Murphy Oil sets date to build new office

Construction of Murphy Oil Corp.'s new headquarters in El Dorado will begin in August, Allison Parker, spokesman for the company, said Wednesday.

The headquarters for the oil exploration and production company will be built next door to the company's former main office at 200 Peach St., Parker said.

The company has not released how much the new building will cost, Parker said.

The two-story 86,000-square-foot structure will have a lobby and meeting rooms that will connect to a five-story Murphy Oil Corp. office building.

Murphy Oil Corp.'s 140 employees will move into the building after construction is completed in September 2015.

Murphy USA Inc., a retail gasoline and marketing business, will remain in the old headquarters building. Murphy Oil Corp. and Murphy USA separated into independent companies last year.

-- Jessica Seaman

Union dispute spurs increase in imports

Retailers are bringing cargo goods to the United States in record numbers this year, months before the Christmas holiday shopping season, to avoid having their merchandise tied up while West Coast longshoremen haggle over a new labor contract.

The Global Port Tracker report, released Wednesday by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, said import volume at major U.S. container ports is expected to top 1.5 million containers this month. Researchers said the number is the highest monthly volume in at least five years and follows a trend of unusually high import levels that started this spring as retailers worked to import merchandise ahead of potential problems from West Coast dock workers.

The contract between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union expired July 1 and negotiations for a new one are ongoing. Retailers aren't taking any chances, said Jonathan Gold, the NRF's vice president for supply chain and customs policy.

The tracker report shows that some importers have begun shifting cargo to East Coast ports.

-- Cyd King

U.S. stocks rebound, push index up 0.79

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 0.79 to 352.86 Wednesday.

"U.S. stocks pushed higher on Wednesday, rebounding from a two-day sell-off as Alcoa kicked off earnings season with a better-than-forecast report," said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. "The Arkansas Index moved higher as 11 stocks advanced and six declined."

P.A.M. Transportation Services climbed 1.8 percent in average trading. Dillard's reached a 52-week high during the session.

Total volume of the index was 20 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 on 07/10/2014