Business news in brief

A worker saws a section of lumber inside a home under construction at the M/I Homes Inc. Bougainvillea Place housing development in Ellenton, Fla., on July 6, 2017. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Ty Wright.
A worker saws a section of lumber inside a home under construction at the M/I Homes Inc. Bougainvillea Place housing development in Ellenton, Fla., on July 6, 2017. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Ty Wright.

Event today to promote destination LR

The Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau will announce a new program today to encourage residents to promote Little Rock as a destination for meetings, conventions and sporting events.

The news conference will be held at 10 a.m. in the Robinson Center lobby.

Mayor Mark Stodola will join Kathy Tatum, south central regional director of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority; and Bishop Woosley, director of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery at the conference. Both Tatum and Woosley have been instrumental in bringing two large conventions to Little Rock, a news release said.

Conventions are big business for Little Rock. In 2017, the convention and visitors bureau hosted 91 meetings, 45 conventions and 30 sporting events in one of its managed facilities, resulting in an estimated $106 million in economic impact for the city.

-- David Smith

Report: State 17th in low auto insurance

Arkansas ranked 17th for lowest auto insurance rates in 2016, the year the most recent data is available, according to a report by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

In its Auto Insurance Database Report, the national association showed Arkansas with an average auto insurance expenditure of $772 per vehicle in 2016.

Arkansas' rate is below the national average of $936. Average expenditure per insured vehicle is the total written premium for liability, collision, and comprehensive coverages divided by exposures. An exposure is expressed in car-years -- one car-year is the risk associated with insuring one car for one year.

Arkansas's rate was lower than most of its bordering states including Missouri ($791), Oklahoma ($851), Mississippi ($859), Texas ($1,009), and Louisiana ($1,302). Tennessee ($760) was the only border state with a cheaper average expenditure.

The Arkansas Insurance Department offers a brochure to help compare prices. The Consumer Services Division, 800-852-5494 cq, can deliver a copy by mail or a representative can provide information. The brochure is also available online at https://bit.ly/2SOlsrw.

-- David Smith

Homebuilders index weakest in 3 years

Sentiment among U.S. homebuilders fell in December to the lowest level since 2015, missing all forecasts and signaling that the industry's struggles are intensifying amid elevated prices and higher borrowing costs.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index dropped to 56 from 60 in the prior month amid broad-based declines across sales, expectations and buyer traffic, data released Monday showed. The median estimate in Bloomberg's survey had called for it to hold at 60. With November's eight-point decrease, it was the biggest two-month decline since October 2001.

The waning optimism among builders underscores concern that housing -- an industry that's sensitive to borrowing costs -- is at risk of slipping into a more pronounced slowdown. The Federal Reserve is widely projected to raise interest rates this week for the fourth time in 2018; borrowing costs recently hit a seven-year high after years of strong property-price gains.

-- Bloomberg News

Nissan board in no hurry to replace Ghosn

TOKYO -- Nissan Motors did not name a new chairman at a board meeting Monday, nearly a month after the Japanese automaker removed Carlos Ghosn as chairman, saying instead that it would appoint a special committee to review its corporate governance and its director compensation system.

Ghosn, along with the company itself, was indicted last week on charges that they violated Japanese financial laws by underreporting Ghosn's compensation in securities filings. Ghosn, who was first arrested in November, currently sits in a Tokyo jail after being rearrested on a separate charge of underreporting compensation for a different time period.

Speaking after a meeting of Nissan's board, Hiroto Saikawa, the automaker's chief executive, said the group had not set a deadline for naming a successor to Ghosn.

"We shouldn't hurry," Saikawa said. "We should not be slipshod."

Nissan said the special committee would include four outside advisers and three current Nissan directors and would submit its recommendations by the end of March.

-- The New York Times

Malaysia looks to punish Goldman Sachs

HONG KONG -- Malaysia filed criminal charges against three subsidiaries of Goldman Sachs on Monday, accusing the Wall Street bank of making false and misleading statements.

Malaysian authorities also charged several individuals in connection to a multibillion-dollar international scandal, which has ensnared Goldman and led to the ouster of Malaysia's former prime minister, Najib Razak.

The government said it would seek criminal fines in excess of $2.7 billion related to the charges.

"We believe these charges are misdirected, will vigorously defend them and look forward to the opportunity to present our case," said Edward Naylor, a Goldman spokesman in Asia, in an emailed statement. "The firm continues to cooperate with all authorities investigating these matters."

The charges relate to a state investment fund called 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, from which, investigators say, officials and employees siphoned into personal accounts. Goldman helped the fund to raise billions of dollars, in turn earning $600 million in fees for the bank.

The charges Monday were filed under the country's national securities law, according to a statement from Attorney General Tommy Thomas.

-- The New York Times

Russians invited to World Economic forum

MOSCOW -- The Kremlin has welcomed the decision by the World Economic Forum to renew invitations for three high-profiled Russians after an initial snub.

A day after the forum said it will include a Russian delegation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday welcomed the announcement that billionaires Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg, and the head of the state-controlled bank VTB Andrei Kostin, will be able to attend the annual gathering of business and political leaders in the Swiss ski resort of Davos in January.

Organizers of the WEF had said last month that the three weren't welcome as they had been targeted by U.S. sanctions. The Russian government then said it would boycott the event.

-- The Associated Press

Business on 12/18/2018

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