BUSINESS DIGEST ||

New member

STRUTHERS

The Builders Association has welcomed A-1 Industrial Painting as its newest member.

The Struthers-based company has been a leader in the region’s industrial painting industry for more than two decades. A-1 provides start-to-finish coating services and specializes in coating of oil-and-gas sites, including water tanks, wastewater treatment plant and large industrial facilities.

Import increase

WASHINGTON

Imports at the nation’s major retail container ports are expected to increase 4.6 percent during the first half of 2017 over the same period last year as the nation’s economy improves and retail sales continue to grow, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released Thursday by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Ohio drillers say 6 shale counties saw $43M tax bump

COLUMBUS

Oil-and-gas drillers in Ohio say they’ve paid $43 million in property taxes to local governments and schools in six shale counties since 2011.

The finding issued Thursday by the Ohio Oil and Gas Association and Energy In Depth Ohio, a natural-gas research group, comes as Republican Gov. John Kasich has renewed calls for a severance-tax increase on the industry.

Kasich’s proposed two-year, $66.9 billion operating budget raises $448 million from the severance-tax increase. The increase would combine with other tax reforms to pay for a net statewide income-tax reduction of $39 million.

Thursday’s report shows Belmont, Carroll, Harrison, Noble, Monroe and Guernsey counties have seen a combined 22-percent revenue boost.

Strong company earnings drive US stock indexes

Strong company earnings put investors in a buying mood Thursday, lifting the major U.S. stock indexes to record highs.

Banks and other financial companies led the rally as bond yields rose. Energy also notched big gains as crude oil prices rose. Utilities and materials lagged the broader market.

Traders have been focused in recent weeks on companies reporting their quarterly results as they size up Corporate America’s prospects for growth.

US jobless claims fall to 12-week low

WASHINGTON

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits dipped to a 12-week low at the start of February, a sign of a stable job market for U.S. workers.

Claims for jobless aid fell 12,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 234,000, the best reading since this past November, the Labor Department said Thursday. The less-volatile four-week average decline 3,750 to 244,250, which was the lowest average since November 1973.

Staff/wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Alcoa Inc., .1237.39-0.15

Aqua America, .71 30.10-0.01

Avalon Holdings,2.84-0.01

Chemical Bank, .2749.750.73Community Health Sys. 6.69 0.26

Cortland Bancorp, .2817.850.00

Farmers Nat., .1613.520.02

First Energy, 1.44 29.89-0.16

Fifth/Third, .5226.140.25

FirstMerit Corp.,21.610.37

First Niles Financial, .1210.000.00

FNB Corp., .4814.930.27

General Motors, 1.5235.08-0.06

General Electric, .9229.600.17

Huntington Bank, .28 13.550.15

iHeartMedia Inc.,1.09-0.04

JP Morgan Chase, 1.9287.171.21

Key Corp, .3418.150.32

LaFarge, .3417.570.00

Macy’s, 1.51 32.380.40

Parker Hannifin, 2.52 149.351.90

PNC, 2.20122.390.93

Simon Prop. Grp., 6.60181.981.36

Stoneridge 16.860.36

United Comm. Fin., .12 8.610.01

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