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SPX leads gains in Charlotte-area stocks
Most Charlotte-area stocks performed well Friday, with SPX Corp. gaining 2.25 percent. The Charlotte-based industrial manufacturer (NYSE:SPW) closed at $81.45, up $1.79. The Dow gained 38 points on the day and closed at 12,442. These local stocks increased in value: •Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) closed at $11.69, up 23 cents. •Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC) closed at $28.14, up 44 cents. •Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE:DUK) closed at $18.62, up 2 cents. •Nucor Corp. (NYSE:NUE) closed at…
Duke Energy talks on S.C. nuke are slow but ongoing
Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers says the company’s negotiations to buy a piece of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station from Santee Cooper is proving a challenge, but the talks continue. Rogers says he recently flew to Santee Cooper’s headquarters in Monck’s Corner “to show them our level of interest.” Santee Cooper plans to build two 1,117-megawatt units at Summer with SCANA Corp. SCANA is to own 55% of the expansion and Santee Cooper 45%. But with the S.C. membership cooperatives Santee Cooper serves worried about rising nuclear construction expenses — the plant is already expected to cost about $9 billion to build — it wants to sell much of its share of the…
Lowe’s plans to add 25 stores this year
Lowe’s Cos. Inc. plans to add 25 stores this year, Chief Executive Robert Niblock said at the company’s annual meeting Friday in Charlotte. Twenty-five new stores would bring Lowe’s to a total of 1,774 stores in the North America. The Mooresville-based home-improvement retailer (NYSE:LOW) had 1,749 stores at the start of 2011 and 1,710 at the beginning of 2010. Meanwhile, the company’s board has declared a 27 percent increase in its quarterly cash dividend to 14 cents per share. The dividend is payable…
ElectriCities not opposing Duke Energy–Progress Energy deal
The municipal utility organization ElectriCities does not plan to oppose Duke Energy’s purchase of Progress Energy over the issue of debt that municipalities owe for investing in Progress’ nuclear plants. Spokesman Ken Raber says ElectriCities is in negotiations with Duke and Progress over issues that are germane to the merger. Key among those is ensuring that the merger does not give Duke so much market power that the utilities are unable to negotiate fair prices for wholesale power…
Mortgage rates continue to fall
The slowing economy continues to cause mortgage rates to drop, with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage falling to its lowest level of the year. According to Freddie Mac, a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.6 percent this week, down from 4.61 percent last week. A 15-year fixed-rate loan averaged 3.78 percent, down from 3.80 percent a week ago. A one-year adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.11 percent this week, down from 3.15 percent last week. “Fixed-rate mortgages eased slightly amid reports of slowing economic activity,” says Freddie Mac (OTCBB:FMCC) Chief Economist Frank…
Hedge fund manager Ackman buys stake in Family Dollar
Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has purchased nearly 5.8 million shares of Family Dollar Stores Inc., according to a regulatory filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The purchase amounts to 4.7% of Family Dollar’s stock. According to The Wall Street Journal, Ackman told an investment conference in New York he liked Family Dollar’s business and believed the retailer was poised for a share-price increase. It’s likely a buyer looms, such as Dollar General Corp. or a private-equity company, the newspaper…
Swisher Hygiene acquires Bussey Dishwasher Service
Swisher Hygiene Inc. has acquired Bussey Dishwasher Service Inc., a Wisconsin-based hygiene and chemicals company. Bussey serves the Wisconsin and northern Illinois markets, providing chemicals and kitchen products to the food-service and hospitality industries. “Through the acquisition of Bussey and other recent transactions, we are expanding our presence in the upper Midwest and Great Plains regions,” says Swisher Hygiene Chief Executive Steven Berrard. Charlotte-based Swisher Hygiene paid $250,000 in cash for the company and assumed certain…
Goodrich names divisional president
Goodrich Corp. has appointed Richard Ingram as president of its engine-control and electrical-power business unit in Ohio. He succeeds Bob Yancey, who is retiring from the company. Ingram was most recently vice president of primary flight controls and machining strategy for Goodrich’s actuation-systems business. He takes his new responsibilities on June 13. Charlotte-based Goodrich (NYSE:GR) is a global supplier of systems and services to the aerospace and defense…
Charlotte-area unemployment dips to 10.3%
Unemployment in the Charlotte-metro area edged downward to 10.3 percent in April from 10.4 percent in March, according to the N.C. Employment Security Commission. Mecklenburg County’s jobless rate in April was 9.8 percent, down from 9.9 percent in March. The Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metro area had an unemployment rate of 11.7 percent, a drop from 11.9 percent in the previous month. Currituck County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate in April, at 5.6 percent. Scotland County had the highest, at…
BofA unit to pay $20M settlement
A division of Bank of America Corp. will pay $20 million to settle a lawsuit that accused it of wrongfully foreclosing on 160 service members by not checking on their military status. The U.S. Department of Justice filed the suit against BAC Home Loans Servicing, formerly known as Countrywide Home Loans Servicing. The complaint alleged that Countrywide did not consistently check the military status of borrowers on whom it foreclosed through at least May 31, 2009. The suit was filed in the Central District of California, where Countrywide was…