BUSINESS DIGEST ||

Call before you dig

YOUNGSTOWN

Dominion Energy Ohio is using today’s date as a reminder that Ohio law requires property owners and contractors to call 8-1-1 to have underground utility lines marked at least two business days, but no more than 10 business days, before any digging project.

US stock market sees worst day since May

Brewing tensions between the U.S. and North Korea put investors in a selling mood again Thursday, dragging U.S. stocks lower for the third day in a row.

The latest sell-off was the most severe yet, amounting to the biggest single-day drop for the stock market in nearly three months.

Technology companies, which have been the biggest gainers this year as the market hit a succession of record highs, led the broad slide.

Department store chains see key sales figures fall again

NEW YORK

Macy’s, Kohl’s and Dillard’s said Thursday that a key sales figure fell again in the latest quarter as customers increasingly shop online, at discount stores and elsewhere.

At Macy’s the decrease wasn’t as bad as Wall Street expected, and Kohl’s managed to keep the decline to just 0.4 percent.

But shares of all three plummeted, with Macy’s Inc. hitting a 7-year low Thursday.

US weekly requests for jobless aid up 3,000 to 244,000

WASHINGTON

More Americans applied for jobless aid last week. Despite the small increase, the number of people seeking benefits remained close to historic lows.

Weekly unemployment applications rose by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 244,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The less volatile four-week average declined 1,000 to 241,000. The number of people collecting unemployment benefits has fallen 8.8 percent over the past 12 months to 1.97 million.

Study: Trump moves trigger health premium jumps

WASHINGTON

Trump administration moves are triggering double-digit premium increases on individual health insurance policies purchased by many people.

That’s according to a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The report says mixed signals from President Donald Trump have created uncertainty “far outside the norm” and led insurers to seek higher premium increases for 2018 than would otherwise have been the case. Premiums are going up 10 percent or more in 15 of 21 major metropolitan areas studied.

Facebook steps up video ambitions with Watch

NEW YORK

Facebook is launching a new section dedicated to live and recorded video. The idea is to have fans commenting and interacting with the videos. The new Watch section is a potential threat to Twitter, YouTube, Netflix and other services for watching video.

Staff/wire reports