BUSINESS DIGEST ||

Welder/pipe fitter program at TCTC

CHAMPION

The Trumbull Career & Technical Center Adult Training Center is accepting students for its welder/pipe fitter program. The program is 660 hours; financial aid is available.

Students will be able to achieve numerous industry- related credentials. Tools and equipment are included in the cost of tuition.

The program runs from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sept. 5 through May 31 at TCTC Adult Training Center, 528 Educational Highway.

Call 330-847-0503 ext. 1600 to sign up.

PNC dividends up

PITTSBURGH

The board of directors of The PNC Financial Services Group Inc. declared a quarterly cash dividend on the common stock of 75 cents per share, an increase of 20 cents per share, or 36 percent, from the second quarter dividend of 55 cents per share. The dividend, with a payment date of Aug. 5, will be payable the next business day to shareholders of record at the close of business July 17.

Microsoft layoffs

SEATTLE

Microsoft on Thursday started the process of laying off thousands of employees. Microsoft cut at least 900 jobs among its sales force as part of the 2,850 layoffs the company planned to carry out in the just-completed fiscal year. The layoffs come as Microsoft reconfigures its massive sales organization to focus on its cloud-computing products and sales to specific industries.

The vast majority of the affected employees are located outside the United States. Some also fall in groups that supported sales, including information-technology, finance and corporate external, and legal affairs departments. Before Thursday’s cuts, about 50,000 – or 40 percent – of Microsoft’s approximately 121,500 employees worked in sales.

19 AGs sue DeVos

Democratic attorneys general in 18 states and the District of Columbia are suing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over her decision to suspend rules meant to protect students from abuses by for-profit colleges. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Washington, demands implementation of rules that aim to make schools financially responsible for fraud and forbid them from forcing students to resolve complaints outside court.

Stocks skid; mortgages rise

NEW YORK

U.S. stocks took their biggest loss since mid-May as investors reacted to a survey that showed slow hiring in June. Some of the largest losses go to health care companies and retailers. Technology companies also continue to fall.

Meanwhile, long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week to highest level since mid-May.Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to an average 3.96 percent from 3.88 percent last week. It stood at 3.41 percent a year ago. The rate on 15-year, fixed-rate home loans, popular with homeowners who are refinancing their mortgages, rose to 3.22 percent from 3.17 percent. A year ago, it was 2.74 percent.

Combined dispatches/wire report