BUSINESS DIGEST ||
Grill on the Hill to reopen next week
NEW CASTLE, pa.
The Grill on the Hill will reopen its doors Wednesday at the former Soni’s location, 3208 Wilmington Road. The new location “up the hill” will have the same retro pop-culture feel and Cliff Hanger challenge the community adores.
Toys for Tots drive to kick off Monday
SALEM
Monday through Dec. 15, the Chevy All-Stars and The Stadium GM Superstore, 214 W. State St., will conduct the annual Toys for Tots Marathon Toy Drive.
Last year the goal was for 600 toys, and it was reached. This year, the goal is 1,000.
Kicking off the drive this year will be the big guy himself, coming all the way from the North Pole, Santa Claus. He will deliver the first batch of toys to Stadium at 4 p.m. Monday. Children will have a chance to meet and talk to Santa.
Working with the Marines, Shorty Navarro, owner of Stadium GM, who is a former Marine, will help start the drive Monday.
US stocks set more records after holiday
NEW YORK
U.S. stocks set more records in quiet post-holiday trading Friday as technology companies again did much of the heavy lifting. Energy companies rose with the price of oil.
Macy’s and some of its retail counterparts rose after the department store’s CEO said Black Friday sales were going well. Online titan Amazon made an even bigger gain. Oil prices and energy companies rose after Bloomberg reported that a group of key oil producers plan to extend production cuts until the end of 2018.
“If you take the cumulative effect of online and foot traffic going into the stores, it’s showing you a robust consumer spending pattern,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial.
S. African company scuttles US plant
NEW ORLEANS
Low oil prices and a volatile market are prompting a South African energy and chemical company to drop plans for an $11 billion to $14 billion U.S. plant to convert natural gas to liquid fuels and to pull out of Canadian shale.
“Sasol will not invest in further greenfields gas-to-liquids projects,” the company said Thursday in a news release posted on its website. Its current GTL plants “are generating good returns and cash flows,” but new projects aren’t worth it in the current market, the statement said.
The company had announced in January that it was delaying final investment plans for the plant near Lake Charles because of a collapse in world oil prices.
“I hate to see ... that the gas-to-liquids project is not being able to happen,” but it’s a minor setback in $100 billion in development across southwest Louisiana, said Calcasieu Parish Police Juror Hal McMillin. He said that includes an $11.1 billion ethane cracker being built by Sasol, which has an ethylene plant, an alumina plant and an alcohol plant operating in the area.
Staff/wire report
Selected local stocks
STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE
Alcoa Inc., .1242.21-0.43
Aqua America, .71 36.570.03
Avalon Holdings,2.020.02
Chemical Bank, .2753.38-0.68
Community Health Sys. 4.19 0.02
Cortland Bancorp, .2819.20-0.05
Farmers Nat., .1614.10-0.20
First Energy, 1.44 33.94-0.30
Fifth/Third, .5228.20-0.22
FirstMerit Corp.,--
First Niles Financial, .1211.000.00
FNB Corp., .4813.26-0.19
General Motors, 1.5244.460.17
General Electric, .9218.190.04
Huntington Bank, .28 13.46-0.08
iHeartMedia Inc.,0.91-0.01
JP Morgan Chase, 1.9298.32-0.32
Key Corp, .3418.14-0.02
LaFarge, .34--
Macy’s, 1.51 21.070.44
Parker Hannifin, 2.52 183.28-1.33
PNC, 2.20132.56-0.48
Simon Prop. Grp., 6.60158.00-0.33
Stoneridge 22.470.13
United Comm. Fin., .12 9.46-0.06
Selected prices from Friday’s 4 p.m. close.