LR picked to host energy conference
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has chosen Little Rock as the site of its September 2015 national conference, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission said Tuesday.
The conference, which will focus on energy efficiency as a resource, will be at the Statehouse Convention Center, according to the news release.
This will be the first time the event has been held in Arkansas.
"This is a great opportunity for Arkansas," J.D. Lowery, director of the Arkansas Energy Office, said in a statement. "Energy efficiency is becoming increasingly important to individuals, businesses and to utilities across the country. Little Rock will host the nation's leaders in the energy-efficiency field and we look forward to learning from them and we are also eager to showcase the accomplishments Arkansas has made in energy efficiency."
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit group.
-- Jessica Seaman
90,000 apply for Morgan Stanley jobs
Morgan Stanley, owner of the world's largest brokerage, received about 90,000 applications for its summer program for analysts and associates.
More than 1,000 people, or about 80 percent who received offers, accepted a spot and began working in the past few weeks, Chief Executive Officer James Gorman, 55, said Tuesday in a memo to employees. Mary Claire Delaney, a spokesman for the New York-based bank, confirmed the contents of the memo.
Wall Street firms have been touting the selectivity of their programs for recruiting junior talent to counter worries that they're less attractive employers in the wake of the financial crisis. The acceptance rate of less than 2 percent is lower than Harvard College's 5.9 percent for the coming year's freshman class.
"It's not going to be a constraint," Gorman said of attracting new employees in March 2012. "There will always be somebody who says, 'Well, I always wanted to be an investment banker, but I've had this sort of moral epiphany, and now I'm not.' I mean, it's ridiculous."
The title of analyst typically is used for undergraduate students who intern for the summer, and doesn't refer to research analysts who recommend stocks to investors. Associates are usually graduate school students.
-- Bloomberg News
Study: Degree still a good investment
NEW YORK -- Some comforting news for recent college graduates facing a tough job market and years of student loan payments: That college degree is still worth it.
Those with bachelor's or associate's degrees earn more money over their lifetime than those who skip college, according to a report released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The study, by economists Jaison Abel and Richard Deitz, also found that a degree is still a good investment for college graduates whose jobs don't require college. About a third of all college graduates remain underemployed for most of their careers.
A person with a bachelor's degree can expect to earn about $1.2 million more, from ages 22 to 64, than someone with just a high school diploma, the report said. And someone with an associate's degree will bring in $325,000 more than someone with a high school education. The study used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A Pew Research Center report from earlier this year said young adults with college degrees make more money, have lower rates of unemployment and are less likely to be living in poverty than those with just a high school education.
-- The Associated Press
Ford: Aluminum-body pickup on track
Ford Motor Co.'s new aluminum-bodied F-150 truck remains on track for introduction later this year, a company executive said.
Ford is retooling two factories to make the pickup, part of a plan this year to add 16 new models in North America. The company said its new F-150 is about 700 pounds lighter than the steel version it will replace.
"Everything is on schedule, and everything is going as planned" with the F-150 introduction, Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of the Americas, said Tuesday in Dearborn, Mich. "I'm very confident in this vehicle."
The company had previously said it would lose production of more than 90,000 of its F-Series pickups, its best-selling and most profitable model, as it retools factories for the new aluminum-bodied truck.
The series of plant shutdowns will reduce the company's sales, market share and profits in the lucrative pickup market, Hinrichs said earlier this month. The company may also see lower margins on the new truck versus the old model, he said.
Ford shares rose 9 cents to close Tuesday at $16.97.
-- The Associated Press
Lower tax rate lifts Walgreen profits
Walgreen's fiscal third quarter earnings jumped 16 percent compared with last year, aided in part by a lower income tax rate, but the drugstore chain's performance again fell short of Wall Street's expectations.
The Deerfield, Ill., company also left investors and analysts hanging after announcing quarterly results Tuesday. Walgreen executives said they are considering their option to complete a takeover of Swiss health and beauty retailer Alliance Boots -- a move that could involve an overseas reincorporation -- but they won't be ready to discuss their next step until late July or early August.
For the fiscal third quarter, Walgreen said an increase in foreign income helped knock its tax rate down to 31.5 percent, compared with 38.7 percent last year. As a result, the company's income tax provision dropped $43 million in the quarter.
The lower-than-expected tax rate contributed a benefit of at least 8 cents per share toward the company's bottom line, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Ajay Jain said in a research note that described Walgreen's overall earnings as weak.
Walgreen Co. earned $722 million, or 75 cents per share, in the quarter that ended May 31. That's up from $624 million, or 65 cents per share, a year ago.
Revenue climbed 6 percent to $19.4 billion. Analysts expected $19.44 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.
Walgreen shares slipped $1.25, or 1.7 percent, to close Tuesday at $72.48.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 06/25/2014