targeted assistance to Ohio’s business community. SB 140 is the result of meetings with business leaders, workers and several chambers of commerce throughout the state.
GM dividend
DETROIT
General Motors Co. on Thursday declared a second- quarter 2017 dividend of 38 cents per outstanding share of stock. The dividend is payable June 23 to all common shareholders of record at the close of business June 9.
2Q dividend
MIDLAND, MICH.
Chemical Financial Corp. has announced the corporation’s board of directors declared a second-quarter 2017 cash dividend on its common stock of $0.27 per share. The second-quarter 2017 dividend will be payable on June 16 to shareholders of record on June 2. The ex-dividend date is May 31.
Aluminum imports
WASHINGTON, D.C.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Cleveland, on Thursday applauded reports that President Donald J. Trump is expected to launch an investigation into the impact of aluminum imports on national security, but cautioned that the investigation must lead to tough action to provide relief for the aluminum supply chain.
Nudge higher for US stocks
NEW YORK
U.S. stock indexes fluttered up and down Thursday, then ended the day a hair above where they started. The slight gains were enough to nudge the Nasdaq composite to another record and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to within a whisper of its all-time high.
It was the second-straight day where indexes made only modest, meandering moves, a downshift from big gains made early in the week.
Gains by Under Armour, Comcast and other companies reporting stronger-than-expected profits Thursday helped to offset a slump in energy stocks. The encouraging reports added to the lengthening list of companies saying they earned more in the first three months of 2017 than Wall Street had forecast. Analysts expect this to be the strongest quarter of growth in years.
Staff/wire reports
Selected local stocks
STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE
Alcoa Inc., .1236.45-0.04
Aqua America, .71 33.270.11
Avalon Holdings,2.370.02
Chemical Bank, .2748.76-1.60Community Health Sys. 8.49 -0.11
Cortland Bancorp, .2818.450.15
Farmers Nat., .1614.400.10
First Energy, 1.44 30.52-0.09
Fifth/Third, .5224.97-0.04
FirstMerit Corp.,--
First Niles Financial, .1210.500.00
FNB Corp., .4814.840.16
General Motors, 1.5234.400.41
General Electric, .9229.26-0.19
Huntington Bank, .28 13.120.08
iHeartMedia Inc.,2.270.22
JP Morgan Chase, 1.9288.410.15
Key Corp, .3418.690.07
LaFarge, .34--
Macy’s, 1.51 29.430.15
Parker Hannifin, 2.52 164.61-0.61
PNC, 2.20122.000.89
Simon Prop. Grp., 6.60165.03-3.01
Stoneridge 19.13-0.05
United Comm. Fin., .12 8.750.05
Selected prices from Thursday’s 4 p.m. close.