Car-Mart to release quarterly earnings
Bentonville-based America's Car-Mart is expected to release its second-quarter earnings for its 2018 fiscal year today after markets close.
The average estimates of four analysts predict earnings of 79 cents per share for the quarter, with an average revenue estimate of three analysts coming in at $151.85 million.
The buy-here pay-here used-car company will hold a conference call at 10 a.m. Friday. The live audio of the call can be heard by dialing (877) 776-4031. It is suggested callers dial by 10 minutes before the call begins. A webcast of the call will be available at the company's website www.car-mart.com.
The recording of the call will be available two hours after it ends and for 30 days thereafter. It can be heard by dialing (855) 859-2056, with the conference ID No. 9874799.
-- John Magsam
Group: Keep cross-border trucking rules
A group that includes more than 100 retail, agriculture and transportation trade associations sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Tuesday asking him to keep cross-border trucking provisions when negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Currently, cross-border trucking consists of Mexican drivers dropping their trailers in commercial zones along the border. From there, their American counterparts hitch the trailers, and deliver them the rest of the way.
"Permitting Mexican carriers to haul freight beyond the border zones will help alleviate some of the congestion at the border," the coalition's letter said.
Critics have said Mexican truckers pose a safety risk to Americans on the highway. There have been various pilot programs allowing Mexican truckers to haul throughout the country, and data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration show Mexican drivers are no more a risk than American drivers.
The Trump administration, while critical of Mexican workers in general, has not signaled an end to the cross-border trucking provision of NAFTA, but the Owner-Operator, Independent Drivers Association and the Teamsters have called for an end to cross-border trucking.
-- Dalton LaFerney
Ford, Mazda denied time to test air bags
DETROIT -- The U.S. government has denied requests from Ford and Mazda for more time to test potentially dangerous Takata air bag inflators as the companies try to avoid huge recalls.
Both automakers petitioned safety regulators to escape recalls, which involve about 3 million vehicles made by Ford and 6,000 by Mazda.
Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration delayed a recall of 2.5 million General Motors trucks and SUVs to give the company time for long-term tests of Takata inflators. GM contends its inflators are of a different design and don't have the problems of other inflators. If successful, the company could fend off several recalls totaling 6.8 million trucks and SUVs that ultimately could cost $870 million, according to a GM filing with securities regulators.
Takata inflators can explode with too much force and hurl shrapnel into drivers and passengers. At least 19 people have been killed worldwide and more than 180 have been injured.
-- The Associated Press
Pilgrim's Pride settles suit over pollution
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A major chicken processing plant that has been cited for polluting the Suwannee River settled a lawsuit Wednesday that was filed by environmental groups in Florida.
Pilgrim's Pride Corp. settled the suit with Environment Florida and the Sierra Club, agreeing to pay $1.4 million and to upgrade equipment to help reduce the plant's waste.
The settlement still requires approval from a federal judge.
The plant, which cuts up and packages chickens for retail sale, is in the north Florida town of Live Oak.
Pilgrim's Pride is the second-largest chicken producer in the world, and supplies chicken to fast-food restaurants and supermarkets.
The company was cited multiple times by state environmental regulators for violating limits on the amount of wastewater it was legally permitted to discharge into the river.
The groups filed suit in federal court last year, claiming the plant was still illegally polluting the Suwannee.
-- The Associated Press
New signatures printed on new $1 bills
WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza are now on the money, literally.
The two Cabinet officials took a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on Wednesday to see firsthand the production of new $1 bills, the first currency that will bear their signatures.
Mnuchin's signature is decidedly more legible than that of his predecessor, Jacob Lew. Lew had handwriting that was so sloppy that former President Barack Obama once joked that unless he made his signature more legible, it might debase the currency.
The currency will be shipped to Federal Reserve regional banks around the country, and the new bills are expected to go into circulation in December.
Signatures of Treasury secretaries have been appearing on U.S. currency since 1914.
-- The Associated Press
Roundup warning-label plan draws suit
A coalition of a dozen national and Midwestern agricultural groups sued on Wednesday to overturn a California decision that could force the popular weedkiller Roundup to carry warning labels that it can cause cancer.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Sacramento seeks an injunction barring the state from enforcing what the suit describes as a "false" and "misleading" warning.
It claims California's decision violates constitutional due-process and free-speech rights and should be superseded by federal regulations.
Roundup's main ingredient, glyphosate, is not restricted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and has been used widely since 1974 to kill weeds while leaving crops and other plants alive.
But the International Agency for Research on Cancer, based in Lyon, France, has classified it as a "probable human carcinogen." That prompted the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to add glyphosate this summer to a list of chemicals known to cause cancer. The listing could lead to a requirement for warning labels on the product.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 11/16/2017