Health Care
Acme backs medical website
Acme Fresh Market has agreed to sponsor a website run by the Summit County Medical Society to help uninsured patients and others find affordable care.
Under the agreement, which runs through the end of the year, Acme Fresh Market Pharmacy is the exclusive pharmacy sponsor of www.helpwithmedicalcosts.com.
The physician group launched the website in 2011 as a public service to help patients find public and private assistance programs and discount programs for medications and medical tests.
Acme is providing an undisclosed amount of funding to the medical society for website improvements and public awareness efforts, according to a news release.
The deal also calls for Acme to promote the website through its newspaper, radio and billboard advertising campaigns, as well as in its stores.
WALL STREET
Good January for Dow
Stocks declined Thursday after a report showed jobless claims rose, but benchmark indexes still produced one of Wall Street’s strongest starting months in years. “As January goes, so goes the year,” said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices, noting that the market has moved in the same direction as it did in January for 61 of the last 84 years, or almost 73 percent of the time.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 49.84 points, or 0.4 percent, to 13,860.58, up 5.8 percent for the month, its best January since 1994 and its best month since October 2011.
The S&P 500 declined 3.85 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,498.11, up 5 percent for the month and marking its best January advance since 1997, when it rose 6.1 percent.
The Nasdaq composite index lost a fraction to finish at 3,142.13, up 4 percent for January.
REAL ESTATE
Average interest rates rise
The average U.S. rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rose this week to its highest level in four months but remains low by historical standards. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said the rate on the 30-year loan increased to 3.53 percent. That’s up from 3.42 percent last week and the first time the rate has exceeded 3.50 percent since September. The average for the 15-year fixed mortgage advanced to 2.81 percent from 2.71 percent last week.
Compiled from staff and wire reports
