LR orthopedics firm plans $22M facility
Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics is building a $22 million, three-story office building to house its practice, Dr. Jimmy Tucker said Friday.
The 75,000-square-foot building will be at the southwest corner of Fair Park Boulevard and Interstate 630 in Little Rock.
Construction on the project began Thursday, said Tucker, president of the orthopedic group.
The orthopedic firm is located in a four-story building near the former Sears store.
Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics has 17 partners, about 20 doctors and 300 employees.
The new building is scheduled for completion in March 2018. The doctors have to be out of their existing building the same month, Tucker said.
Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics paid $2.5 million for the 5-acre tract. S̶t̶.̶ ̶M̶a̶r̶k̶ ̶B̶a̶p̶t̶i̶s̶t̶ ̶C̶h̶u̶r̶c̶h̶ AA Development at Midtown Inc.* was the seller.
-- David Smith
U.K. to get Boeing's first Europe plant
LONDON -- Boeing Co. plans to open its first ever European factory in Sheffield, northern England -- delivering a vote of confidence in the U.K.'s manufacturing capabilities as the country prepares to exit the European Union.
The $25 million facility will supply parts for Boeing's 737 short-haul workhorse and the 777 wide-body, specializing in actuation systems that extend and retract an aircraft's wing flaps in different phases of flight.
The move advances Boeing's plans to increase in-house manufacturing of actuator components in order to increase production efficiency, enhance quality control and reduce supply-chain costs, the U.S. company said in a statement Friday. The 25,000-square-foot plant will initially employ 30 people, with recruitment starting next year.
"Our decision to start manufacturing high-value components in the U.K. is a step-change in our engagement and a further example of Boeing's commitment to grow here," Boeing Europe President Michael Arthur said in the release.
-- Bloomberg News
Grad students at Yale vote to unionize
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Graduate students from a half-dozen departments at Yale University have voted to form unions.
Elections were administered Thursday by the National Labor Relations Board for graduate students in nine departments.
Organizers say students from the departments of English, geology and geophysics, history, history of art, math, and sociology voted in favor of unionization. Students in the physics department voted against it. Ballots were still to be counted for graduate assistants in the departments of East Asian languages and political science.
The Yale campus union had the labor board's approval to hold elections for individual departments, despite objections from the university.
The labor board found last year that graduate assistants who assist in teaching and research at private universities are employees and have a right to union representation.
-- The Associated Press
Canada firm leery of U.S. border tax
AURORA, Ontario -- North America's largest auto-parts maker said a border adjustment tax being studied by President Donald Trump would increase the odds that future factories will be located in the U.S.
But Canada's Magna International Inc. said the growth of "protectionist sentiments" could hurt its operations and profitability, as well as the entire automobile industry, according to a company statement Friday. The manufacturer is closely watching a potential tax overhaul in the U.S., Chief Executive Don Walker said during a conference call with analysts and investors.
"The industry as a whole is trying to get all the facts to the right people so at least they understand what the impact might be," Walker said. "The latest I understand is that the difference between Canada and the U.S. as far as trade is concerned really isn't an issue. Having said that, any border adjustment tax I think would be negative for the whole industry."
The maker of bodies and chassis, car electronics and vision systems relies on the U.S. for about one quarter of its sales, and counts on Mexico for another 12 percent. In a meeting with Trump on Thursday, U.S. manufacturers pressed their case that a tax on imports would lead to higher domestic employment. While Trump discussed the potential benefits of such a measure after the discussions, he stopped short of endorsing the proposal.
-- Bloomberg News
Consumer confidence falls in February
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Consumer confidence in February fell for the first time since November's election, as party lines divided Americans following an increase in enthusiasm for economic policies under President Donald Trump.
The University of Michigan said Friday that its final index of sentiment for February dropped to 96.3 from January's 98.5, which was the highest since 2004. That compares with the median projection of 96 in a Bloomberg survey and a preliminary reading of 95.7.
Democrats were more positive than Republicans on their current financial situation. But while confidence is still above pre-election levels, the two sides are sharply divided on whether they expect a boom or bust -- Republicans' expectations index was 120.1, while Democrats' expectations index was just 55.5. Independent voters are leaning more toward optimism; their expectations index of 89.2 boosted the broader gauge, according to the survey.
"We've never recorded such a divide in our data," with some questions going back to the late 1940s, Richard Curtin, director of the consumer survey, said on a conference call. "I can't imagine confidence going much higher" given that economic-growth forecasts are generally in the "low 2 percent range."
Economists' estimates for the overall sentiment index ranged from 95 to 98.
The current conditions index, which measures Americans' perceptions of their personal finances, rose to 111.5 from 111.3 in the prior month. The preliminary reading was 111.2.
-- Bloomberg News
Nordstrom stock rises on strong profits
SEATTLE -- Nordstrom Inc., coping with the Ivanka Trump controversy and a persistent department-store slump, is turning to cost cuts and e-commerce to keep investors happy.
The stock rose the most in more than three months after Nordstrom posted profit of $1.37 a share last quarter, excluding some items. That was well ahead of the $1.15 estimated by analysts, despite slower sales in the period.
The results signaled that Nordstrom is making faster progress streamlining its operations than expected. The Seattle-based retailer faces an industrywide decline, prompting Nordstrom to scale back capital spending and reduce inventory.
It also helps that Nordstrom is stocking popular brands and bringing products to market quickly, said Credit Suisse Group AG analyst Christian Buss.
"We continue to expect Nordstrom to prove a share gainer in the department-store space," he said in a research note. "We also expect Nordstrom to be the first to leverage aggressive investments in e-commerce, positioning the company for earnings growth."
The stock climbed $2.52, or 5.7 percent, to close Friday at $46.46 in New York.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 02/25/2017
*CORRECTION: Arkansas Specialty Orthopedics bought 5 acres at Fair Park and Interstate 630 from AA Development at Midtown Inc. A previous version of this article incorrectly identified the seller of the land.