News in brief

Banks in Arkansas log $70.3B in assets

The 106 banks in Arkansas had total assets of $70.3 billion on June 30, according to data supplied by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Assets were up 10.5 percent from $63.6 billion on June 30 of last year.

Nine banks in the state had more than $1 billion in assets in the second quarter, led by Arvest Bank of Fayetteville with $15.4 billion.

Other banks with more than $1 billion in assets were Bank of the Ozarks of Little Rock, $8.7 billion; Centennial Bank of Conway, $8.1 billion; Simmons First National Bank of Pine Bluff, $5.7 billion; First Security Bank of Searcy, $4.8 billion; Bear State Bank of Little Rock, $1.4 billion; Farmers Bank & Trust Co. of Magnolia, $1.2 billion; First National Bank of Fort Smith, $1.2 billion; and Southern Bancorp Bank of Arkadelphia, $1.2 billion.

Bank of the Ozarks posted the most income through two quarters, $89.4 million.

-- David Smith

Wal-Mart ranks 3rd on private-fleet list

Two Arkansas companies are among the 100 largest private trucking fleets in North America, according to Transport Topics.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. moved up one spot to No. 3 on the publication's 2015 list, which ranks a carrier's size by the number of tractors in its fleet.

The Bentonville-based retailer, which has 6,294 tractors, 106 straight trucks and 61,528 trailers, is ranked behind PepsiCo Inc. (8,397 tractors) and Houston-based Sysco Corp. (7,647 tractors).

Tyson Foods Inc. is No. 12 on the publication's list for the second-straight year. The Springdale meat company has 2,785 tractors, 1,119 trucks and cargo vans, and 3,700 trailers in its fleet.

-- Robbie Neiswanger

State index registers slight loss; 11 gain

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 0.01 to 323.82 on Friday.

Eleven stocks advanced, six declined and one was unchanged.

Shares of USA Truck climbed 6 percent in average volume.

Windstream was up 3.5 percent in light trading.

Dillard's fell 1.8 percent in heavy trading.

For the week, 12 stocks declined and six advanced.

Acxiom and Windstream each gained 5.1 percent for the week.

America's Car-Mart dropped 5.1 percent for the week.

Total volume of the index was 26.8 million shares. The average daily volume for the week was 31.5 million shares.

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

Business on 08/29/2015

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