Car-Mart director sells 3,600 shares
A director on the board of Bentonville-based America's Car-Mart Inc. recently sold stock valued at more than $160,000, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Company Director Eddie Height sold 3,600 shares at the weighted average price of $45.75 for a total value of $164,700. In late November, Height sold shares valued at $613,600. He still owns 37,370 shares of Car-Mart.
Height held several positions with the company and served as its chief operating officer from 2002 to 2013 before retiring and joining the board.
On Nov. 18, the company reported a quarterly profit of $5 million, compared with a loss of $495,000 for the same quarter a year ago. Revenue was up nearly 13 percent, at $150.2 million.
Shares of Car-Mart closed at $46.45, down 50 cents or 1 percent in trading Friday on the Nasdaq. Shares of the buy-here, pay-here used car company have traded as low as $19.49 and as high as $47.75 over the past year.
-- John Magsam
Consumer optimism rises to 2-year high
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan said Friday that its preliminary index of consumer sentiment rose to 98, the highest since January 2015, from 93.8 in November.
The median projection in a Bloomberg survey called for 94.5. The current conditions index, which measures Americans' perceptions of their personal finances, increased by 4.8 points to 112.1, the highest since 2005.
The two-month gain of 10.8 points was the most since early 2012. It marked the eighth December in nine years that sentiment has strengthened.
A record share of respondents "spontaneously mentioned" the positive impact from new policies promised by President-elect Donald Trump, according to the survey, with more people expecting the economy and job market to strengthen in the coming year.
"President-elect Trump must provide early evidence of positive economic growth as well as act to keep positive consumer expectations aligned with performance," Richard Curtin, director of the Michigan survey, said in a statement. "Either too-slow growth or too-high expectations represent barriers to maintaining high levels of consumer confidence."
Presidential "honeymoons" tend to end in the months following inauguration, Curtin said during a conference call. Polling firm Gallup defines a presidential honeymoon as the post-inauguration period in which a president's job approval ratings stay above 55 percent.
-- Bloomberg News
Swiss court orders investigation of VW
BERLIN -- Swiss prosecutors say they have seized documents at the company that imports and sells Volkswagens in Switzerland after a court ordered them to open a criminal investigation.
Federal prosecutors said Friday they have "secured evidence" at the Automobil- und Motoren AG Group, which is cooperating with the inquiry.
Some 2,000 criminal complaints were filed in Switzerland last year related to the Volkswagen emissions-rigging scandal.
At the time, Swiss prosecutors decided to forward all complaints to their counterparts in Germany, where they said the wrongdoing had taken place.
Almost 600 Swiss plaintiffs took the issue to the country's top criminal court, which ordered prosecutors to open an investigation in Switzerland as well.
-- The Associated Press
Lacking capital, Italian bank stumbles
FRANKFURT, Germany -- Shares in Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena have plunged after news reports that the bank's request for more time to raise new capital from investors has been rejected by regulators.
Shares in the bank were down 7.3 percent on Friday to $21.27 after being down as much as 16 percent and being temporarily suspended for trading.
The bank had been given until the end of this month to raise $5.4 billion in capital. The group asked the European Central Bank for a delay until Jan. 20 because of political uncertainty ushered in by the resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi this week.
Renzi quit after voters rejected constitutional changes he backed, and it was uncertain who would lead the government next.
Failure to obtain private capital would raise the possibility that the Italian government would have to bail out the bank. It and the European Central Bank had no immediate comment Friday.
A bailout threatens to be politically explosive because new European Union rules could force losses on the Italian bank's bondholders as a condition of permitting state aid. Many of the bondholders are small retail investors who analysts say may not have been sufficiently aware of the risk of losing their money.
-- The Associated Press
Fox, Sky agree to $23.2B takeover deal
NEW YORK -- 21st Century Fox Inc. reached a preliminary deal to acquire full control of Sky PLC, valuing the pay-TV provider at $23.2 billion.
The deal was reached between independent directors of both boards, though other elements remain under discussion, and there's no certainty an official offer will be made by Fox, Sky said. Fox already holds a 39 percent stake in Sky.
Gaining total ownership of Sky would give Fox, which owns cable channels including FX and National Geographic, a distribution platform in Europe for pay television and Internet. Billionaire Rupert Murdoch has long made clear his desire to own all of the asset. He was thwarted in a 2010 attempt to buy out other shareholders following revelations that two of his newspapers hacked into the mobile phones of celebrities and politicians.
Sky's weaker share price this year and the drop in the pound relative to the U.S. dollar made the acquisition cheaper for Fox.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 12/10/2016