NEWS IN BRIEF

Thursday, September 5, 2013

High-speed Internet focus of workshop

Connect Arkansas a project of Arkansas Capital Corp., will host the Connecting Arkansas Internet Conference on Sept. 25-26 at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Little Rock.

The conference will address the challenges of delivering high-speed Internet to all Arkansans and how local, regional and state leaders from both the public and private sectors are working to address them.

National and local speakers and panelists will speak on how high-speed Internet affects health care, education, government, agriculture and economic development, as well as other sectors.

The event costs $25 per person, which includes breakfast and lunch. More information can be found at connect-arkansas.org/internet-conference.

Gasoline prices rise as oil costs tick up

Gasoline prices at Arkansas pumps are rising, tracking oil prices that have surged more than $10 a barrel since the beginning of July.

The average gasoline price at Arkansas filling stations Wednesday was $3.42, up from $3.38 a week ago, according to auto club AAA. The average price nationally jumped this week to $3.60 a gallon, the highest since Aug. 5 and down 6.1 percent from a year ago, the Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department’s statistical arm, said on its website Tuesday.

Prices at the pump are “just reflecting the increase in oil prices,” said James Williams, the president of WTRG Economics, an energy consultant in London, Ark. “We might see a couple more cents in increases if crude prices remain as they are.”

The price of oil fell Wednesday amid uncertainty over U.S. plans to launch a punitive strike against Syria.

Benchmark oil for October delivery fell $1.31, or 1.2 percent, to close at $107.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Arkansas Index up as 16 stocks climb

The Arkansas Index,a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, climbed 2.72 to 283.65 Wednesday.

“U.S. stocks moved higher on Wednesday after better-than-expected auto sales from August, which were the strongest in almost six years,” said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. “The Arkansas Index moved higher as 16 stocks advanced and one declined.”

Arkansas Best jumped 3.6 percent in heavy trading.

Murphy USA gained 2.5 percent in light trading.

Volume for the index was 24.4 million shares.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business, Pages 27 on 09/05/2013