Subject: Friday Morning Briefing
From: Talk Business <[email-masked]>
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Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2016 12:02:25 +0000
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ARKANSAS TOURISM TICKER: TRAVEL AND TOURISM SECTOR GROWTH CONTINUES INTO 2016 - Arkansas’ tourism industry ended the first two months of 2016 with a more than 4% growth in tourism taxes among 17 cities and a more than 5% growth in tourism jobs. The pace continues that posted by the industry in 2015.

In 2015, the Arkansas Tourism Ticker reported a 7.41% increase in hospitality tax revenue among 17 Arkansas cities reviewed for the report, an 8.31% increase in collections of the state’s 2% tourism tax, and a 5.04% increase in Arkansas tourism industry jobs compared to 2014.

The January-February report finds that $6.722 million in hospitality taxes were collected by the 17 cities, up 4.34% compared to the same period in 2015. Collections of Arkansas’ 2% statewide tourism tax in 2015 were up 10.72% over 2014.

Statewide monthly employment in the sector averaged 116,000 in January and February, up 5.6% compared to 109,850 in January-February 2015. The average is also 18.67% higher than the January-February 2010 period, which provides some perspective on travel and tourism industry growth in the past six years. Read more on the industry growth and what tourism and hospitality leaders have to say at this link (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=e9ab429abf&e=b5f4886f5f) .

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ARCBEST CORP. STUMBLES IN 1Q: ArcBest Corp., the Fort Smith-based trucking and logistics firm, reported a first quarter 2016 net loss of $6.1 million, or $0.24 per share, compared to first quarter 2015 net income of $0.7 million, or $0.03 per share. Quarterly revenues climbed higher, however, to $621.5 million. Company officials said the results reflect "a sluggish and inconsistent industrial and manufacturing economic environment."

MERCY HOSPITAL TO LAUNCH $40 MILLION CAPITAL CAMPAIGN AMID OTHER EFFORTS SEEKING BIG DONATIONS: Mercy Hospital’s $247 million expansion across Northwest Arkansas will require $40 million in help from the local community according to Eric Pianalto, president of Mercy Hospital Northwest. He said Mercy has pledged a little more than $200 million but they expect to raise about $40 million with a capital campaign. Read about the effort here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=ce4207ebcb&e=b5f4886f5f) .

U.S. ECONOMY SLOWS TO FRAGILE 0.5%, WEAKEST GROWTH IN TWO YEARS: U.S. business growth decelerated for the third straight quarter in the first three months of 2016 as the current outlook for a broad economic expansion is now in question as the nation’s economy slows to its weakest level in two years. Real gross domestic product – the value of the goods and services produced by the nation’s economy less the value of the goods and services used up in production, adjusted for price changes – increased at a weak of 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Thursday (April 28). Since the second quarter of 2015, when real U.S. GDP accelerated at a robust 3.9%, the U.S. economy has slowed considerably to 2% in the third quarter and to a tepid 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Read more here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=b6ac7b062b&e=b5f4886f5f) .

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GOVERNOR, AEDC CONTINUE JOBS ROLL IN PARAGOULD, LITTLE ROCK: With the Tuesday announcement of 250 jobs from Sun Paper Co., which will build a $1.3 billion paper mill near Arkadelphia, state economic officials are continuing their momentum. On Thursday, AEDC executive director Mike Preston announced 28 jobs (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=d738c09783&e=b5f4886f5f) in Paragould as Coppell, Texas-based IT firm GW Communications said it would open a broadband services location and hire 28 workers in Northeast Arkansas. On Friday afternoon, Gov. Asa Hutchinson will unveil another job creation announcement at the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce.

FRANK D. SCOTT, JR.: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT DRIVING 30 CROSSING CHANGES - TB&P contributor Frank D. Scott, Jr., also a highway commissioner and banker, says the controversy and passion surrounding plans for the I-30 corridor around Little Rock and North Little Rock is a healthy debate, and one that is producing change as all sides listen and collaborate. "A healthy community is an engaged community. The level of discussion surrounding 30 Crossing is, in and of itself, a sign of our community’s strength," he writes. Read his full take here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=af22a7f006&e=b5f4886f5f) .

JOHN BURRIS: TRUSTING THE DECISION MAKER IS KEY - TB&P columnist John Burris wades into the heated debate over Baker Kurrus' removal as Little Rock school superintendent. Burris contends that Education Commissioner Johnny Key's decision to replace Kurrus with Bentonville superintendent Mike Poore should be trusted. He said Key's decisions in navigating the state takeover of Little Rock schools has moved the district forward.

"When trying to decide whom to trust to make major decisions, it’s smart to trust the person who’s made the right decision before, instead of the ones who criticized it. A school board would have never had the courage to hire Kurrus. It would never have had the courage to fire him. I’ll trust the man who got us where we are, not listen to the cries of people who for so long kept us where we didn’t want to be," Burris writes. Read his full take here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=2675a629e7&e=b5f4886f5f) .

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MURPHY OIL CUTS LOSSES IN CANADA, SELLS STAKE IN OIL SANDS JOINT VENTURE FOR $746 MILLION: Murphy Oil Corp. announced (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=e1249b4f84&e=b5f4886f5f) after the close of market Wednesday that its Canadian subsidiary will sell its Syncrude Canada operation to Suncor Energy Inc. for $746 million, subject to closing adjustments. The sale will allow Murphy to divest its 5%, non-operated stake in Syncrude, a joint venture company located in Alberta, Canada, that produced an averaged 15,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day in first quarter 2016. Murphy Oil, which posted a loss of $587 million in the fourth quarter, is expected to releases its first quarter earnings report on May 5, after the close of market. Wall Street expects the Arkansas oil company to report a loss of 74 cents per share on revenue of only $445 million, according to a survey of analyst by Thomson Reuters.

ARKANSAS GRID OPERATOR SPP LOWERS PLANNING RESERVE MARGINS, AWARDS FIRST COMPETITIVELY BID TRANSMISSION PROJECT: Southwest Power Pool’s (SPP) board of directors on Tuesday (April 26) approved a recommendation to lower the regional transmission organization’s (RTO) planning reserve margin and announced the grid operator’s first competitively bid transmission project in western Kansas. According to SPP officials (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=d6ccc3d698&e=b5f4886f5f) , the reduction of the RTO’s planning reserve margin from 13.6% to 12% will lower capacity requirements in SPP by about 900 megawatts (MW). The reduction is expected to save the organization’s load-serving members approximately $90 million annually, or $1.4 billion over the next 40 years.
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"The money in our marketing is delivering the right message to the right people at the right time." - State Tourism Director Joe David Rice on the huge increases in tourism statistics in Arkansas.

"CEO Confidence improved in early 2016, but sentiment about the economy remains somewhat guarded." - Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board.

"Ongoing economic weakness continued to impact our business, consistent with trends that began in the fall of 2015." - ArcBest Chairman, President and CEO Judy R. McReynolds.
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